Benin Books

Benin: Kings and Rituals

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Published to accompany the major international touring exhibition which comes to Chicago in the summer of 2008, this monumental volume features more than 500 stunning reproductions alongside important new scholarship on the prized sculptures and carvings of the Benin Kingdom of sixteenth- through nineteenth-century West Africa (pre-colonial Nigeria). It brings together for the first time masterpieces that have been scattered all over the world since the end of the nineteenth century, while simultaneously documenting the fall of the independent Kingdom, its reconstitution in the twentieth century and its continued existence through today.
From elaborate bas-relief plaques to stately commemorative king's heads and towering elephant tusks embellished with detailed figurative scenes illustrating life at court and the heroic deeds of kings and warriors, the artworks gathered here glorified the king as the political and spiritual head of his people and honored his ancestors. The detailed workmanship and outstanding aesthetic quality of Benin's royal sculptures have been compared to the work of the celebrated Renaissance artist, Benvenuto Cellini. And their wealth of iconographic detail conveys the sumptuousness of the royal court and its historical importance as a regional powerhouse in the Benin (or Edo) era.

Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960 (African Studies)

Patrick Manning

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Editorial Review:

The small but important region of Dahomey (now the People's Republic of Benin) has played an active role in the world economy throughout the era of mercantile and industrial capitalism, beginning as an exporter of slaves and becoming an exporter of plain oil and palm kernels. This book covers a span of three centuries, integrating into a single framework the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial economic history of Dahomey. Mr Manning has pieced together an extensive body of new evidence and new interpretations: he has combined descriptive evidence with quantitative data on foreign trade, slave demography and colonial government finance, and has used both Marxian and Neoclassical techniques of economic analysis. He argues that, despite the severe strain on population and economic growth caused by the slave trade, the economy continued to expand from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, and the colonial state acted as an economic depressant rather than a stimulant.

Amazons of Black Sparta : The Women Warriors of Dahomey

Stanley B. Alpern

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Alpern, a former Agency for International Development official long-stationed in Africa and now an independent scholar, draws together the available material on this peculiar institution into an interesting and readable book."—Choice

History is rife with tales of fighting women. More often than not, these stories prove more legend than history. Dating back to the amazons of ancient Asia Minor, myths of fierce, autonomous women of martial excellence abound.

And yet, the only thoroughly documented amazons in world history are the women warriors of Dahomy, an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Western African kingdom. Once dubbed a "small black Sparta," residents of Dahomy shared with the Spartans an intense militarism and sense of collectivism. Moreover, the women of both kingdoms prided themselves on bodies hardened from childhood by rigorous physical exercise. But Spartan women kept in shape to breed male warriors, Dahomean amazons to kill them. Originally a praetorian guard, the Dahomeans developed into a force 6,000 strong and were granted semi-sacred status. They lusted for battle, fighting with fury and valor until the kingdom's final defeat by France in 1892.

Stanley B. Alpern has chronicled this remarkable history in depth for the first time. The product of meticulous archival research, Amazons of Black Sparta is defined by Alpern's gift for narrative and will stand as the most comprehensive and accessible account of the woman warriors of Dahomy.

Christian Churches in Dahomey-Benin: A Study of Their Socio-Political Role (Studies of Religion in Africa) (Studies of Religion in Africa)

Patrick Claffey

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Editorial Review:

This book, divided into two broad sections, examines the state in the Republic of Benin and the socio-political role of the Christian churches. The first looks at the remarkable pre-colonial kingdom of Danxom- and its place in the imagining of the modern contrat social beninois. The second section looks at both the historical role of the mainline churches and the more recent development of a Christianisme beninois. The study concludes that the churches are above all a commentary upon the society in which they find themselves. Rather than an overt challenge to the state, they articulate social distress and the desire for a different future. In times of stress they may prove to be the only viable institutional buttress as well as the arbiter. This study seeks to make a contribution to the understanding of the public role of Christian churches in Africa.

Wives of the Leopard

Edna, G Bay

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Top-notch history 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 16 people found this review helpful.

If you are interested in the history of African kingdoms, the former Slave Coast, kingdom politics or just ethnography, this book is worth your time to read. It is not "gender history," it is a well-rounded, well-researched examination of an unusual kingdom, presenting many sides of the complex society which produced and supported the monarchy, including the wives of the kings and their important roles.

I live and work in Benin, West Africa (formerly Dahomey) among the descendents of the very people Edna Bay has written about. Many of my friends trace their lineage to the kings of Dahomey and Allada. I spend my time in their villages, speak their languages (Ayizo & Fon), listen to their stories, and share their lives. In several cases Bay's discussion of the way things "were" describe very well the way things are right now in the lives of my village friends. Several of her observations also helped to clarify and articulate cultural attitudes that differ from my own. In other words: she's done her research well.

Bay's commentary on history and how it's written, particularly in the context of the kingdom of Dahomey, is fascinating all by itself. Her more general first chapters are informative. The subsequent chapters, which are divided by the reigns of the kings, are more detailed. Although keeping track of some of the titles and the players can get a little tricky, the chapters are well-woven and paint a strong picture of the kingdom and its development.

No work is perfect, of course, and there are a few items which differ from my experience or the information provided by my Beninoix friends, but without doubt this book is worth reading.

On a technical note I would suggest that the title of the book would be better as "Mothers of the Leopard" since "Kpojito" is literally translated as "the leopard giving-birth person."

All in all, it's a book worth having.

Editorial Review:

Wives of the Leopard explores power and culture in a precolonial West African state, Dahomey, whose army of women and practice of human sacrifice earned it notoriety in the racist imagination of late nineteenth-century Europe and America.

Tree of Forgetfulness: Boom der Vergetelheid; L'Arbre de L'Oubli; A Bon fu Frigiti

Laura Samsom Rous, Hans Samsom

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Editorial Review:

The trans-Atlantic trade in slaves lasted for three centuries. Millions of Africans were forced to leave their places of birth and march to the coast to await their deportation to the European plantations on the other side of the Atlantic. The histories of West Africa and Suriname are thus inextricably entwined with the Dutch colonial past.

Laura Samsom Rous and Hans Samsom photographed the final section of the slave route in Africa lasting hundreds of kilometres that ended at the port of Ouidah in Benin on the Slave Coast of West Africa. They also took photographs of the king of Benin, whose forefathers had cooperated with the European slave traders.
They followed the trail to Suriname, photographing the inland, the village Tutubuka, and the Maroons, the direct descendants of the slaves that managed to escape the plantations and fight for their freedom.
Laura Samsom Rous took the portrait photographs, and Hans Samsom used a panoramic camera with a rotating lens to photograph the landscape. Text in English, Dutch, French and Sranan.

African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power

Suzanne Preston Blier

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Editorial Review:

Beads, bones, rags, straw, leather, pottery, fur, feathers and blood—these are the raw materials of vodun artworks. The power of these images lies not only in their aesthetic, and counter-aesthetic, appeal but also in their psychological and emotional effect. As objects of fury and force, these works are intended to protect and empower people and cultures that have long been oppressed.

In this first major study of its kind, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the artworks of the contemporary vodun cultures of southern Benin and Togo in West Africa as well as the related voudou traditions of Haiti, New Orleans, and historic Salem, Massachusetts. Blier employs a variety of theoretically sophisticated psychological, anthropological, and art historical approaches to explore the contrasts inherent in the vodun arts—commoners versus royalty, popular versus elite, "low" art versus "high." She examines the relation between art and the slave trade, the psychological dynamics of artistic expression, the significance of the body in sculptural expression, and indigenous perceptions of the psyche.

Throughout, Blier pushes African art history to a new height of cultural awareness that recognizes the complexity of traditional African societies as it acknowledges the role of social power in shaping aesthetics and meaning generally. This book will be of critical importance not only to those concerned with African, African American, and Caribbean art, but also to anthropologists, African diaspora scholars, students of comparative religion and comparative psychology, and anyone fascinated by the traditions of voudou and vodun.

"An extraordinary tour de force."—Choice

"Extraordinarily detailed....Blier's examination of the entire, often mysterious history of vodun is...in a word, definitive."—Booklist

"A serious study that concentrates on the hidden power of objects and the meaning behind that potency is long overdue. Welcome Susan Blier's African Vodun....Certainly a must for...those concerned with the psychology of art."—Janet L. Stanley, Art Documentation

"[Blier] is usually sensitive to the need to resist imposing Western artistic values and academic methodologies inappropriately upon such art. But she offers the reader a gift even more precious; she offers rare insights into how various art forms—sculpture and home architecture in particular—yield meanings for the African users of such art.—Norman Weinstein, Boston Book Review

The History of Dahomy, an Inland Kingdom of Africa: Compiled from Authentic Memoirs; with an Introduction and Notes

Archibald Dalzel

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Editorial Review:

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1793 edition by T. Spilsbury and Son, London.

Ouidah: Social History Of West African (Western African Studies)

Robin Law

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REALLY COOL FACTS 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is definetely awesome. There is different kind of facts in it. But i'd rather like it more organize in a time frame. Oh well, I recommend this book to whoever wants to know more about Ouidah and its tragic past.

Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kate Ezra

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Half A Millennium Of Superb Royal Art! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The Art of Benin first came onto the world stage in 1897, when the British TOOK thousands of art works which were in the Royal Palace. The Royal City of Benin was a JEWEL that was DESTROYED by the British. Many of the pieces went to London. Others were sold. For the very first time westerners saw magnificnet pieces of art executed with great technical sophistication.

The Perls Collection consists of 163 objects, and is considered to be the finest collection of Benin Art in the world. The art reflects the life of the OBA who is the central figure in the kingdom. He rules witth divine right and is believed to have spiritual powers. The art directly reflects this. Among the works found in this catalogue are the heads of the OBA and the Queen Mother, which are executed in both wood and brass. These heads were just some of the items placed on the royal altar. Other items were royal altar tusks which were carved with figures of Kings, Queen Mothers, Priests, warriors and other figures. There are brass figures of court attendants, foreigners & priests. One will also find Altar Tableaus which consists of symmetrical, standing figures. Other objects placed on the Royal Altars were brass bells & rattle-staffs. Another symbol of the court is the brass rooster, which commemorate the Queen Mothers of Benin, ivory containers, And ivory trumpets. At the end of the book is an excellent chapter on the art of the Yoruba Kindoms which were greatly influenced by the Benin court.

I am pleased that this great collection is housed in my home town of New York City, and that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has produced this excellent catalogue!

Editorial Review:

More than 150 works of sixteenth-to nineteenth-century Benin art with background on the history, art, and culture of Benin, and expert commentary on the objects.