GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Previously considered part of the Luba peoples, the Bantu-speaking Hemba create art that is somewhat similar in style to that of the Luba, but represents a culture that is independent from the Luba. Today, the eighty thousand Hemba are farmers and hunters in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they live in large clans of families with a common ancestor. The cult of ancestors plays an important role in the Hemba's matriarchal society, and most art is produced for this cult. Sculptors carve wooden ancestor figures and masks for ceremonies dedicated to the cult.
Excerpt from
Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 302.
NOTES
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS (list applicable note links)
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa~Learn more about the Hemba 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 hemba
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Previously considered part of the Luba peoples, the Bantu-speaking Hemba create art that is somewhat similar in style to that of the Luba, but represents a culture that is independent from the Luba. Today, the eighty thousand Hemba are farmers and hunters in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they live in large clans of families with a common ancestor. The cult of ancestors plays an important role in the Hemba's matriarchal society, and most art is produced for this cult. Sculptors carve wooden ancestor figures and masks for ceremonies dedicated to the cult.
Excerpt from
Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 302.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
(digitized/non-digitized)
Web Resources
- University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa~Learn more about the Hemba peoples.
- Smart History~Read an overview of the peoples and cultures in Africa.
Notes
rules
Apply To
Objects
culture
Contains
hemba
source file
peoples_and_societies-0067.xml.nores