African Masks and Emotions

InWestern European languages, the word mask exerts a powerful presence as afigure of speech. To masquerade is to pretend to be someone or something oneis not. By extension, unmasking isa heroic metaphor for exposing a hidden truth. In this volume, art historianZ. S. Strother counters that narrative, using African case studies to offeran alternative vision of masquerading. She explores the aesthetic emotionsaroused by masks, or more precisely, by "dances of masks": joy, wonder, awe,fear, and the release of laughing out loud. She also investigates theuncanny-a sensation of "delicious shiveriness" triggered when familiar spacesand individuals become strange and changeable. Inspired by Strother's studiesin DR Congo, African Masks and Emotions takes a comparative perspective and moves emotion from theperiphery to the center of analysis.