About the Covers

Abstract

Previous articleNext article FreeAbout the CoversPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThe attachments on this Bakongo nkisi nkondi modeled on a soldier include the regulatory knob from a German lantern used on the Western Front, a trumpet sold by a New York company that supplied military musicians during World War I, and even apparent grenades. I seize the opportunity presented by the statue’s assemblage to analyze its significance layer by layer and show how the sculpture is a door between worlds. As we walk through this portal, we will see how the nkondi probably testifies both to the religious responses of some Congolese soldiers to the war’s violence and to their meeting with such African American troops as the Harlem Hellfighters in a sector of the front with so many black fighters that it was dubbed L’Afrique. The untold story of that meeting amidst combat in which whites used blacks to kill other whites will unearth everything from hidden cosmograms to conversations that spawned civil rights and independence movements around the world.—Duncan CaldwellFront and back covers: Nkisi nkondi, ca. 1918–21, Bakongo, Loango Coast. 127 × 57 cm. Photos: author.Inside covers: Enhanced image of the nkisi nkondi, with drawings outlining its various attachments. Photos and drawings: author.Objects:• Green: metal attachments other than the nails, blades, and canisters (trumpet, helmet, hoops, bracelets, horse bit, padlocks, lids, bells, bronze jugs, and a golden object under the skull).• Dark blue: biological/organic attachments other than leather (fur/hair, gourds, a bone, a coconut, a monkey skull, a wooden antelope head, tusks, horns, teeth, and shells).• Red: canisters (probable grenades and a trench mortar).• Solid dark brown bands: leather straps around shoulders.Networks:• Black lines: thin wire looping around nails (which are not shown).• Dark grey series of ovals: chains, including that around the neck.• Dark brown lines: industrial twine under shoulder lid and through trumpet.• Brown rope-like lines: coiled and braided artisanal ropes, which lie below the wire (e.g., beside the bell of the trumpet) and below the twine.• Light blue lines: thick copper wire below the chain around the neck of the statue and around the base of the antelope horn.Correction: Due to a production error, this introductory page was omitted from the RES v69/70 print edition. The publisher deeply regrets the error. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Res Volume 69-70Spring-Autumn 2018 Published in association with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/703051 Copyright © 2018 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. No part of this issue may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.