Marks of Identity: Reconstructing the History of an African Ceramic Tradition

FAIN: FB-54969-10

Barbara E. Frank
SUNY Research Foundation, Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY 11794-0001)

This proposal seeks support for field research and time to complete a monograph on a remarkable group of women of the Folona region of southern Mali whose identity and artistry as potters provide clues to their complex history. My approach combines analyses of the formal qualities of pottery and the technological styles of ceramic production with the study of gender, artisan caste, language, and local histories within a regional perspective. Although they speak a Mande language and identify the Mande heartland as their ancestral home, the kinds of pots these women make, the way they form and fire them, and their identity as the wives of griot-leatherworkers rather than of blacksmiths suggests that the origins of this ceramic tradition may lie elsewhere. At the heart of my project is a desire for the ceramic arts of Africa to be recognized as art forms worthy of scholarly attention and for African women to be recognized as bearers of cultural heritage in their own right.

Associated Products

Griot Potters of the Folona: The History of an African Ceramic Tradition (Book)
Title: Griot Potters of the Folona: The History of an African Ceramic Tradition
Author: Barbara E. Frank
Abstract: Griot Potters of the Folona reconstructs the past of a particular group of West African women potters using evidence found in their artistry and techniques. The potters of the Folona region of southeastern Mali serve a diverse clientele and firing thousands of pots weekly during the height of the dry season. Although they identify themselves as Mande, the unique styles and types of objects the Folona women make, and more importantly, the way they form and fire them, are fundamentally different from Mande potters to the north and west. Through a brilliant comparative analysis of pottery production methods across the region, especially how the pots are formed and the way the techniques are taught by mothers to daughters, Barbara Frank concludes that the mothers of the potters of the Folona very likely came from the south and east, marrying Mande griots (West African leatherworkers who are better known as storytellers or musicians), as they made their way south in search of clientele as early as the 14th or 15th century CE. While the women may have nominally given up their mothers' identities through marriage, over the generations the potters preserved their maternal heritage through their technological style, passing this knowledge on to their daughters, and thus transforming the very nature of what it means to be a Mande griot. This is a story of resilience and the continuity of cultural heritage in the hands of women.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/1287136939
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780253058997
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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