Making History The Modernity of Masquerade in Ikole Ekiti Will Rea he penetration and persistence of cultural and artis- tic forms into a present defined as “the modern” or ALL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR “modernity” is an apparent and growing theme of many African art historical studies and has been well represented in the pages of this journal for some time. Apart from the obvious and still deeply unresolved issues that surround attempts by an African art historical estab- Tlishment to institute a correct nomenclature for those artists from the continent working within the contemporary global art world, there is another stream of evidence and analysis. It is one that has found an opening in the continued persistence of what seem to be age-old traditions, a persistence, however, that has been rein- tegrated into the forms and structures of modernity, particularly that modernity associated with the postcolonial state. That many of these rich and detailed papers seem to evidence a surprise (and welcome joy) that these traditions have persisted in the face of a globalized modernity may offer an insight into the way in which the disciplinary foundations of African art his- tory constituted the study of African art. The contrast is between those papers that assumed and wrote the production and per- formance of African art forms as a form of the ethnographic present, and those that are at pains to demonstrate the present use and forms of cultures reified and produced for audiences and patrons in the present. Yet there remain a set of underly- ing assumptions associated with this form of work. That these events are staged suggests a sense of “the traditional” rather than of being one more attribute of (a) tradition’s ability to encom- pass change—a reading that itself encourages the spurious con- trast between that which is authentic and that which is not. The second element encouraged by these readings is the notion that somehow all this is new—an attitude that ultimately places a mis- reading upon Africa’s engagement with modernity. No doubt in part this has been encouraged by past readings of African art as an art located in the timeless ethnographic present. Yet there is still a feeling that what many papers ignore about the persistence of tradition is that this engagement with modernity has been present for a very long time. It is an engagement with moder- nity that has been worked out through local traditions that, far from being timeless reproductions of ancient mores, have con- sistently been adapting and changing as they have encountered local forms of modernity. In not understanding this, African art history has been negligent. 10 | african arts WINTER 2008 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2008.41.4.10 by guest on 26 September 2021 10837 • 20808222 page:10 CMYK Clearly, I am overstating the case. Cole (2007), in his elegant recent First Word, makes clear the historical differences that characterized writing on African art in the 1960s–70s and cur- rent analysis. Any lingering doubts about the way in which Africa entered into forms of modernity, forms that themselves were structured by African society and culture, should have been dispelled by Enwezor’s (2001) magisterial “Short Century” exhi- bition and accompanying catalog. Yet even here, traditions that, in their twentieth and twenty-first century incarnations, need to be regarded as a part of the modern are ignored. In part, and despite the work of so many scholars, there per- sists an idea that changes within tradition may be marked against some form of historical baseline, a place or point in the past whereby tradition was stable, unremarked, and unchanging. What I wish to demonstrate here is that these models rely upon a seemingly narrow definition of modernity, one characterized by a notion of the contemporary, rather than by an investiga- tion of the place of tradition within the forms of modernity that have characterized Africa’s engagement with the emergence of the modern world more generally. The cultural form that I use to make this argument are the masked figures that in Ikole are referred to as Egigun. CARNIVAL AND CONTINUITY IN NIGERIA In 2005 Nigeria placed a heavy economic and political empha- sis on the organization and running of a carnival. Conceived as smaller than the Festival of African Culture (FESTAC) and with its sights firmly placed upon the national rather than interna- tional arena, the Abuja Carnival nonetheless consciously carried with it the legacy of FESTAC. The Nigerian ministry of culture and tourism is rumored to have spent over a billion naira on the running of the festival, billed as the “mother of carnivals.” Discussion of the Carnival amongst the intellectual elite in southwestern Nigeria was mixed, although comparisons to FES- TAC were seemingly obligatory, including comparisons to the (opposite) way in which money was distributed. Two strands of discussion 1 Agbe masquerades performing in the center of Ikole during the Ogun festival. The particularly emerged. The first concerned the seemingly inau- masks are soliciting money from bystanders. thentic nature of the Abuja Carnival, the seemingly hapless orga- Ikole Ekiti, July 1991. nization that dragooned cultural creativity in what amounted to (this page) a parade in front of the seated Abuja elite. (Although as Apter 2 Agbe masquerade colloquially known as [2005] shows, precedence for this form of carnival display comes “Danger” surrounded by his supporters, car- from the Durbar, in itself a form that was largely influenced by rying Atorin canes. Araromi village, Ikole Ekiti, 1990. WINTER 2008 african arts | 11 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2008.41.4.10 by guest on 26 September 2021 10837 • 20808222 page:11 CMYK British Imperial desire, importing a display form from India.). The second critique, articulated by a broader community of Pen- tecostal or born-again Christians, was that as Christians they could not understand why the Abuja Carnival was promoting this form of culture at all. The articulation of these two standpoints has some paradoxi- cal effects. While the inauthentic nature of the Abuja perfor- mances galvanized an interest in the idea of “proper cultural form,” it also allowed an opening wherein, in the name of cul- tural awareness, Pentecostal Christians, especially those of a middle-class elite, were able to embrace an idea of cultural tra- dition as the performance of authentic cultural identity. Those attributes of tradition that have previously disturbed the com- munity of Christian believers could be safely ignored. Cultural form is no longer synonymous with systems of belief but rather with an idea of authentic cultural identity. The discussions of middle-class elites in Lagos and Ibadan mirror those that have been taking place in other towns in Nige- ria. The renegotiation of tradition and how tradition continues to develop within postcolonial and modernist contexts has been a site of serious and continuing contestation in many places. The town of Ikole Ekiti in Ekiti state is no exception. Ikole is a medium-sized Yoruba town with a population of around 50,000 people. It is a historically important town in the Ekiti region, tracing its history back to foundation by Akinsale, a legendary figure who, in the idiom of Yoruba ethnogenesis, reputedly arrived in Ikole from Ile Ife, carrying with him “400 idols.” The town of Ikole was the center of an important small empire known as the Egbe Oba and has continually vied with Ado Ekiti over the ranking status of its king in the order of pre- cedence of Ekiti titles. The region that constitutes Ekiti is dis- tinctive from other Yoruba regions, especially those that were brought under the control of the Oyo hegemony. In Ikole, while large parts of the town’s ritual cycle have either declined or have retreated, two traditions remain healthily vibrant but also heavily contested. These are the Ogun festival and the performance of masquerades that are known locally as Egigun. Debates about the performance of either have been a major cause of antagonism and schism in the town. While the current Oba, Elekole Adeleye II, has promoted the Ogun festival as an Ikole Day fête, encompassing and celebrating the town as contemporary and modern, inviting all possible social groups to join the festival as it is celebrated at the Palace, he has been vigorously resisted by the various Pentecostal factions within the town. For the Elekole, Ogun is a tradition that, as well as serving as a recognition of the town’s founding, its history and past, is also a moment when the town, as a unified entity (especially in relation to other towns in Ekiti), can celebrate the year past and the year to come. It is a celebration that calls upon Ikole citizens to join him in the promotion of the town. The performance of masquerade within the town has also been subject to Pentecostal ire. Yet the position of masquerade has not altered only due to Christian opprobrium. There has been a reimagining of masquerade in Ikole, led largely by groups 3 Agbe masquerades and their supporters of young men, some of whom are not involved in performance moving from the lower part of Ikole toward the themselves but who act as cultural brokers bringing the festival central road of the town. Ogun festival, Ikole Ekiti, 1991. forward as an entertainment, one that also needs finance from 12 | african arts WINTER 2008 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2008.41.4.10 by guest on 26 September 2021 10837 • 20808222 page:12 CMYK elite Ikole citizens, whether resident or living outside the town.