Dept. of Art and Design

~A ~gainst all advice, Acting British Consul-General James R. Phillips insisted on visiting Benin City in early January 1897. The Oba had asked him to delay because of Ague, a ritual requiring his complete isolation from visitors. Although the subsequent British colonization was probably inevitable, Ague's timing and Phillips's obstinacy catalyzed the chain of reactions which led to the conquest of the kingdom.

This lengthy textbook with nearly 1000 images includes explorations of both "traditional" and "contemporary" African art through general discussion and case studies. The first chapter introduces Africa and its art, discussing materials and gender, and training and patronage. Chapter Two covers the elements and principles of design, and how to approach stylistic and contextual analysis. Chapter Three takes a thematic approach to African art, including numerous case studies, while Chapter Four explores how religions--traditional, Christian, and Muslim--have impacted art and looks at how different types of societies--nomadic, small-scale, and kingdom-based--favor various types of art. Appendices on note-taking and research are included. Significant original research is included. Maps; index. 668 pages.,

Benin's Ague Ceremony KATHY CURNOW ~A ~gainst all advice, Acting British Consul-General James R. Phillips insisted on visiting Benin City in early January 1897. The Oba had asked him to delay because of Ague, a ritual requiring his complete isolation from visitors. Although the subsequent British colonization was probably inevitable, Ague's timing and Phillips's obstinacy catalyzed the chain of reactions which led to the conquest of the kingdom. Formerly a ceremony of critical importance, Ague has received little scholarly attention, perhaps because its full celebration ceased during the reign of Oba Eweka II (r. 1914-33). In its development it confirmed the Edo adage "Every new Oba creates new rules,"' for Ague changed substantially under various monarchs, until ultimately it came to knit together such disparate elements as Lenten denial and regional New Yam beliefs. These successive royal innovations suggest that other Benin festival "traditions" may have similarly dynamic, complex histories. Yams, Benin's staple food and crop, were ostensibly at Ague's core, but its ultimate concerns were the ownership, pollution, and sanctification of the land. Before the British invasion, yams played a ritual role in four related ceremonies. In the first, which opened the agricultural cycle, yams were planted in a symbolic pattern at the Oba's Ugbeku village farm. Diviners examined this yield to forecast the general harvest, sometimes ordaining human sacrifices to avert disasters (Thomas 1918:138-39). The second ceremony took place after the general harvest with the commencement of Ague-Osa, a period of fasting that required participants to abstain from eating newly harvested yams.2 At its conclusion, Benin's New Yam festival was celebrated,3 and budded yams were offered to paternal and maternal ancestors, deities, the unburied dead, and hostile spirits (Melzian 1959:99) (Fig. 1). The fourth ceremony, a second Ague period known as Ague-Oghene, followed, ending the. agricultural year. By the 1930s Ague-Ohene's activities were already obscure (Melzian 1959), and the two Agues are often confused and conflated today. Ague was a sober time. No burials or marriages took place, no guns were fired, and no drums or calabash rattles were played. While all Edo avoided eating new yams, only the Oba and certain chiefs, priests, and courtiers were full Ague participants. Their abstinence extended to other types of fresh produce4 and to sexual celibacy for up to four "Benin months."5 Ague-Osa's preparatory period concluded with seven days of isolation in Oguan, a special palace chamber sited in or near Oba Esigie's quarters (Nevins 1928:9; Bradbury notes 1959:BS218).6 Human sacrifice took place on the chamber's threshold when the Oba was about to enter, and again just before his exit (Egharevba n.d., "Benin Museum Catalogue" ms. in Bradbury notes:R67). Other injunctions besides fasting were in effect. One chief told me, "On certain days you don't talk to human beings; you don't touch water at all, even to gargle or bathe." Perils were intense, even lifethreatening. Contact, direct or indirect, with the new yam or its leaf was contaminating. As Chief Osuan said, "If [partici-Left: 1. Yam knife with handle terminating in a Janus memorial head. Bronze, 19cm (7.5").The Field Museum, Chicago, neg. A99487, cat. 210309. This type of knife was used to peel sacrificial yams for the palace's New Yam festival. Opposite page: 2. Bronze plaque representing the Oba with attendants. 16th century. National Museum, Lagos. The attendants are chiefs Osa and Osuan, who kneel only when praying with the Oba at Ague. 46african arts. autumn 1997 46 african artsautumn 1997

The Benin Kingdom’s oral history, like all histories, highlights selected past incidents to the exclusion of most. Major events, especially those linked to specific monarchs, are likely candidates for inclusion. Ọranmiyan’s founding of the current dynasty was a key cataclysmic event, along with his immediate descendants’ efforts to establish themselves in the city. These incidents, unsurprisingly, are remembered in some detail. Conflicts between the autochthones, represented by the Evian-Ogiamiẹn line, and the incoming royal family constitute a crucial aspect of this dynastic beginning. Subsequent but far less critical clashes between the two parties flared up periodically during later reigns, but their retention in history is less explicable. Why are these lesser incidents recalled? Human ability to recollect choice past events is shaped by sensemaking and other cognitive processes. Particular cognitive frameworks serve to organize memory creation, and their composition can ensure ...

The Benin Kingdom’s oral history, like all histories, highlights selected past incidents to the exclusion of most. Major events, especially those linked to specific monarchs, are likely candidates for inclusion. Oranmiyan’s founding of the current dynasty was a key cataclysmic event, along with his immediate descendants’ efforts to establish themselves in the city. These incidents, unsurprisingly, are remembered in some detail. Conflicts between the autochthones, represented by the Evian-Ogiamiẹn line, and the incoming royal family constitute a crucial aspect of this dynastic beginning. Subsequent but far less critical clashes between the two parties flared up periodically during later reigns, but their retention in history is less explicable. Why are these lesser incidents recalled? Human ability to recollect choice past events is shaped by sensemaking and other cognitive processes. Particular cognitive frameworks serve to organize memory creation, and their composition can ensure ...

Left: 1. Yam knife with handle terminating in a Janus memorial head. Bronze, 19cm (7.5"). The Field Museum, Chicago, neg. A99487, cat. 210309. This type of knife was used to peel sacrificial yams for the palace's New Yam festival. Opposite page: 2. Bronze plaque representing the Oba with attendants. 16th century. Nation al Museum, Lagos. The attendants are chiefs Osa and Osuan, who kneel only when praying with the Oba at Ague.

Z i Ogiame Aruwatte H. Olu of Warri, on the occasion of his installation as chancellor of the University of Nigeria. Olu Aniwatse ll wean an academic gaum over his wrapper and sashed chasuble an academic cap was rejected in favor of one of the formal Portuguese crowns. Photograph by Kathy Curnow, Niukka. 1994

The Benin Kingdom’s oral history, like all histories, highlights selected past incidents to the exclusion of most. Major events, especially those linked to specific monarchs, are likely candidates for inclusion. Oranmiyan’s founding of the current dynasty was a key cataclysmic
event, along with his immediate descendants’ efforts to establish themselves in the city. These incidents, unsurprisingly, are remembered in some detail. Conflicts between the autochthones,
represented by the Evian-Ogiamiẹn line, and the incoming royal family constitute a crucial
aspect of this dynastic beginning. Subsequent but far less critical clashes between the two
parties flared up periodically during later reigns, but their retention in history is less explicable.
Why are these lesser incidents recalled?
Human ability to recollect choice past events is shaped by sensemaking and other
cognitive processes. Particular cognitive frameworks serve to organize memory creation, and
their composition can ensure that certain events not only attain contemporaneous prominence,
but also are likely to secure a place in historical accounts. In Nigeria’s Benin Kingdom,
ominigbọn divination may have provided such a framework for stories regarding the continued
conflict between the present dynasty and the Evian-Ogiamiẹn line. Its Ohun Ighitan code
sentence speaks to (among other things) disputes that are never fully settled, and its veiled
Sensemaking in Benin Kingdom Oral Traditions
2
language appears to refer to the initial struggles between the Evian-Ogiamiẹn and Ọranmiyan
lineages. The framework it established may have served as a significant device that ensured a
narrative of conflict continued over the centuries

Z i Ogiame Aruwatte H. Olu of Warri, on the occasion of his installation as chancellor of the University of Nigeria. Olu Aniwatse ll wean an academic gaum over his wrapper and sashed chasuble an academic cap was rejected in favor of one of the formal Portuguese crowns. Photograph by Kathy Curnow, Niukka. 1994

Benin's Ague Ceremony KATHY CURNOW ~A ~gainst all advice, Acting British Consul-General James R. Phillips insisted on visiting Benin City in early January 1897. The Oba had asked him to delay because of Ague, a ritual requiring his complete isolation from visitors. Although the subsequent British colonization was probably inevitable, Ague's timing and Phillips's obstinacy catalyzed the chain of reactions which led to the conquest of the kingdom. Formerly a ceremony of critical importance, Ague has received little scholarly attention, perhaps because its full celebration ceased during the reign of Oba Eweka II (r. 1914-33). In its development it confirmed the Edo adage "Every new Oba creates new rules,"' for Ague changed substantially under various monarchs, until ultimately it came to knit together such disparate elements as Lenten denial and regional New Yam beliefs. These successive royal innovations suggest that other Benin festival "traditions" may have similarly dynamic, complex histories. Yams, Benin's staple food and crop, were ostensibly at Ague's core, but its ultimate concerns were the ownership, pollution, and sanctification of the land. Before the British invasion, yams played a ritual role in four related ceremonies. In the first, which opened the agricultural cycle, yams were planted in a symbolic pattern at the Oba's Ugbeku village farm. Diviners examined this yield to forecast the general harvest, sometimes ordaining human sacrifices to avert disasters (Thomas 1918:138-39). The second ceremony took place after the general harvest with the commencement of Ague-Osa, a period of fasting that required participants to abstain from eating newly harvested yams.2 At its conclusion, Benin's New Yam festival was celebrated,3 and budded yams were offered to paternal and maternal ancestors, deities, the unburied dead, and hostile spirits (Melzian 1959:99) (Fig. 1). The fourth ceremony, a second Ague period known as Ague-Oghene, followed, ending the. agricultural year. By the 1930s Ague-Ohene's activities were already obscure (Melzian 1959), and the two Agues are often confused and conflated today. Ague was a sober time. No burials or marriages took place, no guns were fired, and no drums or calabash rattles were played. While all Edo avoided eating new yams, only the Oba and certain chiefs, priests, and courtiers were full Ague participants. Their abstinence extended to other types of fresh produce4 and to sexual celibacy for up to four "Benin months."5 Ague-Osa's preparatory period concluded with seven days of isolation in Oguan, a special palace chamber sited in or near Oba Esigie's quarters (Nevins 1928:9; Bradbury notes 1959:BS218).6 Human sacrifice took place on the chamber's threshold when the Oba was about to enter, and again just before his exit (Egharevba n.d., "Benin Museum Catalogue" ms. in Bradbury notes:R67). Other injunctions besides fasting were in effect. One chief told me, "On certain days you don't talk to human beings; you don't touch water at all, even to gargle or bathe." Perils were intense, even lifethreatening. Contact, direct or indirect, with the new yam or its leaf was contaminating. As Chief Osuan said, "If [partici-Left: 1. Yam knife with handle terminating in a Janus memorial head. Bronze, 19cm (7.5").The Field Museum, Chicago, neg. A99487, cat. 210309. This type of knife was used to peel sacrificial yams for the palace's New Yam festival. Opposite page: 2. Bronze plaque representing the Oba with attendants. 16th century. National Museum, Lagos. The attendants are chiefs Osa and Osuan, who kneel only when praying with the Oba at Ague. 46african arts. autumn 1997 46 african artsautumn 1997

The Benin Kingdom’s oral history, like all histories, highlights selected past incidents to the exclusion of most. Major events, especially those linked to specific monarchs, are likely candidates for inclusion. Ọranmiyan’s founding of the current dynasty was a key cataclysmic event, along with his immediate descendants’ efforts to establish themselves in the city. These incidents, unsurprisingly, are remembered in some detail. Conflicts between the autochthones, represented by the Evian-Ogiamiẹn line, and the incoming royal family constitute a crucial aspect of this dynastic beginning. Subsequent but far less critical clashes between the two parties flared up periodically during later reigns, but their retention in history is less explicable. Why are these lesser incidents recalled? Human ability to recollect choice past events is shaped by sensemaking and other cognitive processes. Particular cognitive frameworks serve to organize memory creation, and their composition can ensure ...

Rowland Abiodun's Yorùbá Art and Language contains many extremely valuable features, wrapped around a question he raises in its introduction: can foreign scholars ever truly understand a work the way its Yorùbá makers and users do? Language mastery certainly provides the native speaker with access to inestimable insights regarding not only general worldview, but specifics of philosophy, history keeping, and subtleties of knowledge transmission. However, in the attempt to read an artwork and unpack its meaning, cultural insiders also face obstacles as well as advantages, particularly when pieces date from the more distant past. The import of Abiodun's major contributions regarding Yorùbá art's history and the validity of his contentions are considered here in light of the varied contributions both foreign and Yorùbá art historians bring to Yorùbá scholarship, in the recognition that working with art of bygone centuries makes all scholars outsiders to a degree. 1 While some reviewers correctly noted that Abiodun points out a number of Africanist scholars whose work counters a wholly Western approach, others have also considered though not explored Abiodun's observations in his introduction. Lynne Ellsworth Larsen's positive review of the book, for example, states: "… I am wary of the implication that only those fluent in a particular language can offer insights into the art of a particular culture"

Obstructive sleep apnoea, OSA, is formally defined as an apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) of at least 5 episodes/hour (mild). Obesity, alcohol, smoking and sedatives may contribute to the development of OSA, as well as tonsilar hypertrophy and maxillary and/or mandibular retrognathia. Endocrine conditions such as hypothyroidism and acromegaly have also been reported associated with OSA. Except for excessive daytime sleepiness, headaches and irritability, OSA may lead to hypertension, heart failure, MI and stroke. Management involves reduction of predisposing factors such as obesity and alcohol. Treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is currently most common and best documented. Also uvulopalatopharyngeal surgery and so called phase II surgery, which means advancement of the jaw(s) with orthognatic surgical methods are used. Treatment with dental appliances is getting increasingly popular but the long term outcome remains debatable.