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-!@-MI)))))))7EEEEE OREG 4M)Z[Sculptures of the Mambila of Cameroon and Nigeria are well known, having been included in large touring exhibitions and illustrated in catalogues (e.g., Thompson & Vogel 1990, Northern 1984, R. F. Thompson 1974, Preston 1985). Yet there is very little information available about the Mambila and the social system that forms the context for the production of these objects. Indeed, the catalogues all quote the same two sources for the names, uses, or meanings of the sculptures: Paul Gebauer and Gilbert Schneider, both American missionaries who were interested in art and anthropology. They were the first missionaries to work for any length of time in the Mambila area--Gebauer in 1936-50, Schneider primarily in 1947-52. sup 1 Until I began my fieldwork among Mambila in Cameroon in 1985, the only anthropologist to have worked with the group was Farnham Rehfisch, who spent a year in the village of Warwar in 1953-54.
My research on Mambila religion and society (Zeitlyn 1987, 1990ab, 1991, 1992, forthcoming) has led me to examine the sculptures in Western collections and to attempt to relate them to my fieldwork. This essay sets out to analyze the uses and significance of some of the figurines called tadep and kike. These carvings are mainly anthropomorphic, although there are some animal figures. Discussion of tadep and kike leads to a consideration of masquerades of the association called suaga, and their accompaniment such as tawcn flutes with carved mouthpieces. Suaga lies at the heart of Mambila religion, and a later section considers how it might best be approached.
The Mambila
The Mambila are found on either side of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon, the majority living on the Mambila Plateau in Nigeria. sup 2 A smaller number (approximately 12,000) live in Cameroon, especially at the foot of the Mambila Plateau escarpment on the Tikar Plain. My fieldwork (1985-92) was restricted to these latter groups, and in particular to the village of Somie (population approximately 1,000, according to the 1986 tax census). Self-sufficient in food production, the villagers have grown coffee as a cash crop since the early 1960s.
Cameroonian Mambila society closely resembles that of the Mambila in Nigeria, as described for the Nigerian village of Warwar by Rehfisch (1972). However, Nigerian Mambila...