Paper short abstract:

The paper is a research report on two identical sets of Dagara sacred art objects (bɛr-tibɛ), about 52 objects, collected from two different family shrines as part of my research into Dagara art, religion and medicine.

Paper long abstract:

For many African cultures, knowledge in religion, art and medicine are interwoven. The past use of derogatory terms for African Religion has frozen the path to knowledge development in art and medicine. The Dagara word, bεtibr, etymologically represents what scholars have come to define as African (Dagara) Art. Bεr-tibr consists of two terms; the verb bεr (to leave aside, reserved) and tibr an object used to constitute a shrine. Indeed, any object that is permanently dedicated as a shrine object qualifies to be called a bεr-tibr. Dagara people, especially those who have been initiated and trained in different knowledge areas do collect stones and rocks from different environmental and sacred locations such as the hilly regions and the valley locations. These items, in addition to those made by specialists (potters, weavers, sculptors, carvers, etc.) become sacred art objects and tools (bɛr-tibɛ) used to constitute religious and medicinal shrines and cultic institutions. Many of these shrines and institutions were dismantled and the items destroyed between 1930 and 1960 when the majority of the Dagara people became Catholics. My presentation is a report on two sets of Dagara sacred art objects (bɛr-tibɛ), about 52 objects, collected from two family shrines as part of my research into Dagara art, religion and medicine. The focus of the presentation is on the story of survival of these items as endangered archives that are also still loaded with sacred knowledge and meaning within the interwoven fields of religion, art and medicine.