Search results for ""author allen f. roberts""
Indiana University Press A Dance of Assassins: Performing Early Colonial Hegemony in the Congo
A Dance of Assassins presents the competing histories of how Congolese Chief Lusinga and Belgian Lieutenant Storms engaged in a deadly clash while striving to establish hegemony along the southwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika in the 1880s. While Lusinga participated in the east African slave trade, Storms' secret mandate was to meet Henry Stanley's eastward march and trace "a white line across the Dark Continent" to legitimize King Leopold's audacious claim to the Congo. Confrontation was inevitable, and Lusinga lost his head. His skull became the subject of a sinister evolutionary treatise, while his ancestral figure is now considered a treasure of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Allen F. Roberts reveals the theatricality of early colonial encounter and how it continues to influence Congolese and Belgian understandings of history today.
£23.39
Five Continents Editions Luba: Visions of Africa
This image-filled book features outstanding works of Luba art from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Major themes addressed include the role of visual and performance arts in Luba traditional politics; the symbolism of the female image and why 'the king is a woman' for Luba; the instrumentality of royal insignia in politics, problem-solving, and healing; and the use of art objects in the creation and transmission of historical knowledge in both the Luba heartland and its peripheries. Case studies from the authors' long research among Luba, Tabwa, and related peoples of Congo will illuminate the complex philosophical underpinnings of Luba through visual expression.
£25.16
Fowler Museum At Ucla Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths
For more than two millennia, African blacksmiths have transformed one of Earth’s most basic natural resources into objects of life-changing utility, empowerment, prestige, spiritual potency, and astonishing artistry—shaping African cultures in the most fundamental ways. Striking Iron combines interdisciplinary scholarship with vivid illustrations to offer the most comprehensive treatment to date of the blacksmith’s art in sub-Saharan Africa. Interspersed throughout are photographs of more than 250 diverse works from over 100 ethnic groups—including tools, blades, currencies, wood sculptures studded with iron, musical instruments, and accoutrements—with field photographs documenting blacksmiths at work and objects in use. Seventeen contributors write from the disciplinary perspectives of art history, art, anthropology, archaeology, history, and astronomy, examining how the blacksmiths’ virtuosity can harness powers of the natural and spiritual worlds, effect change and ensure protection, assist with life’s challenges and transitions, and enhance the efficacies of sacred acts. Exhibition dates: Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, November 19, 2019, to March 29, 2020
£60.30
