GHANA STUDIES COUNCIL

Newsletter

number 9 (spring/summer 1996)


GSC NOTES AND QUERIES:

THE HISTORY OF "SAKRABUNDI" MASKS:
A QUERY

From Karel Arnaut
Pitt Rivers School of Anthropology
and Museum Ethnography

I am trying to reconstruct the history of 'Sakrabundi' masks of British Gyaman/North-West Asante (now in the Museum of Mankind and the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin). The masks were seen in Odumasi by Richard Freeman (1888) and collected by Cecil Armitage and Wilfred Davidson-Houston (probably in 1896). The shrine and the masquerade were allegedly suppressed by the British (officers and missionaries) in the 1910's and 20's. In order to complete the history, I need the following information:

1. I am looking for the diaries of Cecil Armitage, first Assistant-Inspector and later Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories (1896-1920's).

2. In the Colonial Reports 1905-1924, I have found no traces of a possible suppression of Sakrabundi. Are there other sources to consult? 3. I know there was a Basel Mission in Odumasi from 1895 onwards. Where do I find the archives of that mission? Any other information Sakrabundi or Bedu in North-Central Ghana is very welcome.

Write to: Karel Arnaut, Eendrachtstraat 83, 9000 Gent. Tel. +32.9.233.39.40; e- mail: arnaut-p@innet.be


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