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The Art and Material Culture of the Eloyi (Afo) People, Nigeria 1969/70 a Photographic Essay

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The Art and Material Culture of the Eloyi (Afo) People, Nigeria 1969/70 a Photographic Essay The Art and Material Culture of the Eloyi (Afo) People, Nigeria 1969/70 A Photographic Essay Anna Craven all photos by the author, except where otherwise noted a file of supplemental images (Figures A–ZZ) is available at http://international.ucla.edu/media/files/craven-supplement-hz-nzi.pdf his paper reports on a survey of Eloyi art THE ELOYI (AFO) and material culture carried out in just a few The Eloyi people (also known as Afo, a name given them by months from April to June 1969, and January their Islamic Hausa neighbors) live north of the Benue River and to mid-February 1970, while I was curating east of the Niger-Benue confluence in Nigeria, to the southeast of the Jos Museum and then establishing the new Nasarawa. At the time of this study (1969/70) Nasawara was part Kaduna Museum. Essentially the survey was to of Benue-Plateau State, the capital of which was Jos. It is now in record, photograph, and purchase works of art and material cul- Nasarawa State, to which it has given its name, but the state cap- ture for the national collection at Jos, to note the associated Eloyi ital is Lafia to the east. T 1 terminology and context, and to photograph important immov- The Eloyi belong to the Benue Valley complex mixture of cul- able shrines and figures still utilized by the people. Acquisitions tures (see Berns, Fardon, and Kasfir 2011). Their area is bordered included replaceable items that were gifted by their owners, a few by, or in some areas mixed with, speakers of Alago (to the east), commissioned from the makers, and the rest purchased. Agatu, Bassa, Gwari (Gbari), Hausa, and Egbira. They, like other Since the survey was conducted, the attitude to objects associ- groups, have been adopting Islam and the Hausa language for ated with the old religions in West Africa as a whole has changed. some years, and knowledge of the Eloyi language (Niger-Congo A huge market has developed and encouraged the local purchase family) is fast disappearing as members of the older generation die. of original works, and the talented reproduction of sculptures for Their society was not centralized or stratified, but a fluid one overseas buyers, especially by artist-craftspeople with a knowl- where each village, made up of several extended family com- edgeable eye for detail from other cultural backgrounds. Some pounds built within distinct sections (agirika), was governed by opportunists have seen that they can make money from the a group of elders (mbakuse) who elected an overall chief (osu) products of previous generations, regardless of ethical concerns from among themselves. The osu was supported by a series of or “cultural copyright.” role-holders who, in age-groups and societies associated with Hopefully, this record of the several communities within the named masquerades (e.g. ngorangorang dance groups and Ekpo Eloyi area between Nasarawa and Loko on the Benue River may ancestor masquerades), moved up the ranks or into other roles as be of use to future generations researching their heritage. It is all their elders aged and died. A chief could be succeeded on death the more essential, now that some of the sculptures photographed by his son (though not inevitably the eldest) or by a respected in 1969/70, which are of considerable cultural significance, have elder whom the others might prefer. Disputes could result in divi- been removed from their context and sold to foreign collectors in sions, and a man might decide to set up an independent agirika Europe and the US. The oral history associated with such items within the village area or to leave and move to a different place tragically rarely travels with them (Figs. 1–2). altogether. It was therefore difficult to draw up a map of locations Anna Craven, now retired, worked in the 1960s and 1970s as an eth- fixed over time in the Eloyi area. Each village and section had its nographer, researcher, and curator of national museums in Africa and own ritual places and shrines with associated paraphernalia and the southwestern Pacific. Also, when based in London, she conducted masquerades, and a religious leader (osu oseshi or eboshi wako) research relating to race relations and for documentary films. She has responsible for the sites and the spirits they represented. maintained connections with all the countries where she previously Eloyi identity overall was the product of conflict and migra- worked, returning to them all since 2003. In 2007 she made a second tion through the centuries and was recorded in their oral history. collection of pottery from the north of Ghana for the University of Gha- Although details varied, Eloyi informants spoke independently of na Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies, forty years after their belief that their origins were bound up with the “Beriberi,” a her first visit in 1964. [email protected] nickname for the Kanuri people to the northeast with whom they 46 african arts SPRING 2018 VOL. 51, NO. 1 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00391 by guest on 24 September 2021 1 This piece, Onyakeri, with the osu (chief) of the village, is now in an overseas private collection. 2 Detail of Figure 1. shared a vague history, but not a language. The Kanuri called the Bornu some time in the seventeenth century which dispersed Eloyi “Aho,” a word I was told meant “let us go away and rest.” several cultures. From the shared land “beyond Makurdi,” one The old men spoke of how the Eloyi separated from the Beriberi informant vaguely indicated, the Muslim Beriberi were said to after conflict and fled from a place called Kukawa (also Birnin have moved north, while groups of Eloyi moved west and into Kazargamo or Gazargamu) where the two groups had lived the hills, some via settlements named Kokona (now Gwandara), together. The Eloyi had considered the Beriberi “brothers” (the and Oyini. Beriberi were “sons of the male” while the Eloyi were “sons of the To confirm this former link with the Beriberi or Kanuri, female”), but after the separation, they viewed them as “slaves” one elderly man described his facial marks as being similar (a “joking relationship” which reflects social structure and not to those of the Beriberi (Figs. 3–4), facial scarification which merely an attitude of superiority). Even if these multiple accounts is also exhibited by the Afo maternity figure in the Horniman might be interpreted as a common mythical charter, it is import- Museum (Phillips 1995:368–69). This style of face mark, however, ant that the belief is recorded.2 is also seen on masks and figures from cultural groups south This split with the Beriberi is likely to have occurred before of the Benue (see the Yoruba maternity figure in Trowell and the Fulani jihad of the nineteenth century. By 1835 the Eloyi were Nevermann 1968:123). Temple (1919:1–2) mentions a possible late already in the hills near their present location when Nasarawa nineteenth century migration of a group of “Afao” down river to town was established by the Hausa in the western part of their “Budon” where they became known as Kakanda, and describes area. Considering the oral records of leadership succession, it their identical “tribal marks” as “two deep cuts on each side of the was likely that the separation coincided with the earlier breakup face from the temples to the corners of the mouth; which has lat- of the Kwararafa or “Apa” confederacy (the first term not actu- terly been modified to two deep cuts from the bridge of the nose ally referred to by any informant): There was a “horse” war with to the cheeks, the side marks having been abandoned.” VOL. 51, NO. 1 SPRING 2018 african arts 47 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00391 by guest on 24 September 2021 | 3 Osu of Kama: his distinctive but faint face-marks. 4 Onzo, helmet mask, also showing faint verti- cal face-marks; H 52 cm. Akpaku. GLOSSARY OF ELOYI TERMS Aduwo: cowries, used in the payment of tribute, and also as decoration Agbede: corral for horses in hill settlements Agirika: village section made up of a group of related extended family compounds, but could also include non-relatives who opt to join through friendship Aloda: men’s society; members older than ngoran- gorang youth, cross-cut other male groupings; members danced in line stamping their iron staffs (odagi) with bells attached during ceremonies for the death of one of their members Ashema: greeting or word of praise used to address Odadu; used also by the Jukun and Alago Eboshi wako: religious leader responsible for com- pound or village shrines Ekpo: masquerade that whipped with long sticks any- one it encountered as it ran at speed through the village and surrounding bush According to Alhaji Jibrin Mairiga Idris, late ninth Emir of Nasarawa, himself of Eloyi Mbambu: Lowland Eloyi (Hausa: Afon Kasa) Eloyi Mbeki: Hill Eloyi (Hausa: Afon Dutse) Eloyi descent (hereafter Alhaji Idris), the Eloyi passed through Agba in the kingdom Enga: horns attached to large iron bell (kogbo); bushcow of Apa (now Jukun), possibly as early as the seventeenth century.3 Elaborating on the Epa: divination (“looking into the future”) 4 Eshi: shrines, ritual figures link with the Jukun, he described a dispute over a ritual earth figure in the southern Ezaka: horns attached to smaller iron bell; antelope village of Iga which, during the local wars, had been taken across the Benue by one (harnessed) Iku: crocodile faction, where it was captured by the Agatu.
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