Menkisi of Bakongo People of Western Africa (modern day Congo, Angola)

1. What
do
you
see?
• Describe
what
this
looks
like.
• What
materials
is
this
made
of?
• What
form
does
it
take?
• What
sort
of
feeling
does
it
give
you?
• What
func;on
might
you
imagine
this
object
has?
• What
inferences
might
you
derive
about
the
society
this
came
from?
Why?

3. Bakongo
people
Modern
day:
Democra;c
Republic
of
Congo;
Angola;
Republic
of
Congo,
possibly
Zaire

5. Bakongo
(Kongo)
people
• Populated
area
ca.
500
BC
• Part
of
the
Bantu
ethnic
group
• Kongo
Kingdom
established
15th
century
AD
• Early
sub-­‐Saharan
converts
to
Chris;anity
due
to
Portuguese
trading
partners.
• Syncre;c
blend
of
Chris;anity
and
tradi;onal
religion.
• Most
minkisi
in
Western
museums
taken
by
Western
military
and
missionaries
in
1800s

6. Historic
images

8. Some
Vocabulary
• Nkisi
(plural,
minkisi)
• Nganga
–
healer,
priest
who
makes
minkisi
and
embues
them
with
power.
• Bakulu
–
souls
of
recently
deceased
• Simbi
–
powerful
guardians
of
places,
like
mountains,
rivers,
districts;
some;mes
thought
to
be
souls
of
long-­‐deceased.
• N’kondi
–
literally,
hunter
• Animism
–
worldview
that
non-­‐human
en;;es
(animals,
objects,
etc.)
possess
spiritual
essence.

9. Early
Western
Interpreta;ons
“When
missionaries
and
travelers
of
the
past
encountered
fe;shes
in
the
numerous
villages
and
towns
of
the
lower
Congo,
their
judgments
of
these
specific
African
works
of
art
were
unanimous.
These
"devil
images"
(Dapper,
1676;
Merolla,
1683)
"rudely
carved
in
wood
and
covered
with
dirty
rags"
(J.
K.
Tuckey,
1816)
were
"ferocious
in
appearance"
(H.
M.
Stanley,
1895).
Lieutenant].
K.
Tuckey
compared
them
with
"scarecrows"
and
the
Catholic
and
Bap;st
missionaries
at
the
end
of
the
19th
century
considered
them
"indecent"
(J.
H.
Weeks,
W.
H.
Bentley)
or
"frankly
obscene"
(A.
J.
Wauters).”
From
text
by
Zdenka
Volavkova

10. Nkisi
(plural,
minkisi)
the
name
of
the
thing
we
use
to
help
a
person
when
that
person
is
sick
and
from
which
we
obtain
health;
the
name
refers
to
leaves
and
medicines
combined
together...
It
is
also
call
nkisi
because
there
is
one
to
protect
the
human
soul...
The
nkisi
has
life;
if
it
had
not,
how
could
it
heal
and
help
people?
But
the
life
of
an
nkisi
is
different
from
the
life
in
people.
It
is
such
that
one
can
damage
its
flesh...,
burn
it,
break
it,
or
throw
it
away;
but
it
will
not
bleed
or
cry
out...
nkisi
has
an
inex;nguishable
life
coming
from
a
source.
Nsemi
Isaki,
1900

11. Nkisi
Nkondi
• Late
19th
century,
• Brooklyn
Museum
of
Art

13. Kozo,
double-­‐headed
dog
nkisi

14. Contemporary
prac;ce:
• Some
types
of
minkisi:
• Nkisi
Ngombo
(divina;on)
• Nkisi
Mpodi
(cupping
horn
for
purifica;on)
• Nkisi
Nkondi
(conflict
resolu;on)
• Nkisi
Lunga
(for
healing
broken
bones)
• Many
others

15. Nkisi
Mpolo
• The
“cupping
horn”
is
used
to
suck
impurity
from
the
Body
through
a
cut
made
in
the
skin.