Seated female puppet figure · Nigeria, Ibibio · ID: 3048045
Arendt Oetker, Berlin, Germany
Joaquin Pecci, Brussels, Belgium
Description
wood, three-part, nails, paint, inscribed “18 03 …(64?)”, base
Puppet figures of the Ibibio were the property of the male “ekong” (“ekon”) society.
The puppet performance traditionally takes place at night, when between nine and sixteen puppet characters appear on top of a twelve-foot-high screen of cloth that hides both the puppeteers and the musicians.
The puppets are manipulated by sticks and strings. Their voices are created by using a small piece of bamboo covered with a thin membrane of bat’s wing, which when blown sounds like a paper-and-comb. The “manipulation” of the puppets is done exclusively by members of the “ekong” society and requires special training.
The puppets embody a wide variety of human characters - male and female, young and old, rich and poor, sensible and antisocial. Their play is used for educational purposes, but also provided a socially approved way of commenting and criticizing the communtiy and its leaders.
Nowadays it is most often performed at funeral celebrations for an important personage.
Comparing literature
Anderson, Martha G., Ways of the Rivers, Los Angeles 2002, p. 290, ill. 9.22
Publications
AHDRC: 0093593