African Art Vocab Flashcards
Memory board
A wooden board used to help people of the Luba remember key elements in a story such as genealogy, kinship, migration, ECT.
Mosque
A place of Muslim worship
Historical
Connected with history; based on events in history (whether regarded as important or not) used in conjunction with oral tradition to recount history and accomplishments
Oba
Title for king of Benin
Scarification
Scaring of the skin in patterns by cutting with a knife. When the cut heals a raised pattern is created, which is painted.
Ritual
A ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order
Royal regalia
Textiles, jewelry, and headdresses created to be worn by a specific leader of a culture (religious and secular)
Nkisi
Magical object (can be figuratively); power objects for giving medicine and for healing; spirits or objects that a spirit in habits (Congo Basin)
Golden stool
The symbol the Ashanti believed came from heaven; it united the Ashanti people
Ivory
Hard white material made from elephant tusks
Cradle of humanity
Eastern and Western Africa is considered the cradle of humanity;all modern-day humans descended from populations that either remained in or migrated out of Africa
Mud brick
Sun-dried brick used for construction; most walls and buildings were made from this because of the lack of natural resources and the ability to keep building cool insides
Interdisciplinary
Encompasses a wide variety of materials and formation including objects and performances
Spiritual
References the spiritual world, especially on items associated with royalty; ancestor worship
Raffia
A palm tree whose leaves yield fiber used in making baskets, hats, ECT
