Makonde | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

There are two groups of Bantu-speaking peoples called Makonde, totaling about two million people. One group lives in northern Mozambique, the other in southeastern Tanzania. Before the Portuguese colonized the Makonde in the early 20th century, the most important artistic works they created were carved wooden ancestor figures and masks. Tanzanian Makonde artists create facial and body masks, while the Makonde of Mozambique carve wooden helmet masks for boys' initiation rituals. These helmet masks are usually decorated with hair, wax facial scarifications, and pointed teeth. Makonde artists also make decorative objects such as pipes, combs, canes, and bark boxes.

Excerpt from

Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 303.

NOTES

ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS (list applicable note links)

African Art in Context

Artists in Traditional African Art

AUDIO ASSETS

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa~Learn more about the Makonde peoples.
Smart History~Read an overview of the peoples and cultures in Africa.

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES (digitized/non-digitized)

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

apply to objects where culture contains makonde

General Description

There are two groups of Bantu-speaking peoples called Makonde, totaling about two million people. One group lives in northern Mozambique, the other in southeastern Tanzania. Before the Portuguese colonized the Makonde in the early 20th century, the most important artistic works they created were carved wooden ancestor figures and masks. Tanzanian Makonde artists create facial and body masks, while the Makonde of Mozambique carve wooden helmet masks for boys' initiation rituals. These helmet masks are usually decorated with hair, wax facial scarifications, and pointed teeth. Makonde artists also make decorative objects such as pipes, combs, canes, and bark boxes.

Excerpt from

Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 303.

Fun Facts

Archival Resources

(digitized/non-digitized)

Web Resources

University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa~Learn more about the Makonde peoples.
Smart History~Read an overview of the peoples and cultures in Africa.

Notes