The document discusses how ideas of racial inferiority have influenced Western conceptions of Africa's past and how historians now seek alternative sources such as African oral traditions, languages, artifacts, and art to understand African history from an African perspective rather than a European one. It also describes how sources less influenced by European notions of racial difference, like African art, can provide insight into understanding African peoples and their past on their own terms.

1. Approaching
Africa
ART 299
Spring 2012

2. As students of African art begin to consider the African past, they must
also consider how Western conceptions of "race" and "racial"
difference have influenced our notions of the African past. These
ideas, which have usually contrasted the presumed inferiority of
black peoples with the superiority of whites, arose in Western societies
as Europeans sought to justify their enslavement of Africans and the
subsequent colonization of Africa. Historians now recognize that
ideas of racial inferiority have inspired the belief that in the past
African peoples lived in a state of primitive barbarism. At the same
time, they have realized that many of the European writings which
they use to reconstruct the African past -- such as accounts by
nineteenth-century missionaries and travelers, for example -- are
themselves tainted by these same notions of African inferiority.
—James Giblin

3. Jean-Michel
Basquiat
Hollywood
Africans
1983

5. Trayvon Martin photographed in a hoodie
David Hammons, In the ‘Hood, 1993

6. This realization has led historians to seek out alternative
sources of information less influenced by European
preoccupation with racial difference. These alternative
sources include writings by Africans (which are found in
only a few portions of Sub-Saharan Africa before the
twentieth century), the much fuller bodies of oral
tradition which are found throughout Africa, the
vocabularies and structures of African languages
themselves, and the physical artifacts uncovered by
archaeologists. African art is also one of these
alternative sources of information. Like the other
alternative sources, it helps us to understand African
history not from the standpoint of Europeans, but from
the perspective of Africans themselves.
—James Giblin

8. The Sahara Desert stretches 3000 miles across northern Africa - from the Atlantic
ocean in the west to the Red Sea on the east. Its width spans from the
Mediterranean Sea on the north and extends 1200 miles to the south to central
Africa. It covers an area of approximately 3.5 million square miles, occupying
portions of Morocco, Western
Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Ethiopa, Eri
trea and Somalia..

9. Part I
North Africa

11. Take a moment to look at the geography of North Africa on this topographic map

12. Unique Geographical Features
of North Africa
• Coastline (on the Mediterranean sea)
• Sahara Desert (arid)—an ocean of
sand
• The Sahel (semiarid)—capable of
sustaining pasturage or small-scale
crops, in places
• Mountains (The Atlas Mountain range)

13. Unique Cultural Features of
North Africa
• Strong Islamic presence
• History of Islamic rule
• Arabic language
• Islamic religious forms
• Strong European presence, particularly French
• French language
• Morocco drew many US writers, like Paul and Jane
Bowles, William S. Burroughs
• Significant number of prominent French intellectuals are
from Algeria: Albert Camus, Louis Althusser, Hélène
Cixous, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Rancière
• Existing nomadic peoples (generally referred
to as the Berbers)

15. Kasbah, Morocco

16. Koran created for Sharifi Sultan Abd‘
Allah IbnMuhummad, c. 1568

17. Marrakech, Morocco
Al ‗Badi Palace

18. Great Mosque, Tangier
Begun under Sultan Mouley Ismail, 17thc.

20. Tangier, Morocco
Sultan‘s Palace

21. Detail of tilework, Sultan‘s palace

23. Fez, Morocco

24. Fez, aerial view of the Medina

31. Rimonim
(Torah scroll
ornaments), sil
ver, produced
in Fez

33. Atlas mountains

37. Right: Terraced farming
Above: Beverages kept chilled
for sale in the High
Atlas, Morocco

39. City of Meknes, Morocco

40. The Traveling
Tuareg
southward
through the
Sahel to West
Africa
ARTH 115
Spring 2009

41. Area of Tuareg people

42. Tuareg people, fleeing drought in Mali; photo taken in 1974, southern Algeria

43. Sand Dunes in the Sahara
Tuareg man

44. ―Great Eastern Sand Sea,‖ Algeria

45. Above: Oasis, Sahara, Algeria
Left: Mski Oasis, Sahara, Morocco

46. Taghit Oasis and Township, Sahara, North Africa

47. Relating Aesthetics to Way of
Life
• Tuareg art is:
– Portable (nomadic people)
• Lightweight materials and small objects
– Useful
• virtually everything that is carried is
ornamented, but nothing is carried that has no
function)
– Designed for beauty in motion

48. Tuareg, perfumed powder container, late 19th/early 20thc.

49. Tuareg, Box to Hold Tea Glasses, late 19thc.

50. Tuareg, Treasure Box, late 19th c., silver and brass, 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.

51. Tuareg, all-purpose tool, 20thc.

52. Tuareg, sugar hammer, silver, late 19th/early 20thc.

53. Traditional cone of sugar

54. Tuareg, Knife and Sheath, c. 1950

55. Tuareg, Assroun’swoul. What might this object be used for?

56. Tuareg woman Tuareg man

57. Tuareg, Assroun’swoul(robe weight), late 19th/early 20thc.

58. Tuareg, Assroun‘swoul (robe weight), 20thc.

59. Tuareg men in traditional garb
Tuareg, camel saddle

60. Tuareg, leath
erwork, came
l saddlebag

61. Tuareg, l
eather-
work,
pillow
covers

62. Tuareg, panel or cushion cover, 19thc., cotton

63. Part II
Central Africa

65. Key Cultural Groups from
Central Africa:
The Chokwe
Chibinda Ilunga
mid-19th century
Africa, northeastern
Angola, Chokwe people
Wood, hair, and hide
16 x 6 x 6 in. (40.6 x 15.2 x 15.2
cm)

66. Key Cultural Groups from Central Africa:
The Chokwe
Chokwe (people)
ChibindaIlunga (type of
figure)
He is a royal ancestor of the Chokwe
people. ChibindaIlunga became a culture
hero and model for Chokwe chiefs
because of his great hunting and
leadership skills.
What qualities of good leadership and
manhood are represented here?
ChibindaIlunga
How are these traits visible in the form of Figure, 19th–20th century
the figure? Chokwe Angola
Wood

67. Key Cultural Groups from Central Africa:
The Kongo
Kongo (people)
NkisiNkonde (type of figure)
NkisiNkonde
20th century
Kongopeople
[today: live in Zaire]
wood, iron, mirror, clay

68. Nkisi Nkonde Figures (plural: Minkinsi
Minkonde)
• Each blade and
nail in the figure
represents a kind
of contract
between two
parties. The
nkisinkondeserves
as a powerful
witness who holds
the parties to their
agreement.

70. •The nkisinkondeexpresses the idea of
captured forces held under control. It
is only powerful, however, when filled
with ‗medicines‘ or magical
ingredients (known as bilongo).
• A ritual specialist (known as a
nganga), would construct these
objects and select the appropriate
bilongoto fill their concealed cavities.