Fa 210 nkisi #4 1
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Transcript of Fa 210 nkisi #4 1
What do you see?
• Describe what this looks like. • What materials is this made of? • What form does it take? • What sort of feeling does it give you? • What func;on might you imagine this object has?
• What inferences might you derive about the society this came from? Why?
Bakongo people
Modern day: Democra;c Republic of Congo; Angola; Republic of Congo, possibly Zaire
Bakongo (Kongo) people • Populated area ca. 500 BC • Part of the Bantu ethnic group • Kongo Kingdom established 15th century AD • Early sub-‐Saharan converts to Chris;anity due to Portuguese trading partners.
• Syncre;c blend of Chris;anity and tradi;onal religion.
• Most minkisi in Western museums taken by Western military and missionaries in 1800s
Historic images
Some Vocabulary • Nkisi (plural, minkisi) • Nganga – healer, priest who makes minkisi and embues them with power.
• Bakulu – souls of recently deceased • Simbi – powerful guardians of places, like mountains, rivers, districts; some;mes thought to be souls of long-‐deceased.
• N’kondi – literally, hunter • Animism – worldview that non-‐human en;;es (animals, objects, etc.) possess spiritual essence.
Early Western Interpreta;ons “When missionaries and travelers of the past encountered fe;shes in the numerous villages and towns of the lower Congo, their judgments of these specific African works of art were unanimous. These "devil images" (Dapper, 1676; Merolla, 1683) "rudely carved in wood and covered with dirty rags" (J. K. Tuckey, 1816) were "ferocious in appearance" (H. M. Stanley, 1895). Lieutenant]. K. Tuckey compared them with "scarecrows" and the Catholic and Bap;st missionaries at the end of the 19th century considered them "indecent" (J. H. Weeks, W. H. Bentley) or "frankly obscene" (A. J. Wauters).” From text by Zdenka Volavkova
Nkisi (plural, minkisi)
the name of the thing we use to help a person when that person is sick and from which we obtain health; the name refers to leaves and medicines combined together... It is also call nkisi because there is one to protect the human soul... The nkisi has life; if it had
not, how could it heal and help people? But the life of an nkisi is different from the life in people. It is such that one can damage its flesh..., burn it, break it, or throw it away; but it will not bleed or cry out... nkisi has an inex;nguishable life coming from a source.
Nsemi Isaki, 1900
Nkisi Nkondi • Late 19th century,
• Brooklyn Museum of Art
Kozo, double-‐headed dog nkisi
Contemporary prac;ce:
• Some types of minkisi: • Nkisi Ngombo (divina;on) • Nkisi Mpodi (cupping horn for purifica;on) • Nkisi Nkondi (conflict
resolu;on) • Nkisi Lunga (for healing broken bones) • Many others
Nkisi Mpolo • The “cupping horn” is used to suck impurity from the Body through a cut made in the skin.