President Andrea Battle called the meeting
of the Amherst Club to order at noon on Tuesday, July 7th, 2015, and
welcomed us all as president. Andrea announced there will be a board meeting today after lunch. Announcement: Saturday, July 11th, Crafts on the Amherst common, free, to benefit Amherst Big Brother/Big Sister. Raffle: Kathy Masalski won the wine. Miriam Dayton won the $10. Speaker: Philippe Galaski introduced our speaker, Professor Rowland Abiodun, Professor of the History of Art and Black Studies at Amherst College, speaking about his latest book, Yoruba Art and Language:Seeking the African in African Art, published by Cambridge University Press. Professor Abioduun reminded us of the huge size of Africa, and the number of languages and cultures existing there. The Yorùbá was one of the most important civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa. While the high quality and range of its artistic and material production have long been recognized, the art of the Yorùbá has been judged primarily according to the standards and principles of Western aesthetics. Abíọ́dún offers new insights into Yorùbá art and material culture by examining them within the context of the civilization's cultural norms and values and, above all, the Yorùbá language. He begins by establishing the importance of the concepts of oríkì, the verbal and visual performances that animate ritual and domestic objects, such as cloth, sculpture, and dance; and àṣẹ, the energy that structures existence and that transforms and controls the physical world. Your scribe, Linda Honan |
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