Research Catalog

Title

Masquerade and money in urban Nigeria : the case of Calabar / Jordan A. Fenton.

Author

Fenton, Jordan

Publication

• Rochester, NY, USA : University of Rochester Press, 2022.
• ©2022

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xii, 382 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits (some color); 24 cm.

Summary

• "Driving into urban Calabar, one is struck by two imposing, monumental rectangular columns, operating not unlike ancient triumphal arches, framing the entrance into Nigeria's capital city of the Cross River State. Relief carvings of Calabar's renowned masking characters adorn the monument. The icons, dramatically captured in choreographic poses, freezing the maskers in time, enshrine masquerade as the city's heritage and past identity. Far from being merely "traditional" and relegated to an earlier time, though, the masquerade culture of urban Calabar has a contemporary and global context and is a vital part of the changing patterns of city life. While the topic of cultural change is not necessarily new to African art history and cultural studies, few have attempted to understand why African arts so readily change. This book, the first full-length monograph addressing contemporary Calabar, explains the fluidity and thriving nature of masquerade by analyzing the ways in which masking is steeped in economic transaction and how street performances have become more public and spatially calculated. By unraveling the urban layers of masquerade arts and their performances, this book shows how so-called traditional culture gains new roles or currencies within a contemporary, city-based context"--
• "Driving into urban Calabar, one is struck by two imposing, monumental rectangular columns, operating not unlike ancient triumphal arches, framing the entrance into Nigeria's capital city of the Cross River State. Relief carvings of Calabar's renowned masking characters adorn the monument. The icons, dramatically captured in choreographic poses, freezing the maskers in time, enshrine masquerade as the city's heritage and past identity. Far from being merely 'traditional' and relegated to an earlier time, the Calabar-based masquerades explored in this book demonstrate a contemporary and global context indicitive of the changing patterns of city life. While the topic of cultural change is not necessarily new to African art history and cultural studies, few scholars or writers have attempted to understand why African arts so readily change. This book, the first full-length monograph addressing contemporary art in Calabar, explains the fluidity and thriving nature of masquerade by analyzing the ways in which masking is steeped in economic transaction and how street performances have become more public and spatially calculated. By unraveling the urban layers of masquerade arts and their performances, this book shows how so-called traditional culture gains new roles or currencies within a contemporary, city-based context"--

Series Statement

Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora, 1092-5228 ; 95

Uniform Title

Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora ; v. 95.

Subject

• Masquerades > Calabar
• Masquerades > Economic aspects > Calabar
• Performing arts > Social aspects > Calabar
• Mascarades > Calabar
• Mascarades > Aspect économique > Calabar
• Arts du spectacle > Aspect social > Calabar
• Masquerades
• Performing arts > Social aspects
• Nigeria > Calabar

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-373) and index.

Contents

(from table of contents) Preface -- (Setting the urban stage). Introduction, Masquerade as an Artistic Pulse of the City -- "Face No Fear Face": Unmasking Youths -- (Space). "If they Burn it Down, We will Build it Even Larger": Confrontations of Space -- "People Hear at Night": Sounds and Secrecy of Nocturnal Performance -- "Idagha Chieftaincy was Nothing like what it is today": The Spectacle of Public Performance -- (Money). "We Call it Change": An Artistic Profile of Artist Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa -- "Look at it, Touch it, Smell it-this is Nnabo": Trajectories and Transformations of "Warrior" Societies -- "For this Small Money, I No Go Enter Competition": Masquerade Competition on a Global Stage -- (Local voices). "I know Myself": Masquerade as an Artistic Transformation -- Coda: "I Think About my Kids and Feeding Them".

ISBN

• 9781648250262
• 1648250262
• 9781800104211 (canceled/invalid)
• 9781800104228 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2021040681

OCLC

• on1262797802
• 1262797802
• SCSB-14343900

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries