The Performance of the Great Baga D'mba

FAIN: RZ-50588-06

Yale University (New Haven, CT 06510-1703)
Frederick Lamp (Project Director: November 2005 to December 2009)

Library research, travel preparation, and a planning conference prior to undertaking field research in Guinea, West Africa on the masquerade character and performance piece known among the Baga people as D'mba. This is to be followed by a final conference to present the results of the collaboration and the plan for the book along with an exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery. (18 months)

The goals of The Performance of the Great Baga D’mba are 1) to conduct interdisciplinary collaborative field research in Guinea, West Africa on the masquerade character and performance piece known among the Baga as D’mba; 2) to create a model for future study of African art; and 3) to disseminate the collaborative findings through a publication, DVD, and an exhibition. This project will address the concerns: 1) that a holistic and integrated art as conceived and viewed in Africa continues to be presented in the West in a compartmentalized and fragmentary way, 2) that the study of African art needs an expanded interdisciplinary vocabulary and theory, and 3) that exhaustive studies are needed on specific art forms.