Anthropological Studies on Arts in African Societies : Their Tradition and Innovation

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This study has explicated on-going trends of modern Africa expressive cultures in various fields and regions. We focused on two main subjects in this study : urban artistic cultures and traditional expressive cultures.The urban artistic cultures we invested include Tinga Tinga paintings in Tanzania, metal works and textiles, popular music in Ivory Coast and South Africa, hair dressing in Burkina Faso. In this field, we clarified the "border-crossing" activities of artists and traced the process of the formation of new ethnic identity. The traditional expressive cultures we have studied are royal and popular arts in Cameroon, kingdoms, textiles of Niger bend, performing arts in Ivory Coast, Togo, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau and Congo, and beadwork of Southern African countries. Through these studies, we elucidate how artistic traditions have been transmitted and created in modern African contexts.A number of articles have already been published on journals of relevant academic societies. We are also planning to publicize the result in book form both in Japanese and in English.