Bété people

Bété people

The Bete are a little-studied Ivory Coast group with strong cultural and artistic links to the Dan, the We (Gwere) and the Guro, among others. There are 93 distinct groups within the Bete polity. They are united only in that they subsistence farm to survive, but base most of their social and cultural lives around the hunt. Social control was exercised by the leading member of individual lineages (of which there were several in each village) who exercised judicial and financial power within the community. Spiritual authority was wielded with an array of paraphernalia, notably including the “gre” mask, a horned and decorated creation (originating with the We) designed to instil terror in the onlooker, to quell social unrest, and to be worn when meting out justice after conflict. Statuary is uncommon, and is based around feminine iconography that refers to the mythical mother figure. There is no recognised liturgical function, although some early reports indicate that a pair of figures was often placed under a rain shelter in a village in order to represent the founders. This evocation of a primeval couple has widespread resonance in African culture. Rare figures with exaggerated genitalia are probably linked to a magico-religious appeal for fertility; alternatively, they may have constituted a more general role, evoking or celebrating the fertility of the village/land, its founders, or the forest from which the people made their living.

References

*Bacquart, J. 1998/2000. "The Tribal Arts of Africa". Thames and Hudson.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bété — may refer to: *Bété people of Côte d Ivoire *Bété language or languages spoken by them *Bété alphabet *a small citrus fruit grown in southern Nigeria. Closely related to the lime …   Wikipedia

  • Bété syllabary — The Bété syllabary was created for the Bété language of Côte d Ivoirein the 1950s by artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré.It consists of about 440 pictographic characters, which represent scenes from life and stand for single syllable words in Bété.… …   Wikipedia

  • La Bête humaine — For the film, see: La Bête humaine (film) (1938) infobox Book | name = La Bête humaine title orig = translator = image caption = Lithograph advertisement for La Bête humaine, 1889 author = Émile Zola illustrator = cover artist = country = France… …   Wikipedia

  • La Bête Humaine (film) — Infobox Film name = La Bête Humaine caption = Theatrical poster director = Jean Renoir producer = Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim writer = Story: Emile Zola Screenplay: Jean Renoir Dialogue: Denise Leblond starring = Jean Gabin Simone Simon music =… …   Wikipedia

  • The Curse of the Cat People — Directed by Robert Wise Gunther von Fritsch Produced by Val Lewton …   Wikipedia

  • Homme-bête — Thérianthropie Horus, dieu égyptien prenant la forme d un homme faucon. Plus généralement, voir Dieux égyptiens par animal. La thérianthropie ou zooanthropie désigne la transformation d un être humain en animal[1 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Curse of the Cat People — Filmdaten Originaltitel The Curse of the Cat People Produktionsland USA …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Niko Bete — is a Croatian singer born in Konavle. Many of his songs deal with significant people from Croatia s Croatian War of Independence. This may be because the Konavle region was occupied by Serb forces during the war. Whatever the case, his songs have …   Wikipedia

  • Gbagbo, Laurent — ▪ 2004       In 2003 Pres. Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d Ivoire was, in large measure, a victim of his own success. For some 30 years he fought for the rights of workers in his native country, first as a political dissident, helping to usher in… …   Universalium

  • Fallen Angel (comics) — Infobox comic book title title = Fallen Angel imagesize=200 caption= Cover to Fallen Angel (DC series) #4. Art by Brian Stelfreeze. schedule = Monthly ongoing=y publisher=DC Comics (2003 2005) IDW Publishing (2005 Present) date = issues = main… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”