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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 a mask associated with a women's society most frequently referred to as Sande (or Bundu). Sande is an important cultural institution among many of the peoples living in the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. This helmet mask is worn as part of a costume that completely conceals the body of an elder of the the women's society who when wearing the mask is identified as sowei. The masked performer is said to represent a spirit or ngafa. The formal attributes associated with the sowei mask express ideals of moral and physical female beauty and goodness--high forehead, rings around the neck, downcast eyes, small pursed lips, and elaborate hairdo. The sowei mask is an unusual mask in Africa, for it not only represents a female spirit, but is danced by female members of the women's society--throughout the continent, most masks, even those representing women, are usually danced by men. This particular mask still has part of the original black fiber costume.It was collected in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1982 from the art trader, Amadou Sylla. Further Information Books and Articles Ruth Phillips. Representing Woman: The Sande Masquerades of the Mende. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995. Ruth Phillips. "Masking in Mende Sande Society Initiation Rituals." Africa (London) 48 (3) 1978: 265-77. Ruth Phillips. "The Iconography of the Mende Sowei Mask." Ethnologische Zeitschrift Zürich 1 1980: 113-32. Fred Lamp."Cosmos, Cosmetics, and the Spirit of Bondo," African Arts 18 (3) May 1985: 28-43, 98-99. Lester Monts. "Dance in the Vai Sande Society." African Arts 17 (4) Aug 1984: 53-59, 94-95. Daniel Mato and Charles Miller. Sande: Masks and Statues from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Amsterdam: Galerie Balolu, 1990. Internet Resourcesnone
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