THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF SELECTED NIGERIAN MASKS AND HAUSA WALL DECORATIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN EDUCATION
THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF SELECTED NIGERIAN MASKS AND HAUSA WALL DECORATIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN EDUCATION
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Date
1980-08
Authors
FATUYI, RUFUS BOBOYE
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF SELECTED NIGERIAN MASKS
AND HAUSA WALL DECORATIONS: IMPLICATIONS
FOR CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN EDUCATION
Rufus Boboye Fatuyi
Under the supervision of Professor Ronald W. Neperud
In the past, Nigerian art was functional in the sense that
it was an integral part of the traditional societies comprising
Nigeria. Several factors have affected the once traditional roles
of art in Nigerian society: colonialization, technological advance,
and rapid urbanization. The socialization processes associated with
art and its functions within Nigerian society, once perpetuated by
custom and tradition, have been disrupted by rapid social changes.
It was believed that formal education could reacquaint Nigerians
with the social functions performed by traditional arts, thus serving
to foster the social identity, cohesion, and cultural continuity
that was formerly provided by art functioning in custom and traditional
ways. The purpose of this study was to identify the social
functions performed by a selected group of traditional Nigerian
art forms and to suggest ways in which such material might be
incorporated into contemporary Nigerian education.
Sixteen art forms, mostly masks and Hausa wall decorations.
were described, the social categories in which they functioned
identified, and analyzed for performance of social functions within
traditional society using literary and personal sources of
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information. Functioning within social categories such as religion,
politics, law, entertainment, education, and decoration, it was found
that the traditional art forms functioned: (1) to promote the
perpetuation of communal association, (2) as technology, (3) to
attract people's attention and reform their attitudes, (4) to promote
conceptual knowledge, (5) to provide entertainment, and (6) to maintain
social reality and enhance human aspirations. Against a view
of society provided in Donald W. Oliver's Education and Community
(1976) it is suggested that the social functions performed by traditional
Nigerian art forms are in many ways a fulfillment of, or
comparable to, the social functions outlined by Oliver as necessary
for qualitative life in a society, particularly since Nigeria is,
developmentally, at a point between the modern aspects of the human
community and the state characterized by the existence of smaller
traditional social units. Several suggestions are offered for
reintroducing traditional art forms into contemporary Nigerian
education, including art education.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Keywords
SOCIAL,, FUNCTIONS,, SELECTED,, NIGERIAN,, MASKS,, HAUSA,, DECORATIONS,, IMPLICATIONS,, CONTEMPORARY,, NIGERIAN,, EDUCATION.