Imo Nse Imeh

Daughters of Seclusion

The Revelation of the Ibibio «Fattened Bride» as the Icon of Beauty and Power

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This groundbreaking book analyzes the extent to which feminine ideals of beauty, power, and spirituality in southern Nigeria translate into unique demonstrations of corporeality, extravagance, transfiguration, and wellness. Considering a culture of ceremonial seclusion, fatness, decoration, and identity construction as it is revealed through mbopo, a mysterious ritual practiced in Ibibioland, Nigeria, this work seeks to isolate a visual aesthetic that is specific to Ibibio and Cross River cultures. Through the analysis of regional aesthetic forms, Daughters of Seclusion addresses the connections between mbopo ritual and larger conceptions of aesthetics, artistry, and literacy in Ibibio provinces. Its cross-disciplinary analysis fuses West African women's studies and art history to discuss nuances in modes of female representation and conceptualization in Ibibio art and life.

Produktdetails

• Black Studies and Critical Thinking 29
• Verlag: Peter Lang
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 311532
• Seitenzahl: 336
• Erscheinungstermin: 13. April 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 231mm x 155mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 590g
• ISBN-13: 9781433115325
• ISBN-10: 1433115328
• Artikelnr.: 35457382

Autorenporträt

Imo Nse Imeh is Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at Westfield State University. He received his doctorate in Art History from Yale University, where he studied the art and aesthetics of the African Diaspora. He is a practicing artist as well as a researcher, and although he is American-born, Imeh¿s Ibibio heritage ¿ his parents hail from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria ¿ has become a central point of reference and contemplation in both his art and scholarship. Presently, he is developing a series of paintings that are the visual embodiment of his research.

Rezensionen

«Imo Nse Imeh comes from blooded stock. His mother is an Ibibio. He is an Ibibio. With double-barrel authenticity he hits some of the most important aesthetic expressions of the women of Ibibioland who live in the southeast of Nigeria. His eye is sharp and discerning and his command of the sources, both vocal and literary, is nonpareil. This book is destined to become a classic of our field starting with the first page that you turn. An unbelievably rich achievement.» (Robert Farris Thompson, Author of 'Tango: The Art History of Love')
«Imo Nse Imeh has written a most insightful examination of a women's initiation procedure in Nigeria from a perspective unlike any other - his own people, his own family, and the initiate herself. The ritual, among the Ibibio people, has long been misunderstood. Imeh's lucid writing gives us an intimate look into attitudes about the body and its maturity as a personally crafted process of art.» (Frederick John Lamp, Curator of African Art, YaleUniversity Art Gallery; Author of 'See the Music, Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art')