Category: Class and Power

A Double-Edged Drum: The Power of the Drum from Africa to America

Akan Drum
Unknown creator, Ghana, c. 1735
Carved wood and deer skin.
The British Museum

PROVENANCE: Thought to have been made by the Akan people of present day Ghana; brought to America aboard slave ship; obtained in Virginia by the Rev. Clerk on behalf of British Collector Sir Hans Sloane; part of founding collection of The British Museum, 1753.

This drum originated from West Africa in the Akan region of Ghana and was brought on a slave ship to the Virginia colony c. 1735. It is one of the oldest surviving African-American objects. While the carved wood is from the cordia africana, a tree from West Africa, the deer skin is North American. This indicates that the drum was used in its new home.

Drums have played a central role in Africa throughout history. Generally the sound of the drum was an announcement, such as declarations of wars or celebrations. In his autobiography The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings the formerly enslaved African Olaudah Equiano described Africa as a nation of dancers and musicians and emphasizes the use of drums. Within a community where everyone speaks the same drum language drums can have rhetorical impact. Since drum language is specific to a community and only accessible to ‘in-group’ members, drumming contributed to the formation of personhood and group identity.

Slavers were likely to lose up to one-half of their human ‘cargo’ during the middle passage. It was in their economic interests to keep the slaves alive and healthy. The Akan Drum was likely used in the practice known as ‘dancing the slaves’. Ship doctors believed nostalgic melancholy was the cause of diseases and recommended dancing as an antidote.

The threat of violence under which slaves ‘danced’ turned music and dance into tools of subjugation. Slavers made the dancing into a form of entertainment for personal enjoyment. The ship captains’ declarations that ‘white men’ had to be obeyed enabled the slavers to use the rich legacy of African drum-dance culture to create and image of blackness and whiteness, in which blacks were the subjugated and whites the subjugators.

Female slaves were kept on the main deck of the ship where they were vulnerable to the sexual predation of the slavers. The forced dancing became a twisted form of foreplay for rape. Refusal to participate resulted in severe punishments. A young African girl on the slave ship Recovery was tortured and killed for refusing to dance. In the complete annihilation of the ‘cargo’ the slavers went against their economic interests. The girl denied the slavers power and pleasure by rebelling against the racial script of subordination they had written for her. The slavers had to destroy her in order to take back control of her body.

The use of African music, dance, and instruments on the slaves ships allowed slaves to preserve homeland traditions. Dance became an integral part of the daily lives of slaves in North America. During Saturday night dances slaves would dance to the beat of the drum and talk about the freedom they had possessed in Africa. Dance practices of the slaves became intertwined with resistance and survival.

Music and dance culture of the slaves contributed to the formation of group identity and self-esteem. This threatened the system of slavery, which relied on the complete oppression of slaves. Masters’ fear of the communicative power of drums was confirmed by the Stono rebellion of 1739 in which rebels used a drum to signal each other. Slaves were subsequently banned from using drums.

The same drum which beat for subjugation could beat for rebellion. Slavers manipulated the culturally vital African Drum to subjugate black slaves through dance. The power of an instrument like the Akan Drum to communicate and unify persisted from Africa to North America. The drum became a double edged sword which slavers used to subjugate slaves and slaves used to rebel against the system of subjugation.

Sources:

Akan Drum. Early 18th Century. Carved wood and deer skin. The British Museum, London. November 13, 2018. http://www.teachinghistory100.org/objects/about_the_object/akan_drum

Anku, Willie. “Drumming Among The Akan and Anlo Ewe of Ghana: An Introduction.” African Music Vol. 8, No. 3 (2009): 38-64.

Aubrey, Thomas. The Sea-Surgeon, or the Guinea Man’s Vade Mecum. London, 1729.

Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Bokor, Michael J. K. “When the Drum Speaks: The Rhetoric of Motion, Emotion, and Action in African Societies.” A Journal of the History of Rhetoric Vol. 32: No. 2 (2014): 165-194.

Cruikshank, Isaac. The Abolition of the Slave Trade Or the Inhumanity of Dealers in Human Flesh Exemplified in Captn. Kimber’s Treatment of a Young Negro Girl of 15 for her Virjen (sic) Modesty. 1792 April 10. Etched Print. Library of Congress, Washington D.C. In Ring Shout, Wheel About. Champaign: University of Illinois, 2014, 43.

“Dance among Slaves.” Gale Library of Daily Life: American Civil War. Encyclopedia.com. November 16, 2018. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/dance-among-slaves

Emery, Lynne Fauley. Black Dance From 1619 to Today. Princeton: Princeton Book Company, 1988.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. New York: Penguin Group, 2003.

Mallipeddi, Ramesh. “‘A Fixed Melancholy’: Migration, Memory, an the Middle Passage.” The Eighteenth Century Vol. 55: Nos. 2-3 (2014): 235-253.

Neely, Paula K. “Akan Drum.” Dig Into History Vol. 20, No. 5, (May-June 2018): 57.

Thompson, Katrina Dyonne. Ring Shout, Wheel About. Champaign: University of Illinois, 2014.

The Portrayal of Black Identity in Casta Painting

No. 4. De español y negra, nace mulata

Andrés de Islas, Mexico, 1774

Oil on canvas

75 x 54 cm

Museo de América, Madrid

de Islas, Andrés. No. 4. De español y negra, nace mulata (From Spaniard and Black, a Mulata is Born). 1774. Oil on canvas. Museo de América, Madrid. In Casta Painting: Images of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004, 116.

Andrés de Islas produced this painting in Mexico as part of a series of casta paintings that introduce the Black African-Spaniard lineage. Although the purpose for commissioning such paintings are not well understood, casta paintings are theorized to have served as a souvenir for wealthy European audiences. This enabled them to have a unique glimpse of colonial life. In effect, this painting would have been a part of a series that depicts the racial hierarchy of Latin America.

Islas introduces the concept of Black African-Spaniard lineage in this painting by depicting a violent domestic encounter between a Black African woman and a Spanish man. In this conflict, the Black African woman grabs the hair of a Spanish man and is about to strike him with a kitchen utensil. In response, the Spanish man expresses shock while protecting himself from getting injured. In the midst of this conflict, their mulatto daughter pushes on her mother’s leg. In the painting, Islas highlights the various exotic fruits and vegetables in Latin America by comparing them to the oddity of the Spaniard-Black African couple and their mulatto daughter.

In the seventeenth century, elite members of society exerted great power over those of African descent and enforced rigorous laws after Africans incited a mass riot in 1611. In the eighteenth century, the elite members of Latin American society saw that the categories of the Latin American caste system were deteriorating. However, they commissioned paintings which continued to illustrate a taxonomy of castas that was no longer functioning. Appealing to a foreign audience, Europeans and elite members of Latin American society may have commissioned a casta painting like this one to enforce the ideals of a deteriorating casta system and maintain exclusive economic privileges.

In doing so, they resisted the social advancement of Africans, who were acquiring the power to purchase whiteness and attain social mobility. Elite members of society responded in protest to this and complained that those of African descent were “people who in our houses one would not give a seat”.[1] To express their fear of those of African descent, the elite commissioned paintings that displayed them in unstable domestic settings. Moreover, to emphasize the debased social dynamic that a household with one of purely African blood could create, Islas juxtaposes this painting with more stable households characterized by familial members who produce children with fair skin.

[1] Ann Twinam, “Purchasing Whiteness,” in Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America, ed. Andrew B. Fisher and Matthew D. O’Hara (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), 152.

Sources:

Carrera, Magali. Imagining Identity in New Spain. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003.

Katzew, Ilona. Casta Painting : Images of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Twinam, Ann, “Purchasing Whiteness,” in Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America, ed. Andrew B. Fisher and Matthew D. O’Hara. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009, 141-165.

 

People with Crowns Ate Fruits with Crowns: The Royal Pineapple

Charles II Presented with a Pineapple
Unknown painter, Britain, c. 1675-80
Oil on canvas.
96.6 x 114.5 cm
Royal Collection Trust

PROVENANCE: Presented to Queen Mary by Lady Mountstephen in 1926; formerly in the Bredalbane collection.

This oil painting’s subject is Charles II, King of Great Britain (1630-85). A kneeling man, possibly the royal gardener John Rose, presents Charles II with a pineapple in front of a large garden and house. The king is depicted wearing the typical fashionable clothing of the 1670s, which is unusual because he is normally painted wearing ceremonial robes or armour. Although in casual dress Charles II is presented with a symbol of royalty, the pineapple.

Out of the many fruits encountered in the ‘New World’, the pineapple was of special interest to European travelers due to its unusual form, taste, and qualities. Upon his first encounter with the fruit Spanish explorer Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo declared it to be the unrivaled prince of all fruits. Even King Ferdinand gave the pineapple his highest praise. The pineapple became associated with royalty in Europe. The leaves on the top of the fruit are called the crown, so the pineapple certainly functions well as a symbol for kings. These royal connotations are incredibly illustrated by the Dunmore Pineapple, the ancestral home of the Earls of Dunmore built in 1761 with a fourteen meter tall pineapple crowning the building. The structure was designed to represent wealth and power and the royal symbolism of the pineapple was used to achieve this.

The pineapple presented to Charles II was claimed to have been the first pineapple grown in England. Although pineapples were later grown in Europe using hothouses, the date of the painting c. 1675-80 makes it is more likely that the pineapple pictured would have been imported. A certain parallel emerges between the pineapple and King Charles II beyond the royal status both enjoyed. In the painting a king who was both home grown and imported is presented with a royal symbol which is likewise home grown and imported.

Charles II’s father Charles I was beheaded in 1649 at the climax of the English civil war. The war, which lasted from 1642-1651, included wars in England, Scotland, and Ireland and become so intertwined largely due to Charles I himself. The Rump House of Commons created The High Court of Justice to try Charles I for treason against England for using his power to pursue personal interest rather than the country’s welfare. The court placed command responsibility on the shoulders of Charles I, holding him responsible for all the terrible things which had occurred during the wars. Despite Charles I’s refusal to recognize the court’s authority he was declared guilty and beheaded.

Although Charles II was declared king shortly after his father’s execution, he was unable to assume rule because England entered into the period known as the English Commonwealth. The country became a de facto republic headed by Oliver Cromwell. Charles II fled to mainland Europe after being defeated by Cromwell in battle. The dethroned king spent nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic, and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis following the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. In 1660 Charles II was received in London as king.

Similar to the pineapple he was presented with in the painting, Charles II also had the dual identity of being homegrown and imported. He was homegrown because he was born and grew up in England while his father ruled and he was imported because he was returning to rule England after being in exile for nine years, a significant portion of his life. This is a moment where pineapples not only symbolize kingly qualities, but symbolize kings themselves.

Sources:

Charles II Presented with a Pineapple. c. 1675-80. Royal Collection Trust, Britain. Accessed October 12, 2018, https://www.rct.uk/collection/406896/charles-ii-presented-with-a-pineapple.

Kishlansky, Mark A, and John Morrill. “Charles I.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, September 23, 2004. Accessed October 12, 2018, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5143.

Okihiro, Gary Y. Pineapple Culture: A History of the Tropical and Temperate Zones. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernandez de. Historia General y Natural de Las Indias. 1535. Book 7, Chapter 14.

Seaward, Paul. “Charles II.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, September 23, 2004. Accessed October 12, 2018. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5144.

“The Pineapple.” National Trust for Scotland. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/the-pineapple.

Khipu in New Spain

Unknown maker (Inka),
c. 1400-1532.
Cotton or wool cords, knotted, twisted and dyed. 85 x 108 cm.
Cleveland Museum of Art
1940.469

While very few remain in the present, Khipu were very important and widespread bureaucratic tools of the Inka Empire (c. 1418-1572). Made of cotton or wool cords, khipu were organized along a primary cord that housed a series of pendant cords, which could in turn host up to 10-12 layers of subsidiary cords. Khipu communicated numerical data from the provinces of the empire by delineating particular values on the basis of cord color, knot type, and placement.

Citizens of the empire were organized into units of 10, 50, 100, and furthermore up to the total population of each of the 80 provinces. Each of these units had an appointed leader. The organization of khipu follows this model, with the smallest subsidiary cords representing the smallest data set and the primary cord the conglomerate of data.

Only specialized scribes – selected by officials for their integrity and talent – were allowed be khipumayaq, or khipu makers. Furthermore, the ability to read and interpret khipu was a specialized skill. These khipumayaq worked in specific teams to ensure that all data sets were counted by multiple officials. Each khipumayaq team was only responsible for and able to read and create a section of the total khipu, in order to maintain checks and balances. Additionally, each team inspected the work of the team before them. For these reasons, the Spanish census makers who observed khipu being used in the sixteenth-century emphasized its reliability and accuracy.

Khipu were transported back to Cusco along the Inka Empire’s sophisticated system of roads and runners. These runners transported the khipu and were able to communicate numerical data to different provinces and officials.

Because khipu is an unconventional system of accounting, it was considered sufficient evidence by the Spanish of the lack of civilization in the Andean region to justify the subjugation of the Inkan people into the encomienda system. Due to the specialized nature of its construction and limited legibility, Spanish surveyors regularly classified khipu as less than a writing system. Because it needed to be recited by khipumayaq, khipu was also closely associated with the oral tradition, which was considered an unreliable source of information by western audiences. Spanish writers also compared the khipu to women’s prayer beads.

While the Third Lima Council’s order to destroy “idolatrous” khipu in 1583 may have played a role in their scarcity today, recent scholarship suggests a civil war immediately before the Spanish conquest is probably a more substantial reason for their absence. Their early disappearance would also explain why the Spanish failed to recognize khipu’s significance.

 

Sources:

Brokaw, Galen. A History of the Khipu. Cambridge Latin American Studies, 2010.

Cobo, Bernabé. History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indians’ Customs and Their Origin, Together with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History, and Social Institutions. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979.

de la Vega, Garcilaso. Royal Commentaries of the Yncas. Translated by Clements Markham. England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2010.

Harvard University. “What is a Khipu?” Khipu Database Project. Last modified September 2018. http://khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/WhatIsAKhipu.html

Image from: Artstor. “Inka Khipu (Fiber Recording Device).” Artstor Digital Library. Accessed Dec. 6th, 2018. https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/AMICO_CL_103799373;prevRouteTS=1544122826172