Rationalising culture: youth, elites and masquerade politics

Abstract

Studies of associations in West Africa have tended to focus upon the development of new development-related institutional forms. Other, so-called traditional, cultural groupings have tended to be ignored. This article points to transformations and changes in the masquerade society of the north-eastern Yoruba town of Ìkòlé and considers the continuing development of the masquerade society as an association. Changes in the masquerade society are being strongly promoted by younger men as a way to establish masquerade as a resource, promoting Ìkòlé's cultural identity. They are aided and funded by groups of elite citizens who are not necessarily resident in Ìkòlé. The article examines the relations between the various groups involved in masquerade, as well as the relationship between those often elite town members who support masquerades and Pentecostal Christian groups which would happily see their demise.

Youth and Cultural Practice

“…Admittedly, youthful challenges to adult authority are widely documented, but the phenomenon is neither so wholeheartedly rebellious nor so intimately connected to modernity as this imagined scenario suggests. Researchers in a variety of cultural settings have found that the divisions between youth and elder, modern and traditional, conflictual and consensual are blurry and ambiguous rather than clearly differentiated (Gable 2000, Rasmussen 2000, Rea 1998, Sharp 1995.…”

Profiling Masquerade Festival Attendees in Ghana

“…In some parts of West Africa, especially Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, masquerading has religious undertones and are celebrated during ceremonial rituals, ancestral worship sessions, and funerals (e.g., Doris, 2005;Esu & Arrey, 2009;Picton, 1990;Rea 1998Rea , 2007. In Ghana, this is not the case; masquerading in Winneba and, indeed, the country as a whole, has no religious, metaphysical, or mythical connotations; it is celebrated solely for its entertainment value though unlike the rest of the country the merry making in Winneba is underpinned and sustained by the intense rivalry among the competing groups.…”

On staging performance: the masquerade festival of Ìklé Èkìtì*

“…I have given a brief description of the festival structure (Rea 1998) but wish to further that description here with an analysis that incorporates the proceedings prior to the performance of the festival.…”

“…Although Egígún masquerades appear annually during the town's Ò gún festival, the main period of performance is the biannual Orò Egún, the masquerade festival (Rea 1998). It is during this festival that the major structuring principles of the operation of masquerade in Ìkòlé become apparent, not only in the performance of the Egígún -for in many ways the performance of certain of the Egígún is not restricted by the festival -but rather the operation of the cult and the general administration of Egígún in the town.…”

“…25 At the same time there is an increased tension in the town between the supporters of Ìkòlé's local traditions (in whatever form of modernity those traditions are expressed) and those that would see all such evidence of Ìkòlé culture abolished in favour of a radical Christian Pentecostalism -see Rea (1998).…”