MAGYAR AFRIKA TÁRSASÁG AFRICAN-HUNGARIAN UNION AHU MAGYAR AFRIKA-TUDÁS TÁR AHU HUNGARIAN AFRICA-KNOWLEDGE DATABASE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SZILASI Ildikó From 'Sacred Ndop' to 'just a statue' Eredeti közlés /Original publication: 2013 (2011), From sacred ndop to just a statue. The case study of the change of a kings’statue production of the Kuba Kingdom in the DRC, Antroport.hu, 1-11. old. (Eredetileg: Előadás, SACR Conference 2011, The Material Culture (RE)turn in Anthropology: Promises and dead-ends, 8th SACR Conference – Romanian Society of Cultural Anthropology, Bucharest, 22– 25. September 2011) Eredeti Elektronikus újraközlés/Electronic republication: AHU MAGYAR AFRIKA-TUDÁS TÁR – 000.001.000 Dátum/Date: 2014. augusztus / August 31. Az elektronikus újraközlést előkészítette /The electronic republication prepared by: B. WALLNER, Erika és/and BIERNACZKY, Szilárd Hivatkozás erre a dokumentumra/Cite this document SZILASI Ildikó: From 'Sacred Ndop' to 'just a statue', AHU MATT, 2014, pp. 1–17. old., No. 000.001.000, http://afrikatudastar.hu Eredeti forrás megtalálható/The original source is available Antroport.hu, 2013 Megjegyzés / Note: ellenőrzött és szerkesztett szöveg / controlled and edited text Kulcsszavak/Key words Magyar Afrika-kutatás, muridizmus Szenegálban, a muridizmus aktivistái, a Baye Fall-ok 2 Szilasi Ildikó African studies in Hungary, Mouridism in Senegal, activists of Mouridism, the Baye Falls ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AZ ELSŐ MAGYAR, SZABAD FELHASZNÁLÁSÚ, ELEKTRONIKUS, ÁGAZATI SZAKMAI KÖNYV-, TANULMÁNY-, CIKK- DOKUMENTUM- és ADAT-TÁR/THE FIRST HUNGARIAN FREE ELECTRONIC SECTORAL PROFESSIONAL DATABASE FOR BOOKS, STUDIES, COMMUNICATIONS, DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATIONS * magyar és idegen – angol, francia, német, orosz, spanyol, olasz és szükség szerint más – nyelveken készült publikációk elektronikus könyvtára/ writings in Hungarian and foreign – English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian and other – languages * az adattárban elhelyezett tartalmak szabad megközelítésűek, de olvasásuk vagy letöltésük regisztrációhoz kötött/the materials in the database are free but access or downloading are subject to registration * Az Afrikai Magyar Egyesület non-profit civil szervezet, amely az oktatók, kutatók, diákok és érdeklődők számára hozta létre ezt az elektronikus adattári szolgáltatását, amelynek célja kettős, mindenekelőtt sokoldalú és gazdag anyagú ismeretekkel elősegíteni a magyar afrikanisztikai kutatásokat, illetve ismeret-igényt, másrészt feltárni az afrikai témájú hazai publikációs tevékenységet teljes dimenziójában a kezdetektől máig./The African- Hungarian Union is a non-profit organisation that has created this electronic database for lecturers, researchers, students and for those interested. 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From 'Sacred Ndop' to 'just a statue' 3 FROM ’SACRED NDOP’ TO ’JUST A STATUE’ A case study on the change of kings’ statue production of the Kuba Kingdom in the DRC Ildikó Hermina Szilasi, anthropologist, PhD Candidate, University of Pécs, Hungary Foreword In the book The Children of Woot author Jan Vansina stated that ndops, meaning royal statues of the Kuba Kingdom were considered to be the “doubles of the kings they represented and as such were considered if not actually regarded as sacred.” (Vansina; 1978:213) On the 11th of August 2009, on my field research in Mushenge, capital of the Kuba Kingdom in central Democratic Republic of Congo ndop-carver Mingashanga Mbantshi Jean du Moulin said in an interview that their ancestors stored and kept the statues because they did not know how to make money by selling them1. Let me present another example, a comparison of two ndops to better illustrate the aim of my paper. The first example (with description) comes from Binkley and Darish’s astonishing book published in 2009 about Kuba art. The second match could be currently found on the Internet2. “Ndop Bushoong. Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, inv. 61. 33. Wood. H: 49,5 cm. Ndop statues uniformly portray the monarch in the 1 Extract from interview, Mushenge, Mingashanga Mbantshi Jean du Moulin, ndop-carver, 11th August 2009. 2 http://www.ebay.com/itm/KUBA-nDOP-ROYAL-FIGURE-1690-African- Art-Gallery-/330597632958?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf9278bbe 4 Szilasi Ildikó prime of life with no distinguishing physical characteristics. It represents the ruler Mishe miShyaang maMbul who reigned in the early 18th century. The monarch is represented seated cross-legged on an elevated platform. He wears a royal headdress and carries a short sword as symbols of office. This ndop was collected by the Belgian minister Jules Renkin in 1909, shortly after Torday's visit to the Kuba capital, and subsequently acquired by the Brooklyn Museum.” (Binkley and Darish; 2009:120) ’Wonderful’ ndop royal statue, a reduced –size replica. Price: 165 USD3 My main questions are the following: how did royal kings’ statues (ndops) of the Kuba Kingdom change over the past century in the Democratic Republic of Congo and what kind of social factors could be seen as driving forces for these changes? Finally, what can our respective field of study learn from the case study of the ndops? Context of the research These questions are also included in my PhD dissertation currently in progress at the University of Pécs, Department of Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program, Postgraduate School of Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology under the supervision of Prof. Gábor Vargyas PhD. Since 2004, a multi-sited ethnography research has been conducted in the DRC combined with historical and bibliographical data collection in light of two aims: first, to document, describe, standardize and discuss the trends of change of material culture in the 3 http://www.ebay.com/itm/KUBA-nDOP-ROYAL-FIGURE-1690-African- Art-Gallery-/330597632958?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf9278bbe From 'Sacred Ndop' to 'just a statue' 5 DRC, and second, to detect and analyse correlations among the society and the change of material culture. Nevertheless, I find it particularly important to highlight the role of material culture researches in cultural anthropology. I cannot omit Ucko’s recognition of “the rightful place of studies of material culture within anthro- pology” (Ucko, 1969) and Biebuyck’s thought that “material culture obviously offers a broad range of topics of interest” and “failure to cover these topics through adequate field research has led to sketchy and erroneous interpretations of many aspects of culture.” (Biebuyck; 1982:59) The ndop Before discussing the ndops, some basic introduction should be made on the Kuba Kingdom and Kuba art. The Kuba Kingdom is geo- graphically located between the Sankuru, Kasai and Lulua Rivers in South-Central Democratic Republic of Congo, Kasai Occidental Province. The Bakuba ethnic group is composed of 18 distinct groups (teke, ngongo, shoowa, bushoong etc.) having independent histories of settlement but all migrated from the North. The Bushongo or Bushoong sub-group of the Bakuba are considered politically dominant as the capital of the kingdom, Mushenge or Nsheng is located in the territory of the Bushongo. Historically, the Kuba Kingdom is governed by the Kuba ruler, the king or nyim although the symbolical, spiritual and functional power has declined in the previous century. Actually, three political forces form the compelling complexity of political structures of the Kuba Kingdom. The state authorities (state administrators, officials, police and intelligent service); the king and his counsellors called kolms and the custom based chieftainship. Members of the royal family say that the reigning king, Nyimi Kwete Mbweky III or Kwete Mbokashanga has been undergoing health treatment in Brussels since the end of 2008. In his absence, his mother, Mbawot Mbweky ruled the kingdom until her recent death on the 3rd July 2011 at the age of 90. Since then, the ruling position has been ceded to Kuba prince and priest Joel Nyimilongo. 6 Szilasi Ildikó In many scholarly works of art, Kuba art has been seen as one of the most aesthetic art in Africa with its richly ornamented objects in wood, metal and textiles. For Emil Torday „…the Bushongo are probably the best artists of Africa. In vowing and wood carving they are superior to all other ethnic groups of the continent.” (Torday, 1911:179) Kuba art is also known for its wonderfully decorated wooden helmet with geometrical surface designs in dazzling contrasts of colour, pattern, and texture. Kuba smiths worked with copper, iron, and brass, making weapons and tools to be admired and used. The Bakuba also gave expression to their great artistic sense in utensils: boxes, weapons, tobacco pipes, drums, drinking horns, bells and various types of textiles and cloths made of the dried fibre of the raffia palm-tree. The most studied pieces of Kuba art are considered to be the ndops. The Handbook to the Ethnographical Collection describes them as “portraits of the early kings” and as “the most striking products of indigenous African art.” (British Museum; 1910:222) Vansina (1972:44) suggests that a “ndop is a repository for the spirit of the Kuba King (nyim) whose supernatural