Overview

The helmet-shaped mapiko masks of Mozambique have garnered admiration from African art scholars and collectors alike, due to their striking aesthetics and their grotesque allure. This book restores to mapiko its historic and artistic context, charting in detail the transformations of this masquerading tradition throughout the twentieth century. Based on field research spanning seven years, this study shows how mapiko has undergone continuous reinvention by visionary individuals, has diversified into genres with broad generational appeal, and has enacted historical events and political engagements. This dense history of creativity and change has been sustained by a culture of competition deeply ingrained within the logic of ritual itself. The desire to outshine rivals on the dance ground drives performers to search for the new, the astonishing, and the topical. It is this spirit of rivalry and one-upmanship that keeps mapiko attuned to the times that it traverses. In Step with the Times is illustrated with vibrant photographs of mapiko masks and performances. It marks the most radical attempt to date to historicize an African performative tradition.

Full Product Details

Author:   Paolo Israel
Publisher:   Ohio University Press
Imprint:   Ohio University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.522kg
ISBN:  

9780821420881

ISBN 10:   0821420887
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   01 June 2014
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

* List of Illustrations * Acknowledgments * Note on Language * Introduction: Rhythms of Change * Part One Directions * Chapter 1: The War of Sexes The Colonial Library and Its Afterlife * Chapter 2: Passage, Secrecy, Rivalry An Excursion into Anthropological Theory * Part Two Cosmopolitanism (1917-62) * Chapter 3: Meat Is Meat Modernism in the Aftermath of Slavery * Chapter 4: Masters of Play Late-Colonial Aesthetics and Practice * Chapter 5: Lowland Nights Ambivalence in the Face of Death * Chapter 6: Migrant Tunes On the Threshold of Nationalism * Part Three Revolution (1962-92) * Chapter 7: Ten Years of War Shaping the People * Chapter 8: Youth Power Villages, Festivals, and Rivals * Chapter 9: Faceless Spirits The Rise and Fall of Feminist Masquerades * Part Four After Socialism (1992-2009) * Chapter 10: Don't Go Astray Democracy and Disorder * Chapter 11: Puppets and Machetes Boys in a Wild World * Epilogue: Resurrections * Notes * Glossary of Shimakonde Terms * Mapiko Genres and Other Dance Genres * Makonde Drums and Other Musical Instruments * Bibliography * Index

Reviews

The insights, humour and rich linguistic material throughout In Step with the Times fuel that amazing rush one gets when reading a truly exceptional work. Israel cleverly guides us through layers upon layers of history, change, invention and reinvention in the creative artistry, choreography, songs and performances of scores of groups and hundreds of people over a broad region, both on and off the Makonde plateau. It is truly a tour de force. Canadian Journal of African Studies

Countless authors have written about Mapiko, invariably contributing to its mythologization. But none have accomplished what Paolo Israel has, namely to produce a cultural history of Mapiko?-?including its plastic elements (the masks worn by Mapiko dancers) as well as its performative elements (dance, drumming, and lyrics). For this alone, Dr. Israel's work is worth reading. - Harry West, professor of anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and author of Kupilikula: Governance and the Invisible Realm in Mozambique The insights, humour and rich linguistic material throughout In Step with the Times fuel that amazing rush one gets when reading a truly exceptional work. Israel...cleverly guides us through layers upon layers of history, change, invention and reinvention in the creative artistry, choreography, songs and performances of scores of groups and hundreds of people over a broad region, both on and off the Makonde plateau. It is truly a tour de force. -Canadian Journal of African Studies All readers will be mesmerized by Israel's attention to detail, ability to flesh out the mood of each period under study, and explanation of how the Makonde represented that mood and what was going on in their daily lives through the characters they brought to life through mapiko. -Kronos ...Both innovative and liberating...Israel has produced a remarkably well-written, thoroughly researched, and fantastically valuable book vividly detailing ongoing transmogrifications of the persistent cultural tradition(s) of mapiko. ...The book deserves a much wider readership than those interested in performance, political history, and memory in sub-Saharan Africa. -Canadian Journal of History

Countless authors have written about Mapiko, invariably contributing to its mythologization. But none have accomplished what Paolo Israel has, namely to produce a cultural history of Mapiko?--?including its plastic elements (the masks worn by Mapiko dancers) as well as its performative elements (dance, drumming, and lyrics). For this alone, Dr. Israel's work is worth reading. -- Harry West, professor of anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and author of Kupilikula: Governance and the Invisible Realm in Mozambique

Author Information

Paolo Israel is a senior lecturer in history at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He has written extensively about Mozambican expressive cultures, political ethnicity, and witchcraft.

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