Art History of the Poro among the Senufo People of Ivory Coast - Essay Example

Art History of the Poro among the Senufo people of Ivory Coast. The Senufo people originate from Ivory Coast. This tribe has a segregation of men called the Poro. The group, mainly consisting of young men, belongs to different job specialization units such as farmers, smiths and ornament makers. The segregation mainly serves to teach these young men ways of the society and initiate them into adulthood. As described later, there happens to be names that refer to these young men. An individual can be called a colo, whereas the members can be referred to as colobele. The Poro live and work together. At times, they can join the rest of the society during rituals and masquerades. They move from one grove section in the village to another and camp at groves, which become recognised as initiation posts. The forest can also be considered a grove. The Senufo people have a secret society of men called the Poro with the members called Colobele and one member called a Colo. This society has different age grades which have differing responsibilities. According to Forster, the minor age group consists of men aged 20 years (Forster, 1993). A more senior Poro tests the younger age grade by asking them “passwords” using the secret language of the society. The age group above the junior Poro also teaches the junior Poro the work they should do. In the farmer’s category, the junior Poro carry out tasks in the field where they are not allowed to speak to other members in the village. When comparing the two, Glaze (1986) mainly focuses on the ceremonial activities. She explains activities such as the initiation ceremony. As per her explanation, the junior Poro use their masks to story tell. This activity by Poro happens to be the only similarity in the activities between Glaze’s and Forster’s explanation. The Poro practice different activities in their daily routine. Some of these practises have a spiritual inclination, whereas others have a practical inclination. The activities described by Glaze have the spiritual inclination (Glaze, 1986). These revolve around rituals such as initiation, funerals and use of masquerades. Those described by Forster seek practical solutions such as food, making equipment and ornaments. Forster also goes on to describe spiritual activities such as dancing in the masks (Forster, 1993). The spiritual activities have ceremonies such as initiation whereby procedures with a symbolic meaning occur. For the practical procedures, goals such as obtaining food, making equipment and ornaments happen to be the main objective. The Senufo people have various forms of art which they use in their daily practises and rituals. Their most common form of art is the head mask. The Poro mainly use the head mask when dancing. According to Forster, the head mask symbolises the useful raw materials in the society (Forster, 1993). It can be made of wood, fibre and pigment which can all be found with their locality. This goes on to show that the society prides itself with their natural environment. Another art form practised is the use of the head dress worn by the colo with the biggest mound of soil during hoeing. This symbolises the winner of the mound piling contest by the farming colo in the Poro. The winner becomes respected for the rest of his life due to this achievement. Other than head masks and head dresses, carvings happen to be another significant art form. For instance a carving, known as the tefalapica, mounted on a stick becomes implanted into the earth mound of the most persevering colo. These art forms mainly revolve around farming. While Foster focusses mainly on the farming poro, Glaze specializes on the ceremonial activities of the Senufo, and describes several other art forms (Glaze, 1986). She describes a helmet mask which becomes worn during masquerades. Different helmet masks have different meanings. For example, one of the helmet masks symbolises death. Glaze also recognises the use of carving as an art form (Glaze, 1986). According to her observance, the carvings mainly come in twos which represents both the male and female genders. In the Senufo culture, music has a central role in almost all events. In the art forms discussed above, musicians usually perform in the earth mound contests. The colo with the highest and biggest mound becomes honored by a musician who places his musical instrument on top of the mound. The tefalapica also becomes used during this earth mound contest. The head mask and helmet mask which become used during dancing practises incorporate music. Without the music, the dancing would be meaningless. The pair of carvings, which represent the, male and female genders become utilised in all forms of celebrations including initiation and masquerades. The Senufo people often hold masquerades mainly performed by males. This does not necessarily mean that women become excluded from them. Women also have roles in the masquerades. According to Glaze, a female masquerade plays her role by placing her horsetail dancing whisk on a chief as a show of honour (Glaze, 1986). Older women dance with face masks of younger people to show honor. Forster does not explain the role of women in masquerade which goes on to show that women’s place in them happens to be extremely minimal. In Forster's point of view, young girls provide food during earth mound contests which can only be eaten after the contest (Forster, 1993). Even so, the girls cannot be found anywhere near the contest when it takes place. After the contest, the colobele can interact with the girls. Poro tradition involves the coming together of the colobele when carrying out communal work. The colobele also have competitions whereby an individual’s capability becomes tested. This makes the responsibility of the Poro divergent. For example, in the earth mound contest, the emphasis becomes focused on individuality. On the other hand, the emphasis becomes focused on the colobele as a Poro in regard to working in the fields. The competition between the colobele has less emphasis than the communal work done by the all the colobele in the Poro. This goes on to show that the prestige of the group has more emphasis than an individual’s achievement. The masquerade is featured in almost all the rituals of the Senufo people. They are valuable as they represent achievement over time. During funerals, they can be used to illustrate the social achievements of the deceased especially if they were elders. According to Forster, the burial ceremony lasts for days. The Poro take part in these masquerades, and during the mourning period, belief has it that the departed is both alive and dead. Given that the society is African, dance in all their rituals happens to be important. they make use of colourful clothing in order to spice things up. Rituals among the Senufo people are carried out in a unique way. Some rituals such as burials have certain dress codes that portray different meanings. The masquerades have their unique dress code. This variety of clothing in different rituals has a high visual appealing. The visual appealing seeks to catch the attention of the attendee in order to inform or teach them. It would be appropriate to refer to the ritual perfomances as aesthetic experiences. These aesthetic experiences make ritual appealing and also serve to educate. In addition, the different modes of clothing worn symbolise essential elements of the society. It would be inappropriate to refer to the rituals as purely aesthetic experiences. However, it would make more sense to refer to them as aesthetic experiences with a deeper meaning. References Forster, T. “Senufo Masking and the Art of Poro.” African Arts 26, 1 (1993): 30-41, 101 Glaze, A. “Dialectics of Gender in Senufo Masquerades.” African Arts 19, 3 (1986): 30-39, 82 Read More