Masquerades As the Public Face Art of Contemporary Hunters’ Associations in Western Burkina Faso

Masquerades as the Public Face Art of Contemporary Hunters’ Associations in Western Burkina Faso

Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi all photos by the author except where otherwise noted

ebruary 25, 2007, Kankalaba, Burkina Faso. Lively warthog masqueraders wore loose bodysuits like the little mask. music by popular Malian musician Molobaly Keita However, instead of a cloth face covering, they wore wooden blared through speakers perched in a mango tree headdresses carved to resemble heads of a roan antelope and in the center of the rural, Senufo-speaking town. warthog, respectively. Hunters accompanied the two masquer- Midmorning, my research associate Ouattara aders, and each masquerader-hunter pair crouched several times Dahaba and I watched local community members before entering the performance area. assemble in the open, dusty area around the tree. We awaited The masquerade unfolded in open space beneath the mango visitsF from members of Sesakinoufo, a Versailles, France-based tree and among the crowd, as performers looked for opportu- association dedicated to helping children in western Burkina nities to entertain or honor people in the audience. The little Faso, and from three masqueraders belonging to the dozo ton mask and hunter accompanying the masquerader often min- (sg.; dozo tonw, pl. in Mande Jula, the lingua franca) or hunters’ gled with the audience, stopping to sit with twin babies and the association of the neighboring town Noumoussoba (Fig. 1). woman with them, inspect a motorbike in need of repair, or beg The amplified music stopped shortly after 11 am. Musicians for money (Fig. 3). The roan antelope and warthog masquer- from the area prepared their instruments, including a rasp, flute, aders greeted certain people in the crowd, but they interacted rattles, and a harp lute known as ngoni. A hunter fired a single less directly with the audience throughout the performance gunshot to signal the performance’s start. Accompanied by a (Figs. 4–5). The masqueraders wearing wooden helmet masks Noumoussoba hunter, a masquerader emerged from the wooded instead took turns dancing to the musicians’ rhythms within area at the bottom of a knoll just beyond the performance area. the clearing, demonstrating their fast footwork or abilities to Called lodeni, or “little mask,” the masquerader wore a face cov- twirl without spilling a headdress. Once, the warthog masquer- ering and loose bodysuit made from dark brown, locally pro- ader dropped to the ground and imitated a warthog digging for duced cotton cloth. Porcupine quills burst from the brow of the food. The trio of masqueraders and hunters accompanying them performer’s face covering, leather and cowries trace the eyes repeatedly crouched to the ground in front of certain people and nose, and an oval of white leather marks the mouth. Before in the audience to show humility, assert goodwill, or recognize climbing the gentle incline to the performance area, the mas- especially prominent people in the crowd. querader-hunter pair stopped and crouched before continuing. Hunters’ masquerades in western Burkina Faso are multi- They stopped and crouched a second time as they reached the sensory performances that amuse crowds and strengthen hunters’ top of the incline (Fig. 2). The pair approached the musicians, relations with the public. Hunters’ associations sponsor events to then stopped and crouched again to greet the band and show greet important community members, welcome foreign visitors, their respect for the musicians’ skill. campaign for prominent politicians, honor deceased colleagues, Two additional masqueraders—dajè (“roan antelope”) and lè or acknowledge hunters’ renewed commitments to each other and (“warthog”)—followed the little mask out of the wooded area a local dozo ton. The number and type of performances a single (cf. Bailleul 1981:131, Arnoldi 1995:53). The roan antelope and hunters’ association may stage in any year varies according to invi-

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 46 8/23/13 2:27 AM tations or requests to perform it receives, its inclination to perform within a given context, or resources available to support its bringing out the masks it owns. An association further considers specific circumstances or wishes of patrons when tailoring a daytime or nighttime performance. Hunters typically sponsor masquerades between February and May, when late dry-season temperatures are warm enough for audiences to stay outside and before the fatigue and heavy precipitation associated with the rainy season have begun. There is no steadfast rule, however, and a masquerade may take place anytime during the year. The pace and choreography of each masquerade is shaped by the reason for a particular performance as well as its location, staging, and duration. Performers’ energy levels or hunters’ perceptions of audience’s reactions to the event also are factors that influence the masquerade. Speeches from Kankalaba’s authorities thanking the visitors from Versailles for their donations to the town’s school distinguished the February 2007 performance and impacted the event’s program. Performers emerged from the wooded area just as vans carrying the French donors drove into the town. After dancing for about an hour, performers retreated to the wooded area. Shortly before the speeches ended, the masqueraders qui- etly emerged from the wooded area. They greeted the musicians and waited at the edge of the crowd so that they would be ready to start dancing as soon as the oration ended. In an interview after the Kankalaba performance, Coulibaly Missa, a well-known hunter from Noumoussoba and the performance’s director, explained that he had deliberately managed the timing of transitions. He implied that he had wished to maintain the French donors’ enthusiasm for the event while respecting local performance practices. Coulibaly ensured masqueraders had sufficient time to greet musicians prior to dancing, honoring

1 Map showing the research area for this study in western burkina Faso and within the larger three- corner region created by the nation-state borders of burkina Faso, côte d’ivoire, and Mali. illustrator: Michael c. Johnston, april 2010

2 little mask cloth masquerader of the noumoussoba hunters’ association and accompanying noumoussoba hunter crouching before entering the performance space. Mask prepared by ouattara souleymane sanga’an. performer unidentified. Kankalaba, province of léraba, burkina Faso, Febru- ary 27, 2007.

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 47 8/23/13 2:27 AM 3 little mask cloth masquerader of the noumoussoba hunters’ association (right) inspecting a motorbike while the motorbike’s operator (center) and hunter accompanying the little mask (left) watch. Mask prepared by ouattara souleymane sanga’an. performer unidentified. Kankalaba, province of léraba, burkina Faso, February 25, 2007.

to flaunt his skill among his peers could transform a human bystander into an animal to capture and kill. Ouattara understood that his father wanted to protect his children from such a fate. In formal interviews and casual conversations, people in western Burkina Faso repeatedly distinguished activities of today’s dozow from activities of earlier hunters.2 They said hunters’ activities have shifted in recent decades. Elder dozow a respectful practice that local audiences expect from any mas- and non-dozow alike recalled that young hunters previously querader or other individual whose remarkable skill could pro- dedicated years to apprenticing with master hunters, learning to voke jealousy or fuel rivalry.1 observe dangerous animals and navigate the wilderness alone or The February 2007 performance of Noumoussoba hunters in in small groups. Hunters of the past also developed skills to help Kankalaba offers just one example of a dynamic art that allows non-hunters by distributing meat, securing communities from hunters to respond to singular contexts and mobilize support threats of wild animals, or using their knowledge of divination, within and beyond their local communities. In Noumoussoba plants, and other locally available resources to help heal people’s and other towns, western Burkinabe hunters have invested in illnesses and afflictions. an art that resonates with and innovates upon locally familiar Hunters’ success also depended on their abilities to manage visual strategies. They continue to develop the art today, and nyama (in the Mande Jula language) or nyàmbe (in the Senufo Noumoussoba hunters reportedly added to their repertoire as Sìcìté language), an invisible energy that people told me exists recently as 2011 a mask of tankon or “hartebeest,” a large antelope in an animal and is released when the animal is killed. Failure to with curved horns (cf. Binger 1892:81, Travélé 1913:246, Arnoldi counter an animal’s nyama was understood to result in disfigure- 1995:53). ment, disease, or other misfortune for either the hunter respon- Hunters’ masquerades reinforce hunters’ image as highly sible for taking an animal’s life or for a member of his family. This trained specialists with unparalleled knowledge of how to navi- definition arose consistently during interviews, but the complex gate dangerous, uninhabited places and kill formidable wild ani- term refers to more than the energy released only when an animal mals. Yet, recent investments in masquerades also coincide with is killed. Many scholars and other writers have explored the term’s hunters’ efforts since the 1980s to institute a network of town- meanings; the linguist Charles Bird compellingly defines nyama as based dozo tonw in a campaign to position themselves as orga- “energy of action” (Camara and Bird 1974:vii–ix).3 nized pursuers of thieves and protectors of the common good The impression that hunters of the past developed exceptional within and beyond their local communities. As a result, western knowledge and managed dangerous energies was reinforced by Burkinabe hunters designed an art that, while referring to their the way that they reportedly returned to town after killing an hunterly identities, functions as public relations initiatives to animal known to release potent nyama. As a successful hunter engage local, national, and international audiences and encour- and his companions approached a town with their game, they age broad support. whistled to announce their return. Women and children recognized the sounds as instructions to take shelter in order to avoid Western BurkinaBe Hunters Before tHe 1980s injury as the nyama-laden animal entered town.4 Hunters in western Burkina Faso turned to masquerade in the Widespread perception of hunters as individuals who worked 1980s and 1990s to draw crowds and generate support. In part, in uninhabited spaces, transformed humans into animals, and hunters sought to alleviate fear that generated from their abili- managed vital energies rendered hunters nearly indistinguish- ties to manage strong energies and take life, a fear that deterred able from sorcerers—individuals who manipulate materials and people from attending hunters’ gatherings. My research asso- energies to achieve ends that may heal or cause harm. Similar ciate Ouattara Dahaba recalled that his father admonished the to other specialists known for their guarded knowledge, hunters young Ouattara and his siblings to avoid hunters’ gatherings. cultivated skills to help individuals and communities, but they He remembers his father explaining that a hunter who wanted also could use their skills to cause harm. Therefore, wariness of

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 48 8/23/13 2:27 AM hunters’ abilities prevented crowds from gathering when earlier the mid-1990s and continue today. generations of hunters performed. Documents in Coulibaly’s personal archive also demonstrate Coulibaly Laty Honoré, a blacksmith who lived in Noumous- that members of the Burkinabe Benkadi launched campaigns soba before moving to the town of Baguèra, facilitated Noumous- to promote sound hunting practices and compliance with state soba hunters’ mid-1980s acquisition of their first masks with his permit, anti-poaching, and reporting laws. The documents also hunter friend Traoré Laty. In a 2007 interview, the men recalled show that, from the time the organization was founded, Ben- that fear of hunters’ weapons and sounds of gunfire scared peo- kadi members pursued activities in addition to hunting animals.5 ple, deterring attendance at hunters’ gatherings. Perceptions Benkadi’s statues and bylaws of the mid-1980s specify that the changed when hunters introduced masquerades. According to organization intended to protect property, especially the cows Coulibaly Laty Honoré and Traoré Laty, even though hunters that herders were accused of stealing from farmers. Hunters still shoot their guns and arouse fear during masquerades, the also conducted arms censuses and participated in campaigns for masqueraders grab and hold people’s attention. environmental conservation, at times under the auspices of such international organizations as the World Bank (World Bank from Hunters of animals into Hunters of tHieves 1995; cf. Hagberg 1998:226–31, 2004). As hunters’ roles in their communities evolved at the end Meanwhile, similar movements were underway elsewhere in of the twentieth century, hunters invested in masquerades to West Africa.6 Burkinabe hunters declared their intent to work engage local, national, transnational, and international audi- with “les associations sœurs” or sister organizations to recover sto- ences. Increasing game depletion and growing security concerns len livestock (L’Association Benkadi de Dakoro n.d. b, Article 3). in the 1980s and 1990s prompted hunters to transform their skills Hunters’ associations across the region continued to evolve and and work primarily as hunters of a growing number of thieves respond to growing security concerns. By the time armed conflict rather than hunters of diminishing numbers of game (cf. Hell- weg 2001, 2009, 2011; Bassett 2003, 2005). Noumoussoba hunters were among the first hunters in western Burkina Faso to invest 4 roan antelope masquerader of the noumous- in masks when, in the mid-1980s, they acquired and brought to soba hunters’ association dancing in front of local community members and foreign donors. wooden their town the little mask and roan antelope mask. Hunters’ mas- helmet mask sculpted by ouattara Konomba, pre- querades flourished as hunters continued to form town-based pared by ouattara souleymane sanga’an. performer dozo tonw and develop their own masquerades. unidentified. Kankalaba.p rovince of léraba, burkina Faso, February 25, 2007. According to elders, hunters, and other people who were in their thirties by 2005, dozow in Burkina Faso today differ from their predecessors. People explained that Burkinabe dozow have become more formally organized, expanded their activities, adopted new forms of dress, and sponsored masquerades. They also collaborate with dozow across national borders. Burkina Faso’s state-run newspaper Sidwaya and people in Burkina Faso’s western provinces generally credited hunter Coulibaly Tiéfing with leading the transformation of western Burkinabe hunters in the 1980s and 1990s (see Sidwaya 2002; cf. Hagberg 2004, 2006, 2007). In forging a stronger, more cohesive organization in the 1980s, Coulibaly Tiéfing worked with other hunters and Burki- nabe politician and international diplomat Traoré Mélégué. Documents dating to the 1980s and 1990s in Coulibaly Tiéf- ing’s personal archive, held in 2007 by his since-deceased son, indicate that the elder Coulibaly and his colleagues sought to create a government-recognized umbrella association named Benkadi. In his analyses of hunters’ associations in Côte d’Ivoire, anthropologist Joseph Hellweg translates benkadi as “agreement is sweet.” Hellweg also notes that hunters’ associations in Mali and Côte d’Ivoire have referred to themselves as Benkadi (Hell- weg 2001). By using this name, Burkinabe hunters highlighted their commitment to solidarity within and beyond Burkina Faso. Despite Coulibaly Tiéfing’s and Traoré Mélégué’s efforts to form a single, nationwide network of hunters’ associations, the Burkinabe government never officially recognized the umbrella organization. Coulibaly’s authority over Burkinabe hunters and unwavering solidarity also did not prove absolute (Hagberg 2004, 2007). Different and at times competing claims to authority among dozo tonw and within a single dozo ton emerged by

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 49 8/23/13 2:27 AM 5 warthog masquerader of the noumoussoba hunters’ association crouching to greet an arriving audience member. wooden helmet mask sculpted and painted by coulibaly n’gartina. performer unidentified. Kankalaba,p rovince of léraba, burkina Faso, February 25, 2007.

Masquerades, sponsored by some but not all town-based dozo tonw in western Burkina Faso, have contributed to hunters’ associations’ ability to generate enthusiasm for their work while also reinforcing dozow identities as hunters of dangerous animals. By investing in arts that evoke “traditional” identities—even if “invented” (Hobsbawm 1983), “refabu- lated” (Roberts and Roberts 2003:41), or “reimagined” (Jansen 2008a:252, 264)— and insisting on their image as hunters of animals, Burkinabe hunters reinforce per- erupted within Côte d’Ivoire on September 19, 2002, dozow regu- ceptions of hunters as specialists who work beyond town and city larly traversed geopolitical borders and assisted their counterparts borders to harness diverse sources of power, including nyama. in northern Côte d’Ivoire in activities other than recovering stolen As anthropologist Mariane Ferme has observed in the case of livestock. Within the politically charged context of Côte d’Ivoire, militias that identify as kamajô, a term that means “hunter” in hunters’ efforts to safeguard their communities and interests may the Mende language, asserting a hunterly identity has a “rich have become violent. In 2011, United Nations Operation in Côte historical and cultural resonance in the popular imagination” d’Ivoire and Amnesty International identified dozow as perpetra- (Ferme 2001:27; see also Camara 2008, Jansen 2008b). Similarly, tors of human rights violations including massacres in Ivorian Burkinabe hunters may at times align themselves with history towns and cities (IRIN 2011; Amnesty International 2011a, 2011b; and practices commonly associated with “traditional” dozow UNOCI 2011; cf. Hellweg 2009). rooted in a Mande cultural past centered in an area spanning Efforts of Burkinabe dozo tonw to redefine their objectives the borders of present-day Mali and Guinea (cf. Cissé 1964, 1994, occurred within this broader regional context, and the organiza- Cashion 1984). tions’ membership has expanded. Incoming dozo tonw members no longer are required to dedicate years to apprenticing with mas- sHaping and understanding Hunterly identities ter hunters. They do not necessarily learn how to identify, track, or in Western Burkina faso kill game and may never learn how to manage the nyama of pow- Dozow today are often recognized by distinctive shirts created erful animals. Indeed, some of today’s hunters do not even carry from local cotton dyed in a bath of vegetal materials. At times, or possess guns. Newer dozo tonw consider for membership inter- hunters add horns, claws, leather, mirrors, and other materials ested men who pledge to maintain upstanding morals, pay requi- to their shirts. The shirts and visual references to them appear site membership fees, and have undergone an initiation at hunters’ today across West Africa and abroad (Fig. 6). A hunter’s tunic privileged meeting place, an altar known as dankun. and hat are listed as primary materials for The Costume of Mes- Burkinabe hunters now depend on public support to accom- sengers (2010), a work created by the Malian artists’ coopera- plish their objectives, so they have increased efforts to command tive Groupe Bogolan Kasobane and featured in the 2010–2011 respect and foster goodwill. When authorities in the multilin- exhibition “The Global Africa Project” organized by New York’s gual town of Sokouraba called upon the town’s dozow to guard Museum of Art and Design. With respect to a more overtly its state-sponsored pharmacy following a February 2006 break- political context, anthropologist Bruce Whitehouse (2012a, b) in, the town’s dozo ton was entrusted with protecting one of the suggests on his blog and in a recent article that Captain Amadou town’s most valuable assets. Nearby, in Kangala, community Sanogo, the man who wrested power from the former Malian members and town authorities temporarily condoned dozow president Amadou Toumani Touré on March 22, 2012, started enforcement of an ordinance prohibiting bicycle and motor- to wear a hunter’s shirt underneath his uniform the day after he cycle riding through crowded market paths during the summer assumed power (see also Cavendish 2012). of 2007.7 Such watchful efforts of town-based dozo tonw suggest Use of distinctive accumulative shirts to assert hunterly identi- that hunters have built considerable support for activities that ties may have gained strength in Burkina Faso in recent decades. place them squarely within the domains of protecting property Art historian Patrick McNaughton noted in 1982 that the shirts and ensuring the security of their communities, goals explicitly were becoming less common among Mande hunters in Mali stated on documents in Coulibaly Tiéfing’s archive. (1982b:56). Whereas hunters in Mali may have worn the shirts in

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 50 8/23/13 2:27 AM 6 Master hunters dembélé siaka and dembélé Kadiene n’golo wearing distinctive accumulative shirts covered with assorted materials, including pouches, strings, and mirrors. to identify themselves as hunters, the dembélé brothers also carry flywhisks and membership cards to hunters’ associations in burkina Faso, côte d’ivoire, and Mali. wolonkoto, province of Kénédougou, burkina Faso, april 16, 2007.

the past, construction and wearing of the shirts appear to have spread across western Burkina Faso more recently. Several people observed that Burkinabe hunters adopted the accumulative shirts with the foundation of more formal dozo tonw and thus only in recent decades.8 Western Burkinabe hunters’ adoption of the shirts may reflect one way that dozow accoutrements, knowledge, songs, and stories circulate as people travel. Images, knowledge, and stories of dozow also proliferate by word of mouth, radio, television, and now mobile phone. Wireless technologies and an explosion in mobile phone ownership in step with the construction of mobile phone antennas in the area’s rural towns have made rapid trans- fer of images and sounds possible in the format of mp4 files. When I was in the rural town of Sokouraba in January 2012, I sat with my research associate Ouattara Dahaba and watched an episode of N Tion Kele, a television comedy produced in Mali, on the small screen of his mobile phone. Ouattara had transferred the episode from another person’s phone to his own using Blue- tooth technology. The episode featured dozow, their efforts to capture a formidable creature, and the woman who ultimately outsmarted the dozow. Burkinabe hunters and their audiences create a framework for understanding Burkinabe hunters based on the objects, words, images, knowledge, or actions of hunters from elsewhere in the region. The exact sources may matter less to hunters and their audiences than the identities they promote. Burkinabe dozow ing to fears that may have prevented the public from attending look to their counterparts but do not simply recreate those iden- hunters’ gatherings, Burkinabe hunters have leveraged masquer- tities. For example, dozow I interviewed in Burkina Faso did not ade—an art they knew had a record of attracting local audiences discuss hunters’ history in terms of the legendary epic hunter- and international attention—to appeal to their audiences. They warrior hero Sunjata who established the Mali Empire in the have invested in the art to promote their roles as skilled groups thirteenth century. They often appeared not to recognize the of ever-watchful guardians wielding specialized knowledge and hero’s name, striking to me given Sunjata’s prominence in litera- working for the public good. ture on Mande hunters and history. My research associate Ouat- tara Dahaba told me he had only learned about the epic hero a History of performing tHe Hunt and Hunters’ Sunjata when he studied history in school. masquerades in tHe tHree-Corner region What is significant is not that the dozow I interviewed did not Western Burkinabe dozow appear to draw on a long history of seem to know of the hero, but they did not attach their history to referencing the hunt in performances. For example, as early as the Sunjata, whether a deliberate choice or not. In fact, rather than mid-twentieth century, performances of hunters in present-day refer to Sunjata or insist on a history that is centuries old, west- Mali celebrated their pursuits of game. Both the 1930 account of ern Burkinabe hunters I interviewed emphasized Coulibaly Tiéf- Mamby Sidibé, then an instructor at the École Primaire Superieure ing’s role in creating Benkadi and spreading dozo tonw across in Bamako, and the 1964 account of Youssouf Cissé, an ethnogra- western Burkina Faso. pher, describe events during which hunters in regions of present- In light of their newer goals under Coulibaly Tiéfing’s leader- day Mali imitated the act of closing in on game in the wilderness ship, Burkinabe hunters have increasingly relied on broad sup- (Sidibé 1930:58–59, Cissé 1964:214–16). Ethnographer Ziedonis port to navigate complex cultural and political realities. They Ligers’s 1964 publication on Boso communities of central Mali simi- also have designed masquerades that reinforce a hunterly iden- larly refers to post-hunt masquerade reenactments of capturing tity while engaging diverse audiences in an attempt to allay fears game to praise hunters and entertain townspeople (Ligers 1964, of hunters’ abilities to maneuver through uninhabited areas, kill I:134–35; cf. Arnoldi 1995:19–20). In the 1980s, Malian photographer dangerous animals, and manage dangerous energies. Respond- Malick Sidibé photographed a parade of hunters wearing animal

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 51 8/23/13 2:27 AM 7 healers’ association performer wearing a complete mask, including the Janus-faced wooden helmet mask, and crouching in front of the camera. in western burkina Faso, healers’ associations incorporate porcupine quills, feathers, and other animal parts that they obtain from hunters into their wooden helmet masks. artists and masquerader unidentified. province of léraba, burkina Faso, June 23, 2007.

during an August 7, 2010 celebration honoring fifty years of independence. Art historian Barbara Frank photographed hunters’ masqueraders in the Folona region of Mali in the early 1990s and again during a funerary ceremony in 2011.11 Wider circulation of animal masquerades across the region bears further consider- ation, especially in light of the Burkinabe assertion that the art proliferated mainly under the leadership of Coulibaly Tiéfing.

Claims of invention Despite accounts of other hunters’ masquerades across the three-corner region, western Burkinabe hunters at times identified themselves or people they knew as the first creator or inventor of hunters’ masks. Coulibaly N’gartina, a blacksmith- sculptor, hunter, and performer in the western Burkinabe town of Massasso, said that when he was younger he had spent time in northern Côte d’Ivoire, where Janus-faced masks sponsored by healers’ associations caught his attention. Upon his return to Burkina Faso, Coulibaly N’gartina attended hunters’ meetings and started to wonder why hunters did not have their own masks. He observed that hunters honored the most senior hunter by placing a dried animal head from a carcass on the ground near him. Coulibaly recalled asking himself why healers and not hunters performed masks, especially given that healers adorned their masks with porcupine quills and feathers they likely obtained from hunters (Fig. 7). He concluded that skins in Sidibé’s natal town of Soloba during a fête to honor Sidibé’s hunters’ organizations needed their own masks. Coulibaly told long-deceased father (cf. Sidibé and Ollier 2011:89). Details of the me he approached his colleagues in the nearby town of Niankor- written accounts and photographs vary, but they suggest that hunt- odougou, informed the hunters that they needed to learn new ers across the region may have sought to reenact tracking game in dances, and promised to make masks once the hunters improved different ways throughout the twentieth century. their dance. Masquerade practices beyond western Burkina Faso may have Coulibaly Tiéba offered a different account of the invention of also informed development of western Burkinabe hunters’ art. In hunters’ masks. He said that his father, Coulibaly Tiéfing, leader of central Mali, wild animals and hunters are among the oldest and the Burkinabe Benkadi, decided to make masks for hunters after most prominent characters in masquerades known among other realizing that other associations in the area had their own mas- terms as sogo bò, a phrase art historian Mary Jo Arnoldi translates querades. Coulibaly Tiéba added that nobody else had carved as “the animal comes forth or is revealed” (Arnoldi 1995:25, 2000). hunters’ masks before Coulibaly Tiéfing started to make them. Masquerades made entirely from cloth and identified as cebelinke Other hunters I interviewed referred to present-day Côte in Bamana-speaking communities of Mali as well as various cloth d’Ivoire, Guinea, or Mali as sources for the Burkinabe masquer- poro initiation masks in Senufo-speaking communities of north- ades. The idea that hunters could or should perform with masks ern Côte d’Ivoire formally resemble the little mask with its some- may well have occurred independently to more than one person what triangular head covering and circular eye holes.9 in more than one place around the same time. Nevertheless, it Masquerades similar to western Burkinabe hunters’ appear else- appears that hunters’ masquerades and their proliferation across where in the “three-corner region,” an area art historian Anita western Burkina Faso are described as recent developments not Glaze identifies by the convergence of the borders of Burkina Faso, tied to a previous history. Additionally, attributions of first author- Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali.10 At the Fifteenth Triennial Symposium ship may reflect wishes to enhance the reputation of an individual on African Art and in a recent article in this journal, art histo- or the person who supplied the name. Competing claims of first rian and anthropologist Till Förster (2011, 2012) presented images authorship also suggest an interest in the origination of new ideas of hunters’ masqueraders in the streets of Korhogo, Côte d’Ivoire and enthusiasm for inserting oneself or one’s family members into

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 52 8/23/13 2:27 AM 8 roan antelope masquerader of the noumoussoba hunters’ association performing with closed fists. horns from an animal extend from the back of the wooden roan antelope helmet mask, and a leather pouch hangs from the back of the performer’s outfit. wooden helmet mask sculpted by ouattara Konomba, prepared by ouattara souleymane sanga’an. performer unidentified. Kankalaba. province of léraba, burkina Faso, February 25, 2007.

the history I told people I was preparing to write.

poWerful defenses and restriCted knoWledge in tHe masquerades of Hunters’ assoCiations, komo, and kono When hunters in Noumoussoba obtained their first masks in the 1980s, they and their local audiences were already familiar with masquerades of the komo and kono power associations doc- umented in the three-corner region since at least the nineteenth century (for example, see Gallieni 1885:324–34; Binger 1892:78– 81; Tauxier 1927:273–302; Dieterlen 1951; Zahan 1960, 1974, 1980; Dieterlen and Cissé 1972; McNaughton 1979, 1988, 2001; Diami- tani 1999, 2008; Aden [Akare]) 2003; Colleyn 2009). Coulibaly Laty Honoré, the blacksmith who helped his hunter colleagues in Noumoussoba acquire their first masks, said the Noumous- soba hunters knew how to handle their newly acquired masks because they had previously handled komo and kono masks. Initial comparisons suggest that komo and kono masquerades differ significantly from hunters’ masquerades. Komo and kono masquerades usually take place at night, whereas hunters perform in both daytime and nighttime. Most women and children are prohibited from viewing komo and kono performances and hide from them, an observation repeated in accounts of the two associations from the nineteenth century to the present day (for example, see Gallieni 1885:328; Henry 1910:25, 151; Tauxier 1927:279; Travélé 1929:138; McNaughton 1988:130; Brett-Smith kono masquerades reveals important similarities among the 1997; Diamitani 1999:98; Colleyn 2009:37). When I asked him three associations’ arts. The organizations draw on similar ani- to compare komo and kono to hunters’ game women were not mal imagery, if in different ways. Hunters and non-hunters share allowed to see, the now-deceased kono leader Traoré Moukani- stories about animals that often highlight an animal’s ability to tien suggested that the nyama of komo and kono surpasses that outwit a pursuer through cunning or transformation, an animal’s of the hunters’ game. By contrast to komo and kono masquerades potent nyama, or a particular type of animal’s lethal defenses. and their own hunting practices, hunters encourage the largest Western Burkinabe hunters prize dangerous animals, including possible audience at their masquerades, a sign of a successful antelope, warthogs, and porcupines. The animals’ pointed horns, performance (cf. Colleyn 2009:19). Men, women, and children sharp tusks, or piercing quills are featured in hunters’ arts as may watch hunters’ daytime or nighttime masquerades. well as those arts of komo and kono. Long antelope horns extend Mask forms associated with hunters’ associations differ signifi- from the top of the Noumoussoba hunters’ roan antelope mask, cantly from mask forms associated with komo and kono. Com- and porcupine quills burst from the brows of the little mask. posite forms characterize komo and kono helmet masks and make Incorporation of animals’ defenses in the associations’ masquer- ambiguous references to wild animals. Pointy horns of antelope ades reflects the associations’ abilities to command and control and other animals, sharp porcupine quills, thick encrustations of vital energies in order to protect their members and constituents indeterminate matter, and other organic and inorganic materi- (cf. Roberts 1995:31). als cover wooden surfaces of komo or kono helmet masks.12 In Dozow as well as komo and kono members depend on collegial contrast, wooden helmet masks of hunters’ associations make relationships to expand their knowledge and address complex seemingly straightforward visual references to specific animal problems. At the same time, their activities may bring leaders species. Bright pigments, often industrially produced, cover the into conflict with one another within and between associations. wooden surfaces of hunters’ masks. Hunters design their masks Consequently, power association leaders always remain alert in the forms of animals hunters prize as game, thereby reinforc- and equipped to challenge opponents, including close collabora- ing their identity as hunters of game. tors who may suddenly become competitors. Power association Closer comparison of hunters’ masquerades with komo and leaders also exercise caution in case relationships quickly and

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 53 8/23/13 2:27 AM 9 warthog masquerader of the noumoussoba stood with whips tightly clenched in each fist. The roan antelope hunters’ association carrying a flywhisk and burrow- ing on the ground to mimic a warthog’s behavior in masquerader also performed with closed fists (Fig. 8). Perfor- the wilderness during a performance welcoming and mance director Coulibaly Missa insisted that the masqueraders thanking donors from Versailles, France. wooden must keep their fists clenched, though he declined to reveal their helmet mask sculpted and painted by coulibaly n’gartina. performer unidentified. Kankalaba, prov- reasons. When I asked him if the performers held something in ince of léraba, burkina Faso, February 25, 2007. their hands that we cannot see, he said it was possible. The Noumoussoba roan antelope masquerader performed in 10 blacksmith-sculptor and hunter coulibaly n’gartina showing an imported bag he bought at Kankalaba with a small leather pouch hanging from the back of the market because he liked the images of animals his full-body cotton suit (Fig. 8). The pouch suggested a tail but reproduced on the bag. coulibaly explained that also resembled leather pouches hanging from hunters’ shirts. he planned to use the images on the bag to carve wooden helmet masks. Massasso, province of Audiences may not and are not intended to be able to identify léraba, burkina Faso, april 27, 2007. the specific materials performers hold or the contents of performers’ leather pouches. In fact, potent materials may deliberately be hidden from view. Closed fists, leather pouches, and other secret elements of hunters’ masquerades make evident the unexpectedly sour. They learn to manipulate powerful materials guarded and protected knowledge of the Noumoussoba hunt- and energies incorporated into materials-dense assemblages, so ers owning the masks and, more specifically, the people who they may also render those materials and energies ineffective if variously create and perform with the masks. Secrecy built into needed (cf. McNaughton 1982a, Kedzierska-Manzon 2008). hunters’ masks is consistent with strategies of construction and Cooperation and contests among power association leaders display of komo and kono masks, an art already familiar to local inspire intense artistic production. Competition abounds even audiences when Burkinabe hunters began developing their own among members of the same power association who share secret masquerades. or restricted knowledge, a point that stands in contrast to the Seemingly out of respect for komo and kono and their lead- limited competition within secret societies that Georg Simmel ers, hunters in their performances also occasionally make other (1906) describes in his generative study on secrecy and its uni- overt references to those associations’ arts. For example, musi- fying effect within secret societies. In light of the competition cians accompanying the Noumoussoba masqueraders began to within and among the organizations, power association lead- play music associated with komo and kono power associations ers create arts that advertise their knowledge and skill without of western Burkina Faso during the performance in Kankalaba. revealing everything that they know. Each of the three masqueraders from Noumoussoba danced Komo and kono leaders pack potent and difficult-to-obtain to the music. Later during the performance, Traoré Drissa, a organic and inorganic materials into masks and other assem- famous kono association leader and younger brother to the blages. They incorporate materials into their masks that people national politician and international diplomat Traoré Mélégué, cannot see but know might be there in order to protect them- entered the performance space and started to dance. selves and trusted others who perform with the masks. Concealed Hunters’ masquerades refer to and incorporate aspects of aspects of power association masks emphasize mask makers’ and other masquerades in the region. By drawing on visual strategies mask owners’ specialized knowledge without revealing the exact common to power association masquerades already established contents of that knowledge (Nooter 1993). Only foolhardy people in the area, western Burkinabe dozow created an art reflecting would work with untreated or unknown objects. hunters’ specialized knowledge and skill in a familiar manner. Secret and unseen preparations are crucial to the prepara- At the same time, dozow masquerades distinguish dozo tonw by tion and performance of hunters’ masks. During the February highlighting a dozo identity grounded in observing, tracking, 25, 2007 performance in Kankalaba, the little mask masquerader and killing dangerous animals.

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 54 8/23/13 2:27 AM digging for food Some hunters and artists suggest that hunters’ wooden hel- When the masquerade performance in Kankalaba resumed met masks should closely resemble the animals they depict. after the speeches, the roan antelope and warthog masqueraders Coulibaly N’gartina maintained that colors used to paint hunt- took turns dancing in front of seated local dignitaries and donors ers’ wooden helmet masks should match colors of animals they from Versailles. Other men, women, and children stood in a circle depict. Other artists and hunters do not appear to share Coul- around the dusty performance space to watch the masqueraders ibaly’s opinion, and they create and maintain helmet masks dance. Toward the end of the performance, its director Coulibaly adorned with bright colors as well as letters and numbers (Fig. Missa signaled with his flywhisk to the roan antelope masquer- 11). Coulibaly N’gartina seemed to disapprove of the application ader indicating it was the warthog masquerader’s turn to perform. of letters and numbers to hunters’ masks, asking me if real ani- At the edge of the performance space, the two performers mals have letters on them. For some people in the area’s rural, crouched next to each other in mutual respect. The warthog farming communities, designing helmet masks with bright col- masquerader crouched again in front of several prominent colors, letters, or numbers may signal an association’s cosmopolitan leagues and dignitaries before commencing his dance. Coulibaly eventually approached the performer, who ended the dance and

exited the performance space. The warthog masquerader reap- 11 hunters’ masqueraders from unidentified hunt- peared in the performance space and proceeded to drop to the ers’ associations. the masqueraders wear wooden ground. The masquerader began to crawl, lowering his head helmet masks decorated with bright pigments. letters spelling “issouf ouattara” and numbers as he moved (Fig. 9). He appeared to mimic the behavior of a showing the date “2003” appear on one of the warthog digging for food. Minutes later, the three masqueraders wooden helmet masks. some hunters disapprove of retreated to the wooded area and fired their guns, announcing such innovation on hunters’ wooden helmet masks because the hunters prefer helmet masks painted the performance’s end. with colors considered closer to the colors of the Hunters assess the forms of helmet masks in terms of their cor- wild animals they hunt in the wild. photograph in respondence to heads of animals observed in the wild, a criterion the personal photographic archives of ouattara issa, niankorodougou, province of léraba, burkina Faso. noted for other animal masquerades in the region (cf. Arnoldi photographer unknown, date unknown. 2000:63–64). Coulibaly N’gartina, the blacksmith-sculptor and hunter from Massasso, excitedly described going to several mar- kets in search of an imported bag he had previously seen decorated with photographs of four different animal species: a lion, two giraffes, an elephant, and a cheetah (Fig. 10). Coulibaly explained that he wanted the images so he could consult them when carving and painting a lion mask head. He said that he had already seen a lion in the wilderness, but he reasoned the bag’s image would help him render the animal’s likeness in form and color. Older hunters who claim to have experience hunting wild animals often evaluate the perceived likeness of the wooden helmet mask form to the form of an animal head. When talking about the warthog helmet mask that he had carved for the Noumous- soba hunters, Coulibaly N’gartina recalled he had received a piece of wood for the commission that was insufficiently wide for the type of animal he was asked to carve. He was unable to create the warthog’s tusks, prominent among the animal’s features, to the standard that he would have wished. Rather than extending outward, he explained, the tusks hug the helmet mask’s face too tightly (Fig. 5). Despite the artist’s displeasure, the Noumoussoba hunters accepted the warthog helmet mask Coulibaly carved, and they perform with it. Audiences do not necessarily consider the masked performer a manifestation of the animal itself (cf. Cole 1985).13 For example, Coulibaly Missa explained that a masked performer differs from an animal and compared the masquerader to a photo, an image of an animal but not the animal itself. He also employed the term “ja,” a Mande Jula word that carries many meanings including “likeness,” “twin,” “double,” “shadow,” or “soul,” further indicating an understanding of a masquerader as a likeness of an animal but not the actual animal or its physical manifestation from another realm (for example, see Henry 1910:41–43, Bailleul 1981:79, Colleyn 1988:183).

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 55 8/23/13 2:27 AM 12 little mask cloth masquerader of the noumoussoba hunters’ association begging for money from woman to buy bread from a bicycle vendor. Mask prepared by ouattara souleymane sanga’an. performer unidentified. Kankalaba,p rovince of léraba, burkina Faso, February 25, 2007.

covering, the performer scouts for obsta- cles including rivals who might hurl kortiw, invisible missiles cast with intent to harm.14 Once the cloth masquerader deems that the area presents no risks, his companions enter the performance space from a shel- tered location. During the event, the cloth masquerader monitors the performance space and keeps eager audiences from crowding the other masqueraders. He holds branches as whips and chases away encroachers. Dur- ing an April 2007 performance in the town sophistication and access to resources or education considered of Kangala, the cloth masquerader of the town’s dozo ton jumped costly in rural communities, including bright industrial paints in front of an approaching motorcycle. He insisted that the driver and alpha-numeric literacy. stop and let the masqueraders and other hunters in the association According to Coulibaly N’gartina, younger hunters no longer pass. Shortly afterward, the same performer extinguished a fire he observe animals in the wilderness. He made the plausible claim thought was smoldering too close to a straw roof. that he had seen and even killed specimens of all the wild ani- There may be other types of danger for the cloth masquerad- mal species he carves, and he demonstrated nostalgia for an ear- ers to monitor. Spectators who stand with crossed arms or other lier life. Coulibaly’s stories about hunting exploits and animals positions considered threatening arouse a performer’s suspicion he has confronted seemed intended to corroborate his explicit of a possible invisible attack on the performer. Cloth masquer- sentiment that artists and hunters lacking extensive experience aders remain watchful of potentially threatening postures, and in the wilderness create infelicitous helmet masks. Despite Cou- with the assistance of unmasked hunter colleagues, they urge libaly’s preferences, other artists’ innovations in creating hel- transgressors to change positions. By safeguarding the perfor- met masks do not seem adversely to affect audience attendance. mance area before other masqueraders emerge and throughout Bright colors and incorporation of text into a helmet mask may, the event, the cloth masquerader becomes the most important in fact, reflect hunters’ associations’ redefined goals with respect and potentially threatening performer. to demonstrating their sophistication and attracting audiences. The cloth masquerader also constantly amuses and entertains. A man from Kangala who wore the cloth mask in performance extinguisHing fires, Begging for money, and and who asked for anonymity when I interviewed him described interaCting WitH tHe CroWd how he looked for ways to animate a performance and make Differences between hunters’ masks with wooden heads and people in the audience laugh. He offered an example framed in those with cloth heads extend beyond the materials used to the context of our interview, which he noted lacked the liveliness make them. Local audiences evaluate hunters’ wooden helmet of a performance. He spied my water bottle and explained that, masks in terms of specific, identifiable animal species, but hunt- if he were performing in a masquerade, he would grab my bottle ers’ cloth masks elude ready classification. In performances I and run in anticipation of the audience’s cheer. He remarked that witnessed between October 2005 and July 2007, masqueraders performing with such attentiveness and dynamism leaves a mas- wearing wooden helmet masks typically danced in clearings and querader hot and exhausted at the end but keeps the audience engaged with the public rarely, if at all. In contrast, masqueraders engaged and eager to know what will happen next, all character- wearing masks with cloth face coverings interfaced between the istics of a successful performance. public and the performers, who were representatives of sponsor- Examples abound of cloth masqueraders interacting with peo- ing hunters’ associations. ple in the audience to encourage laughter during performances. According to hunters I interviewed and consistent with perfor- The Noumoussoba cloth masquerader begged for money from a mances I witnessed, a single cloth masquerader like the little mask woman to buy bread from a bicycle peddler, played with a child, makes the first entrance of all masked dancers into the perfor- and performed for my camera as he sat on the ground (Fig. 12). mance space. He—all the hunters’ masqueraders I saw and heard The Kangala cloth masquerader similarly stopped to inspect a people discuss were male—surveys the area to ensure that danger vendor’s stand and elicited laughter and applause from young does not lurk nearby. Peering through eyeholes in the cloth face men seated for the all-night commemorative funerary ceremo-

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 56 8/23/13 2:27 AM 13 porcupine cloth masquerader of the Kangala hunters’ association watching young men in the audience laugh and applaud the performance during a nighttime event honoring deceased hunter traoré Kakoni. artists and performer unidentified. sokouraba, province of Kénédougou, burkina Faso, May 30, 2007.

on the one hand, and his leadership of an association committed to security and environmental stewardship as a reflection of his ability to navigate the “exigencies of an ever-changing world,” on the other. The tradition/changing-world duality the newspaper asserts seems to parallel hunters’ interest in animal masquerade, an art that refers to hunters’ status as hunters of game while also allowing hunters to generate public support. More than a decade after Coulibaly Tiéfing’s death, western Burkinabe hunters may not always cooperate with each nies honoring the deceased master hunter from Sokouraba, other as the name “Benkadi” implies. Hunters vie for author- Traoré Kakoni, on May 30, 2007 (Fig. 13). ity, and some appear to have distanced themselves from a com- Deft performers assess potential and actual audience reac- mitment to unwavering solidarity. In fact, during January 2012 tions. For example, during the May 30, 2007 event honoring the interviews, Traoré Zanga, an elder hunter in the small town of deceased Traoré Kakoni, the roan antelope and buffalo mas- Karfixe, no longer insisted on referring to hunters’ associations queraders left the central performance space and mingled with in Burkina Faso by “Benkadi” as he once had. the crowd (Fig. 14). Reminiscent of performances of cloth mas- Nevertheless, hunters’ associations in western Burkina Faso queraders I witnessed on other occasions, the Kangala buffalo continue to thrive in small towns and urban centers as hunters’ and roan antelope masqueraders greeted audience members and activities have spread. Some hunters, like those in Noumous- looked for ways to entertain. In one instance, the buffalo per- soba, have sought new masks in recent years. In Bobo-Diou- former asked for money from a man with a bicycle. The Kangala lasso, Burkina Faso’s second largest city, Sanou André, President hunters later complained that the rhythm of the hunter-musi- of the Fédération des Chasseurs Traditionnels Dozos de L’Ouest cians from Sokouraba did not suit the Kangala masqueraders. du Burkina, leads hunters across western Burkina Faso. During a They tried to dance, but they could not work with the music. In January 2012 interview, Sanou noted that hunters in Bobo-Dio- order to maintain the audience’s interest, they left the hunters ulasso also invest in masks, indicating that the art’s appeal con- dancing in the center of the performance space and interacted tinues to spread. In western Burkina Faso, hunters’ masquerades with their most important constituents: the public.

ConClusion Sidwaya, Burkina Faso’s state-run newspaper, celebrated Coulibaly Tiéfing, identified as the hunters’ “chef supreme,” in a January 10, 2002 obituary. The newspaper lauded Coulibaly for having success- fully reconciled traditional values with demands of a continually changing world. Sidwaya cited initiations and annual fêtes Coulibaly hosted as evidence of the hunter’s commitment to “traditional values,”

14 roan antelope and buffalo masqueraders of the Kangala hunters’ association leave the central performance space to interact with the audience and maintain interest in the hunters’ performance. sokouraba, province of Kénédougou, burkina Faso, May 30, 2007.

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AF464_46-59_CS6.indd 57 8/23/13 2:27 AM draw large audiences and promote hunters as so-called tradi- Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi is assistant professor in the Department of tional specialists who have transformed their knowledge of ani- Art History at Emory University. Her current research is based on twenty- mals and the hunt to respond to demands of an ever-changing one months of fieldwork on the dynamic arts and performances of male- world and protect the public. dominated komo, kono, and hunters’ associations in western Burkina Faso. She previously was on faculty at the City College of the City Univer- sity of New York. [email protected]

Notes made this observation. In January 2012, Coulibaly Missa Scale in Côte d’Ivoire.” Africa Today 50(4):31–49. explained that younger hunters recently have started to The description and discussion presented here draw ______. 2005. “Card-carrying Hunters, Rural Poverty, wear accumulative shirts once reserved for older hunt- from formal interviews and informal conversations and Wildlife Decline in Northern Côte d’Ivoire.” The ers. with more than 160 people during a total of twenty-one Geographical Journal 171:1, 24–35. 9 For example, see Glaze 1978:67, Fig. 13. The pos- months of fieldwork in Burkina Faso conducted in August sibility of correspondence between cebelinke and the Benkadi Association des Chasseurs de la Comoé. n.d. 2004, between October 2005 and July 2007, and in Janu- little mask emerged through conversations with Sarah Projet de Règlement Interieur de ‘Benkadi’ l’Associa- ary 2012. Several awards supported my research and Brett-Smith, Barbara Frank, and Kassim Koné during tion des Chasseurs de la Comoé. Dakoro: Archives of writing, including a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Disserta- the Seventh International Conference on Mande Studies Coulibaly Tiéfing. tion Research Abroad Fellowship, an Ittleson Fellowship in Lisbon, Portugal in late June 2008. from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at Benkadi Association Provincale des Chasseurs de la 10 Personal communication, June 2, 2009 the National Gallery of Art, a Chester Dale Art History Comoé. n.d. Benkadi Association Provinçale des Chas- 11 Personal communication, September 29, 2008, Fellowship from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a PSC- seurs de la Comoé regie par le Raabo no 0020 du 1er April 11, 2011 CUNY 42 Award, jointly funded by the Professional Staff Juillet 1988 et la Loi no 10/92/ADP du 12 Dec 1982: Pro- 12 For more information regarding the materiality Congress and the City University of New York, the CUNY jet et Statuts. Dakoro: Archives of Coulibaly Tiéfing. of komo and kono masks and studies of their materials- Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, and a Visiting dense surfaces, see McNaughton 1979, 1988; Colleyn Binger, Louis-Gustave. 1892. Du Niger au golfe de Research Fellowship at the Sainsbury Research Unit at 2001; Imperato 2009; Colleyn 2009; Colleyn and Levy Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi, 1887–1889. Paris: the University of East Anglia. I presented early versions 2009; Gagliardi 2010; Ohern 2012. Hachette. of this argument at the Johns Hopkins University Africa 13 In Z.S. Strother’s graduate seminar on masquer- Seminar in Baltimore, Maryland, in May 2007, and at the Bird, Charles S., and Martha Kendall. 1980.” The Mande ade at UCLA during the Spring 2005 term, Strother Seventh International Conference on Mande Studies in Hero.” In Explorations in African Systems of Thought, ed. examined the transformation hypothesis and explored Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2008. I thank people in Burkina Ivan Karp and Charles S. Bird, pp. 13–26. Bloomington: the possibility that masks might not always transform. Faso, England, France, Mali, Portugal, and the United Indiana University Press. 14 Coulibaly Missa, Traoré Aly, and the Kangala States who generously provided time, insights, or sugges- performer of the little mask who asked for anonymity Brett-Smith, Sarah C. 1994. The Making of Bamana tions in the preparation of this text. Unfortunately their similarly characterized the little mask masquerader’s Sculpture: Creativity and Gender. Cambridge: Cam- names are too numerous to list here. performance in this way. bridge University Press. 1 Coulibaly, Ouattara, and Traoré are three of the most ubiquitous family names across western Burkina ______. 1997. “The Mouth of the Komo.” Res: anthro- Faso, and given names typically follow family names in References cited pology and aesthetics 31:71-96. speech and in writing. The many Coulibalys, Ouattaras, Aden (Akare), Jonathan E. 2003. Anvils of Blood, Oaths Camara, Brahima. 2008. “The Hunter in Mande Imagi- and Traorés to whom I refer here may or may not be of Iron: A History of Power and Association in the nation.” Mande Studies 10:121–32. closely related to each other by blood. Komo Complex of the Western Sudan (West Africa) 2 The list of people who provided this observa- Camara, Seydou, and Charles S. Bird. 1974. The Songs of from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present. Ph.D. tion includes Coulibaly Missa, Coulibaly N’gartina, Seydou Camara, Vol. 1. Bloomington: African Studies diss., Indiana University. Coulibaly Tiéba, Ouattara Tayirigué, Ouattara Zambé, Center, Indiana University. Traoré Aly, Traoré Moukanitien, Traoré Seydou, and Amnesty International. 2011a. “Côte d’Ivoire: Climate Cashion, Gerald A. 1984. Hunters of the Mande: A Traoré Zanga. of Fear Stopping Return of Displaced People,” July Behavioral Code and Worldview Derived from the 3 For an early definition of the term, see Henry 28, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/ Study of their Folklore. Ph.D. diss., Indiana University. 1910:26–28. See also Bird and Kendall 1980:16–17, Bail- report/c%C3%B4te-divoire-climate-fear-stopping- leul 1981:161, McNaughton 1988:15, Brett-Smith 1994:38, return-displaced-people-2011-07-28 (accessed August Cavendish, Julius. 2012. “Mali’s Coup Leader: Interview Conrad and Frank 1995, Colleyn 2009:36, 40. 30, 2012) with an Improbable Strongman.” Time World (online), 4 For example, Traoré Aly, Traoré Moukanitien, March 28 http://www.time.com/time/world/arti- ______. 2011b. “Nous voulons rentrer chez nous, mais Traoré Tiblé, and Traoré Zanga separately described cle/0,8599,2110278,00.html#ixzz27DmYhiNL (accessed nous ne pouvons pas” Insecurité et personnes deplacées how women and children used to hide when hunters September 22, 2012). en Côte d’Ivoire: Une crise persistante. Report Number carried certain types of game into a town. AFR 31/007/2011 Cissé, Youssouf Tata. 1964. “Notes sur les Sociétés de 5 For example, see Ministère de l’environnement Chasseurs Malinké.” Journal de la Société des African- et du tourisme 1986; L’Association Benkadi de Dakoro ______. 1995. Playing with Time: Art and Performance istes 34(2):175–226. n.d. a, n.d. b; Benkadi Association Provincale des Chas- in Central Mali. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ______. 1994. La confrérie des chasseurs Malinké et seurs de la Comoé n.d.; Benkadi Association des Chas- ______. 2000. “Wild Animals and Heroic Men: Visual seurs de la Comoé n.d. Two of the undated documents Bambara: mythes, rites et récits initiatiques. Ivry: Edi- and Verbal Arts in the Sogo Bò Masquerades of Mali.” tions Nouvelles du Sud. in Coulibaly’s archive (L’Association Benkadi de Dakoro Research in African Literatures 31(4):63–75. n.d. a, n.d. b) bear the Sankaraist motto, “La Patrie ou Cole, Herbert M. 1985. I am not Myself: The Art of la mort, nous vaincrons!” to suggest that they date no L’Association Benkadi de Dakoro. n.d. a. L’Association African Masquerade. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural earlier than the presidency of Thomas Sankara, who Benkadi de Dakoro, Statut. Dakoro: Archives of Couli- History, University of California. served as Burkina Faso’s head of state between August 4, baly Tiéfing. Colleyn, Jean-Paul. 1988. Les chemins de Nya: Culte de 1983 and October 15, 1987. ______. n.d. b. Reglement Interieur de l’Association 6 The special issue of Africa Today entitled possession au Mali. Paris: Éditions de l’École des Hautes Benkadi de Dakoro. Dakoro: Archives of Coulibaly Études en Sciences Sociales. “Mande Hunters, Civil Society, and the State” focuses Tiéfing. on this regional development (Bassett 2004, Ferme and Colleyn, Jean-Paul, ed. 2001. Bamana: The Art of Exis- Hoffman 2004, Hagberg 2004, Hellweg 2004, Leach Bailleul, Charles. 1981. 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