Sociolingo’s Mali

Source: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Chi Wara Headdress
19th-20th century
Bamana culture, Mali
Wood, 34 by 13 1/2 by 3 3/4 inchesAfrica is the home to a wide variety of animal life in and African artists often incorporate images of animals to express ideas.

The Chi Wara mask is one such example of African art. Chi Wara translates as “animal of tillage.” In Bamana belief, a mythical creature-the primordial Chi Wara-was the first farmer, a wild beast who taught mankind how to cultivate fields. Today, the skills of farming are still critical to sustaining life on the edge of the Sahara Desert.

In this sculpted mask and others of the same type, the mythical creature is represented by combining aspects of different animals. The lower body represents the aardvark, a type of anteater that burrows into the ground with its claws and snout. The way an aardvark scratches at the earth reminds the viewer of planting crops. The head of the sculpture with the tall thin antlers of a roan antelope remind the viewer of growing millet, a grain commonly grown in the region. And, the zigzag patterns stand for the path of the sun between winter and summer solstices also suggesting the way an antelope runs. The Chi Wara is formed into a crest mask, which sits on top of the dancer’s head attached to a basketry cap. The dancer’s body and face are hidden by a costume of grasses and fibers that is a symbol of rain-essential to growing food. Beads, leather, and metal attachments often are added to embellish the masquerade.

Performances with Chi Wara headdresses are done by champion farmers at times of land clearing, plowing, planting, and harvest. The dance is done in a bent over attitude to show “an excellent farmer hoes the ground continually, without straightening up to rest.” The performance is hoped to aid in the farmer’s efforts to make something out of nothing - growing crops from the dry ground.

There is also a Chi Wara society in which elders teach young farmers to preserve the knowledge of agricultural practices. This society prepares boys to become fathers and husbands by focusing on skills needed to be successful farmers to provide for their family and contribute to the community as a whole. In daily life, women help with farming chores as well. In similar fashion, there are male and female versions of the headdress that are danced in pairs. Drummers provide the beat as women sing and call out praises to the ideal farmer.

Visual Griots of Mali - Student Gallery
This is a wonderful collection of photos by young Malian photographers. The young people were trained to use the cameras and then sent out to record their lives. The photo exhibit of 49 black and white photos opens at the Smithsonian.

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 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Encompasses present-day Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and eastern Niger

	See also Guinea Coast and Eastern and Southern Africa. The western Sudan is crisscrossed with trade routes linking this interior region of West Africa to the Atlantic coast and ultimately to cities across the Sahara. The western Sudan is the first area of sub-Saharan Africa to be reached by Muslim traders, and the influx of wealth, goods, and cultural and religious influences contributes to the dynamic artistic production. Nok, in the eastern part of the region, is one of the earliest African centers of ironworking and terracotta figure production. Jenne-jeno, populated as early as 250 B.C., is the oldest known city of sub-Saharan Africa. By 850 A.D., it has become a major urban center but is just one of at least twelve sites of comparable size in the middle Niger region. Several other significant political and commercial centers emerge during this period, including Timbuktu, an important site of Islamic religion and scholarship as well as trade. Read full article

Metropolitan Museum of Art pages

Encompasses present-day Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, and eastern Chad

	See also Guinea Coast and Eastern and Southern Africa. The influence of Islam and the deepening networks of trade spur the growth of several great savanna states, including the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires. Further development of metallurgy contributes to both material wealth and artistic production, and Arab reports depict the Ghana empire as the “Land of Gold.” As well as stimulating trade, Islam sparks great cultural and artistic innovation, producing newly syncretic mixes of distinctive regional and Islamic traditions. In 1324–25, the ruler Mansa Musa brings the wealth of the Mali empire to the attention of Europe, North Africa, and Arabia when he completes a pilgrimage to Mecca. Architectural traditions are transformed during the Mali empire. The construction of enormous adobe mosques such as those at Jenne and Timbuktu dates to the thirteenth century. The mosques standing today in West Africa are the product of long histories of construction and reconstruction. They nevertheless reflect the economic conditions, cultural histories, and architectural traditions of the medieval empires from which they originated. Read the full article

This is a wonderful site with many links. Please take time to explore the ancient libraries of Timbuktu in Mali.

The desert city of Timbuktu is rightly known as one of the more remote cities in the world. In fact nowadays it is easier to get to since the new airstrip and airport have been built. Hidden in the many mudbrick buildings are ancient libraries of Islamic texts. These texts cover many subject areas not just religious ones and are now being protected as a major heritage.