User talk:Nicole Lenz/Fang people

Evaluation: I'm glad to see there's been some work done on the culture, but there isn't much information about the art. I plan on going more in-depth on this subject and think it's a good starting point. I would also like to discuss more historical figures from the Fang culture. Also, I would like to talk about ongoing trends and changes. As well as some of their music.

Sources: I will be editing this page using the following sources:

Isabella Hoving "Africa and Its Significant Others" (Rodopi, 2003)

Janet Stanley "African Art: A Bibliographical Guide" (Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 1985)

Judith Perani & Fred Smith "The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals" (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998)

Paula Ben-Amos "African Visual Arts from a Social Perspective" (Cambridge University Press, 1989)

Pierre Alexandre "Introduction to a Fang Oral Art Genre: Gabon and Cameroon mvet" (Cambridge University Press, 1974)

Virginia-Lee Webb "Art as Information: The African Portfolios of Charles Sheeler and Walker Evans" (UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, 1991)

Chike Aniakor "Fang: (Equatorial Guinea, Gabon" (The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc NY, 1998)

Chinua Achebe "An Image of Africa" (The Massachusetts Review, Inc., 1977)

Fernandez, James W "Fang Architectonics" (Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1977)

Jopling, Carol "Art and Aesthetics in Primitive Societies" (EP Dutton & Co., Inc., 1971) Nicole Lenz (talk) 17:48, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Fang people From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about a central African people. For other uses, see Fang (disambiguation).

Fang people 4-faced Ngontang mask of Fang people Total population ~1 million Regions with significant populations Equatorial Guinea (85%) Cameroon

Gabon

Languages Fang language aka Pahouin or Pamue or Pangwe (Niger-Congo), French, Spanish, Portuguese Religion Christianity, some syncretic with Traditional religion Related ethnic groups Beti people, Yaunde people The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Central African ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon. Representing about 85% of the total population of Equatorial Guinea, concentrated in the Río Muni region, the Fang people are its largest ethnic group. In other countries, in the regions they live, they are one of the most significant and influential ethnic groups.

Language[edit] The Fang people speak the Fang language, also known as Pahouin or Pamue or Pangwe. The language is a Southern Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages. The Fang language is similar and intelligible with languages spoken by Beti-Pahuin peoples, namely the Beti people to their north and the Bulu people in central. Their largest presence is in the southern regions, up to the Ogooué River estuary where anthropologists refer them also as "Fang proper".

They have preserved their history largely through a musical oral tradition. Many Fang people are fluent in Spanish, French, German and English, a tradition of second language they developed during the Spanish colonial rule in Equatorial Guinea, the French colonial rule in Gabon and the German-later-British colonial rule in Cameroon.

History[edit] The Fang people are relatively recent migrants into the Equatorial Guinea, and many of them moved from central Cameroon in the 19th century.

Early ethnologists conjectured them to be Nilotic peoples from the upper Nile area, but a combination of evidence now places them to be of Bantu origins who began moving back into Africa around the seventh or eighth century possibly because of invasions from the north and the wars of West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Their migration may be related to an attempt to escape the violence of slave raiding by the Hausa people, but this theory has been contested.

The Fang people were victims of the large transatlantic and trans-Saharan slave trade between the 16th and 19th century. They were stereotyped as cannibals by slave traders and missionaries, in part because human skulls and bones were found in open or in wooden boxes near their villages, a claim used to justify violence against them and their enslavement. When their villages were raided, thousands of their wooden idols and villages were burnt by the slave raiders. Later ethnologists who actually spent time with the Fang people later discovered that the Fang people were not cannibalistic, the human bones in open and wooden boxes were of their ancestors, and were Fang people's method of routine remembrance and religious reverence for their dead loved ones.

Society and culture[edit] A head dress of the Fang people with embedded artwork.

They have a patrilineal kinship social structure. The villages have been traditionally linked through lineage. They are exogamous, particularly on the father's side. Polygamy was accepted in the culture of the Fang people. The independence of villages from each other is notable, and they are famed for their knowledge of animals, plants and herbs in the Equatorial forests they live in. They are traditionally farmers and hunters, but became major cocoa farmers during the colonial era.

Under French colonial rule, they converted to Christianity. However, after independence their interest in their own traditional religion, called Biere, also spelled Byeri, has returned, and many practice syncretic ideas and rites. One of the syncretic traditions among Fang people is called Bwiti, a monotheistic religion that celebrates Christian Easter but over four days with group dancing, singing and psychedelic drinks.

Social Dynamic The council house - men

kitchen - women and children

up stream - male

downstream - female

the church - place for both

sun - male

moon - female

Art The art works of Fang people, particularly from wood, iron and steatite, are regionally famous. Their wooden masks and idol carvings are on display at numerous museums of the world. Discovery of Fang artwork was source of inspiration for much of the European avant-garde artwork created during the 20th century[1]. Much of the art is either used for their masquerades, or function as reliquaries and effigies. All are primarily made by the men of the village[2][3] There is reason to believe that many of these reliquaries were made during the Fang's migration as a form of burial which was also portable[4].

Wooden Heads [1]

heart shaped faces and large bulbous foreheads. Concave faces. tied to welfare and social power

Effigy

black patina

skull of fang ancestors

byeri

crested coiffure down back of the neck

covered in charcoal. "tears " most likely made of palm oil and mix of other seed oils left exposed to the air.

Heads appear on bark reliquary box

many affixed to a wooden box/ barrel[4]

Reliquary Figures Throughout Gabon, these figures serve as talisman or guardian to protect the remains of ancestors[2]. Known as bieri or mwan bian - these reliquary figures widely range in style, but most common characteristics are[3]:

short, rounded body parts long torso a large heads a prominent forehead and concave face Some earlier figures had cavities in the abdomen as a place to store bones of ancestors[2]. The figures aren't completed until they are ceremoniously presented and rubbed with palm oil. Members of the community will continually visit figures and rub them with oil so they maintain their protective powers.

It was during colonization that many of these reliquaries had to be destroyed due to missionary and government pressure[3].

Music The mvet is a musical instrument popular in the Fang society, which is played by the mbomo mvet[5] The instrument is a chordophone with attached resonators. Often, one resonator is regarded as 'male' and the other as 'female'. Some mvet come with two, three, or even five strings. To become a master mbomo mvet takes years of dedication and sacrifice.

The mbomo mvet will often pass through villages once a month to play at the council house where all members of the village will gather to be entertained[3]. Members of the community participate by keeping time while the mbomo mvet plays the sings praises to the ancestors.

[1]

Food

See also [edit] Beti-Pahuin peoples

References[edit] ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i ^ Jump up to:a b Fang, Ethnologue ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Fang people, Encyclopædia Britannica ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h ^ Equatorial Guinea People and Society; Cameroon People and Society; Gabon People and Society; CIA Factbook ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ J. Vansina (1984), Review: Fang Religious Experience, The Journal of African History, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 25, No. 2 (1984), pages 228-230 ^ Chinua Achebe (1977), An Image of Africa, The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Winter, 1977), pages 782-794 ^ Bibliography[edit] James W. Fernandez (1982), Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0691101224 Essay.svg This is a user sandbox of Nicole Lenz. A user sandbox is a subpage of the user's user page. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is not an encyclopedia article. Get Help Kaehr, Roland (Winter, 2007). "A Masterwork That Sheds Tears... and Light: A Complementary Study of a Fang Ancestral Head". UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center. 40: 44–57 – via JSTOR. Check date values in: |date= (help) Perani, Judith (1998). The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Pentice Hall. ISBN 978-0134423289. d’ Azevedo, Waren (1973). The Traditional Artists In African Societies. Indiana University Press. p. 199. ISBN 9780253399014. Martinez, Jessica Levin (SPRING 2010). "Ephemeral Fang Reliquaries: A Post-History". UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center. 43: 29 – via JSTOR. Check date values in: |date= (help) Alexandre, Pierre (1974). "Introduction to a Fang Oral Art Genre: Gabon and Cameroon mvet". Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies. 37: 1–7 – via JSTOR. Nicole Lenz (talk) 21:09, 15 November 2019 (UTC)