Kongo across the Waters

Cooksey, Susan et al. (editor)

ISBN 10: 0813049458 / ISBN 13: 9780813049458

Verlag: University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2013

Beschreibung

Quarto. Softcover. Color-illus. wraps. 458 pp., many BW & color illus. Issued in conjunction with a series of 2013-2015 exhibitions seeking connections of African art with that of African Americans across the Atlantic. "Immersing readers in Kongo history and culture, the contributors to [this book] investigate how an African culture with considerable historical depth evolved over five centuries in West Central Africa and also contributed significantly to the process of clture formation in communtiies of enslaved Africans and descendants of enslaved Africans in North America. By lookin at art from Kongo and from African American communities in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, [this book] brings to light historic links between West Central Africa and North America. This volume invites leading scholars of Kongo history, anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and art to examine the history of Kongo peoples from the fifteenth century through today. These essays probe the historical interactions between the Kongolese and the Atlantic world, Kongo presence and influence in the United States, and Kongo-inspired artistic expression in contemporary art." (dj). VG. Light wear and bumping around the wrapper edges. Else clean and unmarked.

Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 212540

Bibliografische Details

• Titel: Kongo across the Waters
• Verlag: University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN-10: 0813049458
• ISBN-13: 9780813049458
• Einband: Softcover
• Verkäuferkataloge:
  • African Art
  • Museum Exhibitions - African Art

Über diesen Titel

Inhaltsangabe

“A powerful statement through both word and image of how individuals of African descent have negotiated African cultural practices, whether through remembrance or rediscovery, as strategies for their physical and psychological health.”—Jean Borgatti, Boston University

“Uses an interdisciplinary approach to understanding Kongo culture in Africa and its transformation in North America. Valuable in its scope and coverage, this is an important collection of studies from the leading scholars on Kongo.”—Mariana Candido, author of An African Slaving Port and the Atlantic World

The Kingdom of Kongo, situated in today’s Angola and the DRC, had already developed a sophisticated artistic and cultural life by the time the Portuguese arrived in 1483. Europeans soon admired and collected particular forms of Kongo art while Kongo elites converted to Christianity and started communicating with European courts through writing.

With the development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, many less fortunate Kongolese were transported to the New World. From the Chesapeake Bay to New Orleans, Kongo peoples left their imprint on the life, art, and cultures of the African diaspora. Only recently have scholars begun to fully understand the extent of this influence.

Immersing readers in Kongo history and culture, the contributors to Kongo across the Waters investigate how an African culture with considerable historical depth evolved over five centuries in West Central Africa and also contributed significantly to the process of culture formation in communities of enslaved Africans and descendants of enslaved Africans in North America. By looking at art from Kongo and from African American communities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,Kongo across the Waters brings to light historic links between West Central Africa and North America.

This volume allows leading scholars of Kongo history, anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and art to examine the history of Kongo peoples from the fifteenth century through today. These essays probe the historical interactions between the Kongolese and the Atlantic world, Kongo presence and influence in the United States, and Kongo inspired artistic expression in contemporary art.

Visually and textually appealing, Kongo across the Waters is an overdue and valuable contribution to the literature on Africa’s history and its Atlantic connections.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Susan Cooksey is curator of African Art at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.Robin Poynor is professor of art history at the University of Florida. Hein Vanhee is a curator of African collections at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium.