African Healing Journeys: Historical and Contemporary Responses to Disease

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

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African Healing Journeys: Historical and Contemporary Responses to Disease
John Janzen, curator
White Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with “Medical Anthropology in Global Africa: Current Trends in Scholarship and Practice,” an international conference organized by The Kansas African Studies Center, the University of Kansas, at The Commons @ Spooner Hall, September 17-18, 2010.

African healing journeys are quests for healing and better health at multiple scales and spans. These include the short-term local journey that happens thousands of times daily in African lives, the larger-scale family or community confrontations with misfortune that take months or years to play themselves out, the life cycle of individuals and families, as well as the long-term journey of adaptive cultural response to epidemics and other large-scale health challenges that African communities have encountered through the ages. These journeys are presented through three broad themes that frame this installation: The Measure of Humanity in Health and in Suffering; Living in Balance with Nature; and Divination: The Interpretation of Misfortune.

African Healing Journeys features objects from the collections of the Spencer Museum of Art, the University of Kansas, and the Kauffman Museum, Bethel College, and is presented in conjunction with the international conference, “Medical Anthropology in Global Africa: Current Trends in Scholarship and Practice,” organized by The Kansas African Studies Center at the University of Kansas. Curated by Prof. John Janzen in the Department of Anthropology at KU, this exhibition draws from his joint exhibition project with Prof. Lee Cassanelli, the University of Pennsylvania, for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology. A digital version of the proposal for this larger project is available at www.africanhealingjourneys.com

Organized by Prof. John Janzen, Department of Anthropology, the University of Kansas.

Works of art

unrecorded Oyo artist, ere ibeji (twin figure)
unrecorded Oyo artist, ere ibeji (twin figure)
unrecorded Oyo artist
ere ibeji (twin figure)
late 1800s–1975
unrecorded Oyo artist, ere ibeji (twin figure)
unrecorded Oyo artist, ere ibeji (twin figure)
unrecorded Oyo artist
ere ibeji (twin figure)
late 1800s–1975
unrecorded Yoruba artist, mother and child figure
unrecorded Yoruba artist, mother and child figure
unrecorded Yoruba artist
mother and child figure
1965
unrecorded Temne artist, sowei mask
unrecorded Temne artist, sowei mask
unrecorded Temne artist
sowei mask
early-mid 1900s
unrecorded Ibibio artist, idiok mask
unrecorded Ibibio artist, idiok mask
unrecorded Ibibio artist
idiok mask
early-mid 1900s
unrecorded Yoruba artist, Ofoe figure
unrecorded Yoruba artist, Ofoe figure
unrecorded Yoruba artist
Ofoe figure
1960s
unrecorded Maasai artist, lidded drinking gourd
unrecorded Maasai artist, lidded drinking gourd
unrecorded Maasai artist
lidded drinking gourd
mid 1900s
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist
container with lid
late 1800s–1908
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist
container with lid
late 1800s–1908
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist
container with lid
late 1800s–1908
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist, container with lid
unrecorded Ndebele artist
container with lid
late 1800s–1908
unrecorded Oyo artist, agere Ifa (divination cup)
unrecorded Oyo artist, agere Ifa (divination cup)
unrecorded Oyo artist
agere Ifa (divination cup)
early-mid 1900s
Melania Mazinyani, Child Taken by Mermaid
Melania Mazinyani, Child Taken by Mermaid
Melania Mazinyani
Child Taken by Mermaid
1988–1996
unrecorded Ndebele artist, bandanda drum
unrecorded Ndebele artist, bandanda drum
unrecorded Ndebele artist
bandanda drum
late 1800s–1996
unrecorded Karamojong artist, milking jug
unrecorded Karamojong artist, milking jug
unrecorded Karamojong artist
milking jug
late 1800s–1999

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 230 Sep-2010, Sarah C. Schroeder I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. African Healing Journeys: Historical and Contemporary Responses to Disease is a special display at the Spencer, presented in conjunction with the recent conference at KU, “Medical Anthropology in Global Africa.” Organized by John M. Janzen, KU professor of Anthropology, the exhibition uses the familiar concept of a journey as a metaphor to explore the ways in which health concerns of Africans unfold at the levels of the individual, family, community and beyond. Sculptures, ritual objects, and everyday household items convey the themes of Health and Suffering; Living in Balance with Nature; and Divination. A mask from the Democratic Republic of Congo depicts an individual in the throes of a seizure; a collection of cultivation tools demonstrates cultural adaptation to environments where sleeping sickness and malaria are common; and a divination cup alludes to the role of a diviner in the diagnosis and treatment of sickness. To view these objects and more, visit African Healing Journeys, on view through October 3. With thanks to Sarah C. Schroeder for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.