In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

13 MAMI WATA SHRINES: Exotica and the Construction of Self HENRY JOHN DREWAL • INTRODUCTION Devotees of an African water spirit known as Mami Wata take exotic objects, interpret them according to indigenous precepts, invest them with new meanings, and then re-present them in inventive ways to serve their own aesthetic, devotional, and social needs. This essay explores a specific set of Mami Wata objects-Hindu chromoliths, various Indian objects, as well as other related forms-tracing their history between about 1950 to the present, their contexts, and their meanings as they construct persons and communities.1 In addition, it considers our own practices in the collection and interpretation of others' material culture as homologous with those of Mami Wata followers and the implications this may have for studies of material culture in general. A people's material culture consists of all objects used by them, whether locally produced or imported. Objects from elsewhere-creations of other systems of thought and action recontextualized-reveal as much about the users as do objects produced by them. Moreover, people intentionally or unintentionally use the objects of others to define themselves. Museums-institutions designed for the storage, analysis , and display of the objects of others-are good examples. As Stocking explains (1985:4), we as alien observers collect the objects of "othersof human beings whose similarity or difference is experienced ... as in some profound way problematic." Museums may be windows on other worlds, but they are also mirrors reflecting their creators. By framing our view and directing our gaze, they influence what we see, how we see, and, therefore, what we understand. Such collections and presentations reveal who we perceive ourselves to be in relation to others.2 Edward Said (1979) unmasks Western motivations in his analysis of "Orientalism ," European representations of the Orient. James Clifford's discussion about "Primitivism" in Western art (1985) and his critique of ethnographic writing as "inventive syncretism" in The Predicament of Culture (1988:23) reveal similar processes. Focusing on American phenom- Mami Wata Shrines 309 ena such as the "witch-hunts" of Salem or McCarthyism might reveal the cultural and historical circumstances and processes that led to perceptions of "foreign" destructive forces (witches or communists) in order to promote domestic control. As we begin to reflect on our own uses of the objects of others in defining ourselves, we may explore how others engage in similar practices . For example, in a study of the aesthetics of Ashanti tourist art, Harry Silver (1979) found that, through a process of inversion, artists use alien styles and images to reinforce indigenous ideals. In Togo, Ewe and Mina peoples have a number of societies (tigari, gara, kunde) for the detection and control of antisocial persons. When spirits come during possession trances, the Ewe or Mina devotees speak, dress, eat, dance, and sing as "foreigners," that is, as Hausa or Mossi. Such a phenomenon appears to express the mobilization of forces beyond one's immediate surroundings in order to deal with disruptive elements. Thus Ewe and Mina mediums become outsiders in order to deal with antisocial insiders . In a similar way, early in the French colonial period the Fang of Gabon incorporated a European motif (a mustache) into a powerful mask type (ngil) used in "witch-finding" operations (Northern 1987). Mami Wata devotees are particularly concerned with alien things because their water spirit is perceived to be "foreign." Their shrine rooms are filled with certain exotica from overseas-objects intimately associated with Mami Wata. These intriguing or "problematic" objects provoke reflection and action. Densely packed and fastidiously arranged, the shrines are spiritual magnets to attract and please Mami Wata so that her presence and support are assured. While Mami Wata followers possess a certain awareness of foreign ways, they do not use alien objects primarily to analyze or understand the ideas or values of the Other, but rather to examine and construct themselves and their own society. As persons who are often troubled by questions of self-identity, Mami Wata devotees evaluate and transform external forces to shape their own interior lives and the lives of those around them. Combining the object-orientation of art history, the contextual-orientation of anthropology, and the individual case study approach of psychology (Drewal 1984), this chapter considers the appropriation and organization of alien objects in the shrine complexes of Mami Wata worshipers. More specifically, it considers these shrines as environments for self-actualization. The Mami Wata phenomenon illustrates what Roy Wagner calls the invention of...

Share