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Globalization

Makonde art is an integration of dated practices of woodwork met with a demand of wood cravings of the modernized world. After the introduction of road systems in the plateaus  between Tanzania and Mozambique by Portuguese troops during world war 1, the traditional sense of the practice began to shift to met social and economical demand.

Once a signifier of ritualistic expression made solely by men, kept hidden from women, western influences on Makonde art changed who created the art and for what reasons. Portuguese forced labor and taxes encouraged many Makonde people to expand the practices of traditional wood cravings in a few ways. One way being the type of art expressed in these woodcarvings. Traditionally tools and Mapiko, helmet masks used during initiation ceremonies, were the only type of sculptures created. After the Insertion of road systems, Europeans and missionaries began to commission Makonde people to create religious symbolic sculptures. This contributed to the distinction of three categories of Makonde art: Ujamaa, Shetani and Binadamu.

Types of Makonde art

Ujamaa

Roberto Yakobo Sangwani left his home Mozambique and headed for Tanzania in the latter years of the 1950’s. With him he brought a style of Makonde art formally known as Dimoongo, meaning ‘power of strength’ or ‘tree of life’. Traditionally these sculptures portrayed clusters of wrestlers holding up a winning victor. Gradually the main figure shifted to represent tribal heads or women surrounded by community members or family. Regardless of who the central figure of a sculpture is, the organization of this style represents one central figure surrounded by and connected to smaller figures. These smaller figures exemplify support from the community and bring forth the underlying reverence the Makonde have for their ancestors.

Shetani

Shetani style woodcarvings (“devil” in Swahili) are expressions of Makonde mythology and spirits. This style uses the appearance of otherworldly physical traits, like large facial features, and sometimes animals to signify the spiritual realm. The essence of Shetani is thought to take five forms: human, mammal, fish, bird, and reptile. There is also the inclusion of culturally significant symbols like a mother’s breasts and calabashes, used to carry water.

George Lilanga was a Makonde artist from Tanzania most known for his modern impression on Shetani woodcarvings. His sculptures convey states of emotion with the use of vivid colors, facial expression and animalism.

Binadamu

Binadamu, a naturalistic type, captures the essence of Makonde social roles. Most common are depictions of men smoking and women fulfilling household reasonability’s. Once the Portuguese made contact, the market for Makonde woodcarvings flourished abroad. Many locals began to prioritize the craft and create figures embodying the daily lives of Makonde men and women.

Rite of passage

Long before Makonde woodcarvings became of commercial interest, the purpose of this artform was in its characterization of evil spirits during rites of passage ceremonies. Most notable are male initiations into adulthood which is marked by circumcision. At the beginning of this rite, a ritualist dance, the Mapiko, is performed. Throughout this dance there are three active parts: A masked dancer representing a dead man who has returned to haunt the village, the Mashapilo or an evil spirit seeking to spread malice and disrupt health and the young man undergoing this transition into manhood. Both of the masked dancers are symbolic expressions of the evil that must be faced and defeated by the boy, soon to be man. After this dance, a boy will receive his operation from the Mkukomela, or the “Hammerer", who conducts the entirety of the ritual. Once a boy is circumcised, he will spend days away from the general population with other men and boys in a shelter called a Likumbi. In conjunction with their healing, boys are taught their manly roles in society. There is a physical shift that includes learning to hunt and tend the land. There is also a social shift in which men are taught how to rejoin their community as men. Men are taught quality virtues and morals, how to regard elders and the appropriate manner for sexual relations. Once boys are healed, the Likumbi is destroyed with fire and the boys receive new names as men. Woodcarvings are present during female initiation as well but at a different stage than that of males. A girl is too made women by ritualist dance and isolation however, woodcarvings are only present once a woman is married. Once a Makonde woman marries, she will carry around a wood craved doll to promote fertility.