Animal Symbolism in Benin Art

FAIN: FA-11056-75

Paula Girshick Ben-Amos
Indiana University (Bloomington, IN 47405-7000)

To conduct a scholarly inquiry into symbolism, found in the art of the people of the Benin Kingdom especially animal symbolism, of Mid-west Nigeria. Much scholarship has devoted to Benim art, but most of it is concerned with formal and historical problems. The objective of this research is a systematic interpretation of symbolism, based on both formal and contextual analyses of sculpture and supplemated by information derived from the verbal and dramatic arts. Through the analysis of ritual it will be possible for the investigator to understand how animals came to be viable, effective, and affecting symbols in Benin culture.