Examines the economic and spatial importance of performance arts in West
Africa through a close analysis of the masquerade culture of Calabar,
the capital city of Nigeria's Cross River State.
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 indicative 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.
