Yaka’s Mbaala Masks During and After the Colonization of the Belgians

Abstract

In the sixteenth century, an African ethnic group known as Yaka migrated from Angola to Congo Free State which was colonized by the Belgians in 1908. After the decolonization in 1960, the Yaka became part of the southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This paper examines the cultural dynamic significance of Yaka’s mbaala masks used in the initiation ceremony during colonial and contemporary periods. During the colonial period, Yaka’s mbaala mask has closed eyes signifying the continuation of Yaka’s history as a form on the resistance to the Belgian colonial power. Yaka people began to make mbaala mask with opened eyes after the decolonization to symbolize conciousness. This research broadens the scholarship on fluidity of African art as an oppose to the perception of an unchanged and fixed meanings of African’s visual art.