On a brisk Monday morning, I was assigned one the most important readings of my college career. The reading discussed the word “tribe” and how “group” should be substituted. Even after reading, I did not recognize the need for change. I previously assumed that tribes consisted of small groups of hunters that led simpler lives. Aren’t these the people who created the masks I studied in class? Overtime I found out they are not; they are significantly more established, significantly more rooted, and significantly more involved.
The word “tribe” has tainted my view on artwork created by African people. My association with “tribe” led me to believe that African art materialized primitiveness and created less thought-provoking ideas compared to European pieces. It is critical that we change our perspective on this terminology, as it contributes to an unfair bias against non-western artists.
The History of “Tribe”
Tribe originates from the Latin root, “tribus”, and describes a territory of the Roman state. Each area’s culture developed separately and contained unique ideas. They performed administrative functions for the state, such as tax collection and census taking. In the 13th century, tribus was included in the English language as “tribe” to describe organizational units of ancient Israel. The word predominately existed in the Bible and in theatre.
It wasn’t until the 15th century that “tribe” described groups of Africans, South Asians, and Native Americans. At this point nation or people could substitute the word. In the late 18th century, “tribe” developed a negative connotation. Europeans reserved the term for groups they felt were smaller and less developed than themselves. This racial bias against nonwestern peoples still impacts us today.
How “Tribe” is Used Today
Mistaking Africa describes the current exploitation of racial bias, explicitly stating that “in the past, the myth of the racial inferiority of Africans was the major justification for Western control of Africans, now cultural inferiority is a more likely reason. Our news media, for example, are much more likely to inform us about African failures than about African successes.” (Keim 9)
During the Kenyan presidential election in 2007, New York Times reporter Jeffery Gettleman stated that the violence around the election resulted from an “atavistic vein of tribal tension”, and further described the violence as “tribal bloodletting”. What does this reporter’s colorful language depict? What does it fail to inform the public? The imagery concludes that these groups are uncivilized people who commit violent crimes, with the crisis deemed unstoppable, based on primitive savagery. This report ignores the more likely factors of violence, such as economic, social, and political change.
Essentially, Gettleman stereotyped a group of African people by asserting that “tribe” connotes primitiveness and savagery. These new terms aid to show why tribal art is often deemed to be of a lower status than European art. There are many African pieces that show extensive workmanship and demonstrate great feats in art.
The Validity of African Pieces
This may resemble a cow or a buffalo, but it is in fact a boli. These creatures are unidentified animals seen by shamans during religious ceremonies. This figure is utilized to hold the nyama, (spiritual energy) gained during the ceremonies within the community.
You might think that this object would be straightforward to craft, but many different sacrificial objects are encrusted onto the form. The shape must be very sturdy and stable, while manifesting an amorphous appearance. This piece constructs a balance of ambiguity and resemblance. A comparable object to this would be the chi wara masks, formed from the same group of people.
These masks were donned by young men during a yearly religious ceremony and symbolized the spirit antelope, who taught the Bamana people how to farm. You can spot the impressive detail in this piece, with intricate pyro engravings and a play on straight and curved lines. There is a lot of skill involved with chi wara masks, as they tend to be carved from a single wood log.
The same group of people created these two pieces, and these works were produced within 100 years of each other. There is a possibility that the same artist made these two pieces; only few people of the Bamana group can create religious figures. If I suggested a tribe made these pieces, it would be assumed that they are not as complicated or enriching as European artwork. With prior knowledge of the process and history involved in these pieces, the work is noticeably of the same quality as western art.
Africa’s Influence on European Art
The idea of African savagery enhanced European art, but in doing so, European artists were savagely diminishing African art. A great example of this would be Gauguin. Paul Gauguin traveled to Tahiti in search of a paradise land, and he painted many artworks during his time there. One piece that catches my eye is Spirit of the Dead Watching, and how it relates to Edouard Manet’s Olympia.
The first thing to note about these pieces is that Gauguin illustrated his wife while Manet painted a prostitute. Manet portrays the prostitute sitting up, with her arm firm on her leg. Her gaze confronts us, putting the focus mainly on her. She portrays a dominant woman.
Gauguin’s wife, on the other hand, takes on a submissive pose. Her body turns away from us, being exposed in a way not seen as beautiful. Her hands stay up in the air while her eyes reflect fear. While she is the main subject, viewers shift their focus on a more interesting background, making Gauguin’s wife appear less important.
Gauguin depicts imagery of a tribal woman he has “tamed” and civilized. His wife seems primitive and does not understand how to behave as a proper lady. Gauguin’s work contributes to the stigma that African women act less sophisticated than Western women.
What Needs to Change
Gauguin’s art drove the Primitivism art movement, and art museums still employ this terminology when describing this era. They also accept the use of tribal being associated with this movement. Museums should praise art pieces that connote savagery for other attributes, such as beautiful renderings or interesting brush techniques, but they should not place these pieces in their museum without visibly stating their moral wrongdoings.
Some historians believe the words “Primitivism” and “tribe” should be utilized when discussing art like Gauguin’s because the artist’s original intention was to have their work conveyed in this manner. Museums can still note the artist’s own ideas about their work, but they can also acknowledge the faults of these artists to make the galleries more inclusive to nonwestern people.
No one should permit the use of words that promote bias against Africans, such as tribe. An easy substitution for this word would be ethnic group or people. These substitutes not only eliminate the bias, but they provide a more accurate depiction, as African groups consist of large populations and a modern lifestyle.
Tribe paints a picture to Westerners that makes Africans appear primitive and savage. This is due to the centuries of power-hungry European degradation, to belittle other groups of people, and in turn making themselves look more sophisticated. This history still influences us today, with modern media wrongly stereotyping Africans. Primitivism utilized the unacceptable connotations of tribe to generate interesting pieces that showed Africans as inferior. This scheme made people convinced that non-Western art was inherently worse than European art, even though they exhibit a great bout of skill and culture. In discussions and galleries (visibly on the walls), museums need to declare why the concept of primitivism is wrong, as well as change the word tribe to ethnic group or people.
Africans created beautiful cultures and decadent art, but in the media and art community, they are deemed as lowly. The question must be asked, who gets to decide the beauty and value of different cultures, and why do they have the power to negatively influence our opinions?
Bibliography
“Current Exploitation.” Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind, by Curtis A. Keim and Carolyn M. Somerville, 2nd ed., Routledge, New York, New York, 2019, p. 9.