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The Collector(s) / Donor(s) William Mithoefer has been a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State since 1958, and has served in various capacities in over 12 posts, many of them in West Africa. He has been an avid collector of African art since 1957 and possesses a large and diverse collection of African art that he has acquired primarily during his tours at various African posts. He lived in Monrovia, Liberia in the early 1980s while serving as the Political Counselor in the U.S. Embassy. He took advantage of his residence in Monrovia to collect a good number of Sande society masks. This mask is one of over 40 sowei masks that he donated to Michigan State University in 1990. The Object(s) This is an adinkra cloth. Formerly, these stamped cloths were most commonly associated with Akan funerary traditions.Cloths dyed dark brown, brick red, or black are worn during the period of mourning following the death of a family member or close friend, especially at the funeral celebrations for the deceased. For at least the last thirty years, adinkra cloths dyed in other colors, like this green one, are worn in non-funerary contexts. What distinguishes adinkra from other cloths is the distinctive stamped designed. These designs are created using a variety of stamps made from carved gourds dipped in tar-like mixture made from water, tree bark, and iron slag. The designs are usually arranged on the cloth surface in a grid pattern--each functions as an ideogram and carries a specific verbal message. The two distinctive patterns found on this cloth are (the "pinwheel" or "starburst" design) "I have become impoverished by the loss of my helper," and (the "connected diamond" design) "double dono drum" [the double dono drum is an two-headed hour-glass shaped instrument that is associated with ideas of alertness, mirth and adroitness]. Some adinkra cloths, like this one, are further decorated with bands of multi-colored cloth or whip-stitching. Further Information Books and Articles M. Kwami, K. Fosu, and N. Wellington. Adinkra: Symbolic Language of the Ashanti. Berlin: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 1993. Daniel Mato. "Adinkra: An Art for Life and Death." Vrienden van Ethnografica: Nieuwsbrief 33 1990: 74-95. Daniel Mato. "Clothed in Symbol: The Art of Adinkra among the Akan of Ghana." Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1986. A.K. Quarcoo. The Language of Adinkra Patterns. Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, 1971. W. Bruce Willis. The Adinkra Dictionary: A Visual Primer on the Language of Adinkra. Washington, DC: Pyramid Complex, 1998. Internet Resourcesnone
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