Modern Africa is a continent of contrasts. You have to wonder if these are genuine primitive tribesmen living in the outback, or if they're sophisticated city dwellers who are wearing the old-time clothes for some cultural event.
My admiration for African art knows no bounds, partly because they realize the value of cartooning. Look at the cartoony furniture; look at the cartoony mask behind the king.
All tribes are not equally gifted in their ability to create great clothes for their king. These threads (above) just don't fit right.
The costumes here (above) look Hindu rather than African but the carvings on the throne look African. I include it because it's a reminder that one function of a king is to administer justice. In some cultures only royalty are fit to preside over courts because only they are presumed to have no personal stake in the disputes they judge.
Framed pictures like this one would be a great gift to give to a lawyer. The engine of impartial justice takes many forms. All over the world people crave it, and will make great sacrifices for it.
Probably the king doesn't live in this (above) room. I imagine it's a sacred space where the tribe's totem images are kept. On the other hand, maybe he does live here. I'll assume that this isn't what you'd call a wealthy tribe.
Some tribes are luckier. They're rolling in dough. They can afford to put up their monarch in a sumptuous modern palace like this one (above).
That's all I have to say about kings, but maybe there's space enough to describe a village in Mali (above) that I just discovered. It appears that the village is overpopulated and the people have to live shoulder to shoulder in the confines of a small space.
Talk about crowding...if you sneeze, the next man's toupee falls off.
The odd thing is that there appears to be plenty of space (above) just outside the perimeter. There must be a reason for the crowding but I can't imagine what it is.
3 comments:
Much of Africa seems desolate and hopeless to me, but they do have an interesting way of surviving the rampant poverty, disease, and corruption prevalent. Arab Spring attempted to bring democracy to the northern part of Africa and it ended up failing. I think a few months ago, Somalia set up its own parliament, so they are no longer a stateless society ravaged by a prior Marxist state. South Africa appears to be one of the most well developed of the African nations, but they haven't been doing that great either since the 1990s.
Hi Eddie,
I would like to send you an email but don't know your email address? How could I obtain it?
i guess they gather together like termites to avoid being eaten by leopards or trampled by wildebeest. it would suck to be the guy on the fringe where the rogue bull elephant chose to sit on his thatch roofed hut. better to be in the middle where it smells of B.O. and cooking oil.
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