Brock, Festival, Culture and Masks!

Over the years and through its many activities, Sofifran, although based in Welland, has built ties with the institutions and communities across the region it serves, Niagara. On February 7, two representatives of Sofifran took part in a many-sided cultural evening at Brock University in St. Catharines.

The evening was meant just as much to give the floor to Fété Kimpiobi and Nafée Nelly Faïgou as to showcase the programs of the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, whose long name hints at the complex relationship between these fields of study. The speakers focused in particular on the study of French, and the program’s director, Astrid Heyer, spent a good while talking about the competition the university has been running since 1978. The Brock-Niagara French Contest lets secondary school students in Grades 11 and 12 test their knowledge of the language of Molière while having a chance to win prizes. This year’s edition will be enhanced and will include a component devoted to cultural exchange.

Ms. Faïgou, artistic director of Festiv’Ébène, then gave a presentation on the place of masks in Africa. Masks fall into two broad categories: sacred masks, which represent ancestors and deities, and secular masks, which carry a socio-historical memory. Far from being lifeless objects, they sit at the meeting point of every social relationship. Their functions are at once religious, political, social, cultural, economic… The functions of the mask are woven into every dimension of community life, just as the idea of the divine is, since the sacred is present in the many realities of daily life. Masks with a religious purpose are also “inhabited” by spirits, with everything that implies about a direct connection to the beyond.

Ms. Kimpiobi, the organization’s executive director, noted that there are brotherhoods and sisterhoods in Africa devoted to masks. There are also “demagnetizers” whose role is to remove the powers from masks that have been used in ceremonies.

After this anthropological aside, the evening ended on a literary note. Fété Kimpiobi read an excerpt from her novel Nyota: Le secret de la plume. Nafée Nelly Faïgou, for her part, recited a few poems from her collection titled Masques, a title that could not have been more fitting.

Masks will be in the spotlight at Brock University until March 1, with an exhibition spread between the library and the Department of Modern Languages. Another exhibition on the same theme will be on display at the Rodman museum, which is affiliated with the university, from February 16 to March 3.