Gipogo and Pumbu a mfumu: chiefly power masks among the Pende of Kasai

Abstract

The aim of this article is to indicate the political dimension of two wooden mask types of the Kasai Pende. Attention is drawn to both formal and functional aspects. Research has been dictated by the available literature on the subject and by a morphological analysis of a vast number of masks. Although the chief’s houses are the most impressive artistic achievements with regard to Pende chiefly power, forceful dominant behaviour is expressed in a dynamic way in Pende masquerades. Among the Kasai or eastern Pende the Gipogo and Pumbu a mfumu mask types glorify and celebrate political leadership in order to saveguard the existing power relations. As mediators between opposite realms and as regulating forces, the maskers appear as extensions of the chief’s authority