Deck 38: Africa, 1800 to 1980

Question 1

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What is the significance of the headdress worn by the central figure in this Kalabari ancestral screen?

A) Reference to the travels of the deceased around the coasts of Africa
B) Reference to the deceased chief's successful trading business
C) Reference to the ravages of the slave trade on the family of the deceased
D) Reference to the god of the equatorial trade winds

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Akan akua'ba figures are consecrated at shrines for young women to carry for what purpose?

A) To placate the great fertility spirits
B) To ensure a good harvest for the group
C) To ensure the safe delivery of a child
D) To ward off envious ancestral spirits

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which aspect of Mende masks is meant to evoke the ancestral female spirits?

A) The dove forms
B) The glistening black surfaces
C) The wide-open eyes
D) The cowrie-shell headdresses

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What is the name of Kongo power figures that a trained priest must consecrate?

A) Waka sran
B) Mbulu ngulu
C) Wunkirle
D) Nkisi n'kondi

Question 5

What is the primary function of masks and masqueraders in traditional African culture?

A) To amuse participants
B) To intimidate enemies
C) To act as mediators
D) To impress observers

Question 6

Which component of the royal ancestral shrine of the Benin represents both the kings and the enduring nature of kingship?

A) Elephant-tusk carvings
B) Copper-alloy bells
C) Carved wood rattle-staffs
D) Copper-alloy heads

Question 7

What event is depicted on the shrine doors carved by Yoruba sculptor Olowe of Ise?

A) The arrival of the Dutch in South Africa
B) The surrender of the Yoruba king
C) A battle scene in southwestern Nigeria
D) Visit of British commissioner in 1897

Question 8

Kongo nkisi n'kondi are believed to have what ability?

A) Take on the spirit of their artistic creator
B) Communicate with animals and fish
C) Embody spirits that heal and give life
D) House the soul of the firstborn child

Question 9

Most figures and masks are visualizations of which of the following?

A) Political forces
B) Natural resources
C) Living royalty
D) Supernatural forces

Question 10

How does the sculpture of the Dogon differ from the sculpture of the Kongo?

A) Dogon sculpture is naturalistic.
B) Kongo sculpture is heavily stylized.
C) Dogon sculpture is heavily stylized.
D) Kongo sculpture is highly abstract.

Question 11

What is the purpose of animal sacrifices made by the Benin king?

A) To appease the great ancestor spirit
B) To invoke the collective strength of his ancestor kings
C) To appease evil demons threatening the group
D) To certify his power over the animal kingdom

Question 12

What was the principal transportation route for the peoples of central Africa during the 19th century?

A) The Nile River
B) Atlantic Ocean
C) Lake Victoria
D) The Congo River

Question 13

In Dogon society, the Satimbe mask represents all women, commemorating the creation legend, which says what?

A) Women were the first ancestors to anger the spirit maskers.
B) Women were the first ancestors to imitate spirit maskers.
C) Women were forbidden by the spirit maskers to consort with men.
D) Women were forbidden by the spirit maskers to wear masks.

Question 14

What are waka sran ?

A) Masks of the dead ancestors, Baule
B) People of wood, Baule
C) First ancestors, Dogon
D) Female spirits, Mende

Question 15

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Why do sheets of polished copper and brass cover the wooden mbulu ngulu figures made by the Kota?

A) Indicate wealth of the deceased
B) Provide surface for written stories
C) Repel evil via the shine of the metal
D) Protect the statue from deterioration

Question 16

The stylized wooden figures (bieri), with infantile limbs and adult musculature, made by the Fang people had what function?

A) Hold the ancestral spirit
B) Protect pregnancy
C) Guard the elderly
D) Protect relic containers

Question 17

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The large size of this Kongo power figure indicates that its exceptional protective abilities were meant to assist whom?

A) Deceased ancestors
B) Entire community
C) Current group leader
D) Royal lineage

Question 18

The shrine of Eweka II highlights what aspect of Benin ancestral worship?

A) Importance of matrilineal lineage
B) Material advantages of trade
C) Respect for superior hunters
D) Central focus on royalty

Question 19

What is the primary purpose of much African art?

A) Ensure fertility
B) Venerate ancestors
C) Worship nature
D) Propitiate gods

Question 20

Who would carry the Akan linguist staff into a meeting where an individual would be contesting the king's right to rule?

A) The king's first son
B) The king himself
C) The king's important adviser
D) The king's principal wife

Question 21

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On this Kuba mask of the character Ngady Amwaash, what is represented by the stripes beneath the eyes?

A) Scarification signifying status
B) Tears of pain from childbirth
C) Painted blood from symbolic blinding
D) Colors of the character's lineage

Question 22

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Which aspect of this Asante akua'ba figure represents their standard of idealized beauty?

A) Overlarge, elongated nose
B) Long, flattened forehead
C) Straight torso, with no waist
D) Enlarged calves and shoulders

Question 23

What rite of passage is enacted by Senufo mask dancers at funerals?

A) Invoke the presence of the deceased
B) Settle the deceased in the village
C) Incarnate welcoming ancestors
D) Expel the deceased from the village

Question 24

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Of the three masks in Kuba masquerades that tell a story to celebrate royal ancestors, which character is a commoner who opposes the king's power?

A) Woot
B) Bwoom
C) Ogoga
D) Toga

Question 25

Who is the most famous Yoruba artist of the twentieth century?

A) Osei Bonsu
B) Akati Akpele Kendo
C) Kot a-Mbweeky
D) Olowe of Ise

Question 26

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe how masks and maskers were perceived in African society before the Europeans arrived?

A) Masks sometimes became so influential that they had their own priests.
B) Masks were not allowed to serve as power sources or as oracles.
C) Maskers boasted extensive regulatory and judicial powers.
D) Maskers enact a broad range of human, animal, and fantastic otherworldly behavior.

Question 27

According to traditional African gender roles in the arts, which of the following would be produced by a woman?

A) Ivory carving
B) Iron figure
C) Decorated gourd
D) Clay shrine

Question 28

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Who was not permitted to wear this Senufo "Beautiful Lady" mask?

A) Men
B) Priests
C) Uninitiated youths
D) Women

Question 29

Which African figural type is thought to have been inspired by Christian Madonna-and-Child imagery?

A) Igbo mbari
B) Chokwe Chibinda
C) Dan spoons
D) Yombe pfemba

Question 30

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What is the subject depicted by the Bawana mask used in their Ci Wara ritual?

A) Plow
B) Elephant
C) Grasshopper
D) Antelope

Question 31

Which of the following represents the most widely recognized emblem of kingship in Africa?

A) Mask
B) Scepter
C) Throne
D) Screen

Question 32

Which individual(s) interacted with the wooden spirit figures (asye usu) created by the Belau of Côte d'Ivoire?

A) Kings
B) Women
C) Diviners
D) Children

Question 33

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Dan ceremonial spoons are a reflection of which aspect of their daily life?

A) Salt collection
B) Woodcarving
C) Rice harvest
D) Cloth dyeing

Question 34

The 20-year-long Poro initiation process of the Senufo people is presided over by which figure?

A) Pfemba
B) Chibinda
C) Ancient Mother
D) Akua'ba

Question 35

What is the name of the earliest-known African artist?

A) Osei Bonsu
B) Olowe of Ise
C) Akati Akpele Kendo
D) Kot a-Mbweeky

Question 36

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King Glele of the Fon people commissioned which artist to make this life-size iron warrior figure (Gu?)?

A) Atta Kwami
B) Romuald Hazoumè
C) Akati Akpele Kendo
D) Nakunte Diarra

Question 37

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This Dogon mask commemorating a creation legend is named Satimbe, which means what?

A) The first mask maker
B) Nourishing mother
C) Sister on the head
D) Queen of the river

Question 38

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This gold-covered wooden staff was an emblem of which office?

A) Chef
B) Diviner
C) King
D) General

Question 39

What information can art historians glean from the linked male-and-female couple figure made by the Dogon people of Mali?

A) Meaning of such abstracted figures
B) Date of manufacture and name of artist
C) Gender roles in traditional African society
D) Details of Dogon creation myth

Question 40

Which mythological figure is the subject of much artwork of the Chokwe people in west-central Africa?

A) Osei Bonsu
B) Chibinda Ilunga
C) Nduen Fobara
D) Babalu Aye

Question 41

Which is NOT an accurate description of the symbolism of the neck ridges on Mende female masks?

A) Sign of beauty
B) Sign of athleticism
C) Sign of good health
D) Sign of prosperity

Question 42

Among the Samburu of northern Kenya, lavish personal adornment-hairstyles, beaded headbands and jewelry, body paint, and decorated collars-contains what information about the individual?

A) Age and initiation status
B) Marital status and royal lineage
C) Education level and gender
D) Age, marital and initiation status, royal lineage

Question 43

Which of the following statements about African figurative sculpture is NOT true?

A) It can stand in place of a person who has died.
B) It is not concerned with realistic representation.
C) It is a mediator between ancestors and the living.
D) It can reflect knowledge, experience, and identity.

Question 44

The woodcarved reliefs of Olowe of Ise feature what characteristic stylistic element?

A) Inlaid stone and beads
B) Bright paint and dyes
C) High relief figures
D) Copper sheathing

Question 45

Which art form is NOT an emblem of kingship of one of the peoples of Africa?

A) Throne
B) Statue
C) Spoon
D) Staff

Question 46

What material is used to make kente cloth?

A) Wool
B) Linen
C) Raffia
D) Cotton

Question 47

Which of the following methods is used to produce kente cloth?

A) Woven in large sheets and patterns
B) Woven on strips on a loom and then sewn together
C) Stitched in squares and then pieced together
D) Material hammered into large felted sheets

Question 48

Over the course of much of its production, which group made Akan kente cloth?

A) Women
B) Young girls
C) Slaves
D) Men

Question 49

What materials are used for royal artworks among the Baum, especially on the thrones made for their kings?

A) Shells, copper, carved ivory
B) Colored textiles, gold, copper
C) Carved ivory, ebony, gold
D) Colored textiles, glass beads, shells

Question 50

How are the large Mother of Fertility (d'mba) masks of the Baga people worn on the body?

A) Hanging from back
B) Resting on shoulders
C) Like a helmet
D) Held as shield