Preserving Liberia's Traditional History

Like most countries in Africa, Liberia's written history did not begin to appear until quite recently, in the 19th century. [1] However, there are other art forms that can give us insight into Liberia's cultural past, including art, music, and dance.

Art

One of Liberia's most characteristic art forms are masks and human heads, both life-size and miniature. Even today, masks are believed to be a link between the ancestral spirits and pagan gods, and are used in various rituals. The idea is for the dancer to "become" the mask.[2] Three important masks are the Vai mask and the Yan mask from the Gola, Vai, and Mendi tribes, and the Dan mask from the Gio tribe. [3]

The mask below is a miniature Dan mask made of wood in the 19th-20th century, 4 3/4 inches high and 2 3/4 wide. The miniature masks are thought to hold the same protective properties as if you have the full-size mask.
                                                
Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314158

Another type of art that is prevalent in Liberia is enlarged sculptures of utensils, such as forks, spoons and combs [4]:


                                                           
Source: By cliff1066 - Flickr [1], CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5046833

Music and Dance

Musically, Liberia does share many characteristics with other West African countries, but it also has several unique features all its own. Various types of drums are used in traditional Liberian music, as well instruments called Saassaa, which are beaded gourd rattles, and xylophone-type instruments such as the Yomo Gor.[5]

Even today, music and dance in Liberia is more than just entertainment. It is often used to communicate and educate in areas of politics, human rights and more. Below is a tribal war dance from Liberia in the 1970s, courtesy of Vimeo:

Source: https://vimeo.com/18332050

Oral Histories

Music and dance often accompanies the oral histories that are passed down from generation to generation by storytellers. However, the African concept of history is vastly different from the western concept. For one thing, the concept of time is not one attached to fixed dates on a calendar. Secondly, the stories are often utilitarian; in other words, stories are told that are useful somehow. One fairly obvious way that histories can be useful is to establish the legitimacy of the authority of the current chief.

Anthropologist Matthew H. Hill, in his study of the Mende tribe, observed the prevalence of a "stereotyped episode" in the oral histories which he calls "the hunter / founder": 

"Briefly stated, a hunter slays an elephant and establishes a camp around the carcass while he and his followers consume it. This group and their camp become the nucleus of a town under the leadership of the elephant killer." [6]

The translated account he provides is as follows:

“Fa Kombo-Fa from Kono, Mandingo or Koranko, Fa Kombo said to be a Kono man – when he came he was a hunter – Elephants Shot Elephant which died in the heart of town – Built huts around and invited people to come and take share – after consuming whole animal roamed about for another made K(omboya) a permanent place of r hunting from There was a man called gbalegbe helped from village – One Pa Mbawove came, on pa gbagbawa came another pa Kaliwa came, his brother Hamuwa came with him and he they started to extend the town – last of all the existing father humuwa was leader after others died his brother Gafwe the pa telling story saw – interruptions. When Gafwe died son gbebe succeeded him Gafwe was alive when 1^st Europeans visited area.”[7]

Hill points out that, "Rather than being a description of actual events, it serves in Mende oral histories as a symbolic statement validating contemporary authority patterns....Like other Mende town histories I have heard, the Komboya history begins only a few generations before the narrator’s youth. The beginning point is one which permits each of the auditors, who is significant in the local authority pattern, to have an ancestor appear in a setting which attaches him to the founder. The aim is to tell not as much as is possible but as little as is necessary."[8]

He goes on to hypothesize that perhaps the elephant in the story is actually symbolic of a previous chief, particularly since the Mende believe it is possible for humans to take the form of animals and vice versa: "...It is tempting to regard the elephant as being itself identified with earlier holders of authority, to make the equation: slaying and elephant = displacing a chief," particularly given the shallow depth of the history and understanding that founding a chiefdom is not the equivalent of first settling a place.[9]

The curious minds among us will just have to accept that, for now, many of our questions about the history of the peoples of Africa will have to remain unanswered, and will have to find solace and inspiration in the evidence that has been left to us.

[1] "Culture of Liberia," Wikipedia, last modified July 4, 2016, accessed July 15, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Liberia.
[2] "Miniature Mask: Dan Peoples," The Met, accessed July 15, 2016, http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314158.
[3] "Masked Dances of Liberia," Worlds Art West, accessed July 15, 2016, http://worldartswest.org/main/discipline.asp?i=8.
[4] "Culture of Liberia," Wikipedia, last modified July 4, 2016, accessed July 15, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Liberia.
[5] "Culture of Liberia," Wikipedia, last modified July 4, 2016, accessed July 15, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Liberia.
[6] Matthew H. Hill, "Where to Begin? The Place of the Hunter Founder in Mende Histories," Anthropos 79, no. 4/6 (1984): 653, accessed July 20, 2016, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40461886.
[7] Ibid., 654.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid., 655.