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Edward Nkole responds to the Divination Container (Mboko) in the exhibition “Stories to Tell: Africans and the Diaspora Respond to the Lang Collection.”
Guest curators Marc Epprecht and Allison Goebel developed a community-based exhibition, “Stories to Tell: Africans and the Diaspora Respond to the Lang Collection,” that challenges the problematic history of colonial-era appropriation, collection and display of African art in Western museums. They invited members of the African and diasporic communities at Queen’s, and in Kingston and the region to select a piece or pieces from the collection and respond in a personal way.Edward Nkole responds to the Divination Container (Mboko) in the exhibition “Stories to Tell: Africans and the Diaspora Respond to the Lang Collection.”
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so the divination container on Boko is
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fascinating to me
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it’s a
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of the power of art and how artform
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serve an interpretive purpose in various
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cultures of the world the gourd mature
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fruit of the calabash tree would be used
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by the diviner to link to Liuba history
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connecting with ancestral spirits and
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seeking meaning for the present and the
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future not only is it a spectacular
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piece of art but looking at the deeper
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meaning or implication of the moko
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container calls for deeper reflection
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Humanity of all cultures has sought to
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answer the deep philosophical questions
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of why we’re here the meaning of what we
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encounter on a day to day basis I want
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the future holds for us
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so at the centre of this experience I
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decisions how we make them the
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influences on the decisions many shape
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or affect individual community and
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national destinies such as the power
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exerted by them boko in particular
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communities of the Luba people of
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Central Africa my own ancestry derives
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from the Luba Kingdom from where the
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patriarchs of the Bemba kingdom of
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present-day Zambia originated so Luba
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spirituality permit permeated
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traditional practices of the Bemba
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shaping Kingdom decisions because entire
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communities adhered to and subscribed to
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the controlling influence of ancestral
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spirits and their controlling influence
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was exerted for four centuries but this
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influence would only be overtaken by the
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advent of a different kind of
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spirituality the entrance of
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missionaries and the Gospel message
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served to challenge many traditional
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practices while missionaries had a
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profound impact on traditional practices
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realigning allegiances
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undermining the controlling power of
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traditional religion the influence of
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them boku and traditional African
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spiritus is still significant to the
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present day a question I would ask is
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does the vocal provide answers to the
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deep questions in the heart of humanity
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you
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