John Mack

Drawing Degree zero: The Indigenous encounter with pencil and paper

Abstract Experiments with the introduction of pencil and paper to indigenous communities have been a fascination of anthropologists and developmental psychologists alike. It is often assumed that the results give access to aptitudes which are beyond the particularities of graphic conventions: the ‘degree zero’ position (to use Barthess term) discussed under various alternative headings by Haddon, Lévi-Strauss, Dubuffet and others. In terms of drawing, much focuses on observations of the ability to produce revelatory, representational imagery – arguably an inheritance of Renaissance practices of drawing. Here it is argued that the encounter with pencil and paper is conceptual as much as it is technical, that drawing is not necessarily conceived as representational and that the surfaces to which drawing is applied may be as important as the imagery itself. If one of the concerns of a World Art approach is with aptitudes, instinct and ability, another is with cross-cultural comparison. An understanding of the nature and purposes of drawing itself as an activity and the characteristics of cultural encounter is at the core of this essay.

Healing words: becoming a spirit-host in Madagascar

In discussion of healing processes in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasis is characteristically placed on the role of performance. Yet in spirit mediumship, speech is also an important element in therapeutic practices. In Madagascar, the spirits (tromba) are often of exotic origins (frequently in time as well as space) and the language used is likewise exotic. A complex of techniques of enchantment is employed: amongst them, music, changes of dress, the burning of perfumes and incense, rum, putting matches in the mouth, or the use of herbal medicines. Sometimes artefacts, such as – in the case discussed – a large model ship, are employed. Although the setting is shrine-like, the techniques are at once both dynamic and eclectic, collapsing time and space into a single embodied moment when the spirit speaks through the vehicle of the medium. Such ‘spirit-speech’ is itself empowered and empowering, cathartic and curative.

Henry T. Wright (ed): Early state formation in Central Madagascar: an archaeological survey of Western Avaradrano

Nyae Conservancy established in Namibia after its independence from South Africa in 1990, is quoted: ‘We think that a lot of the trouble in the world comes from the fact that people don’t stay in their own place. We call our place a n!ore and we think things would be much simpler if people stayed where they came from, took good care of their land, and did not invade other people’s land’. Pippa Skotnes’ tribute to the Bleek and Lloyd Archive is thus brought right into the present, with the voices of living San people joining those of the dead. This responsible labour of love will absolutely ensure that fewer of those voices are forgotten by history. For, as its last surprise, and almost as an afterthought, a final wonder of the book appears inside the back cover. This is a disc of The Digital Bleek and Lloyd, containing the entire archive, including some 12,000 handwritten notebook pages of the /Xam language, with English and Afrikaans translations. An archive for the ages, indeed: Bleek and Lloyd now appears on UNESCO’s Memory of the World list, and will be preserved as a global resource.