Paper short abstract:

Though reliant on the cosmopolitan specificity of Freetown, urban-invented Ordehlay masquerades have spread from the city to outlying areas of Sierra Leone. This presentation explores the relevance of city-based masquerades in rural locales, and the boundary-breaking networks of artists and performers.

Paper long abstract:

Contrary to conventional academic knowledge, which considers African masked performance as a specifically rural or folkloric manifestation, masquerade has been and is still being invented in Africa's cities. For two decades, scholars have turned their attention towards contemporary urban expressions, but have largely overlooked these tradition-based arts. As such, there have been very few documented urban masquerading traditions in Africa and little discussion of their performance.

This presentation considers the Ordehlay Cultural Societies of Freetown, Sierra Leone to explore the relationship of urban-invented arts and their spread to outlying rural areas of Sierra Leone. This is counterintuitive to the typical spread of masquerades, which, according to scholars, spreads from the rural into the urban zone. Further, while urban-based artists and members are interacting with communities "upline," they are also interacting with international branches of the Societies (from America to Norway, the Gambia to Canada), Both interactions are strengthened by the collapse of time and space characteristic of the techno-global landscape of contemporary Africa.

The Freetown masks are used in the extreme political, economic and cultural landscape of the city as a source of community-based sociocultural and financial support, and also serves as a source of neighborhood pride. How then does it translate to rural areas and why? How has it spread from urban Freetown to outlying rural areas and beyond? How does it differ from Freetown's masquerade aesthetics? What work does the mask and its performance do within and with-out the city?