Social Dynamics and Resilience in the Northern Igbo Masking Traditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55121/card.v2i2.36Keywords:
resilience, social dynamics, northern Igbo masking tradition, liminality, Music composition and performanceAbstract
In the coming of the Europeans into Igbo land engendered change-producing forces,their encounter with the indigenous people created liminality that disrupted vital facets of Igbo traditional life. Masquerades that formed a significant aspect of the Igbo cultural heritage was hit the hardest by the colonial encounter but comparably changed the least. Participant to observation method was used to collect information for this study,it identified a few of the change-producing forces and tried to understand the reasons for the resilience of the masquerade institution in the face of a barrage of the forces of the agencies of modern social change ranged against it. Their effects have been enormous but because the Igbo people have profound belief in masquerades as the spirits of their ancestors personified, and that the links and relationships between them need to be maintained and sustained, and the institution continues to thrive. More so, masquerade engages the services of different artisans at every stage of its production and performance.
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