Containers of life: pottery and social relations in the Grassfields (Cameroon).

Pottery production has been a central activity in the kingdom of Babessi since precolonial times. Used extensively as daily cookware, ritual containers, and prestige items throughout the western Grassfields region of Cameroon, Babessi pots have been part of a network of exchange of objects that has played a crucial role in defining regional cultural identity at least since the eighteenth century. (1) As noted by many scholars, material culture is an essential element in the understanding of the commercial and competitive relationships among independent Grassfields kingdoms. This is particularly true of those items associated at various levels with hierarchical political power through which prestige and identity are defined. Consistencies among regional cultures, then, should not be attributed to a common origin, but considered the result of an elaborate system of commercial and symbolic exchanges through which food, utensils, prestige objects and, in certain cases, institutions and meanings have circulated for centuries among independent polities (Fowler 1997:67).

Even though pottery is an art that is mostly associated with the sphere of domesticity and the realm of women, and thus not immediately associated with political power, Babessi is one of a number of pottery centers that acquired a special regional reputation between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries thanks to their production of ornate clay pipe heads and elaborate pots. (2) Known for their particular strength and beauty, Babessi pots were sought after as ritual containers, medicine pots, or plates for notables and titleholders, even where locally produced pottery was normally employed in daily use. These pots have acquired functions and meanings specific to each locality) In Babessi they continue to be considered crucial as markers of local identity (FIG. 1).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

In this article I analyze Babessi pots in light of recent scholarship concerning the inherently social nature of material culture (Appadurai 1986; Hardin 1995; Arnoldi, Geary, and Hardin 1996; Gell 1998). This perspective emphasizes the relevance that objects might acquire in their contexts of production and use, regardless of the labels attached to them once appropriated by others. In particular, art objects, Gell states (1998:17ff.), are "secondary agents," which do not have the capacity to initiate causal events through their will but that can amplify the effect of human intentionality, thus affecting their social and material milieus. Gell's view then shifts the locus of definition of art objects from their aesthetic or institutional dimension to their indexical quality, thus stressing their ability to affect the context in which they operate as agents. (4) This particular perspective sheds light on the relevance of the relational dimension in understanding the form, the use, and ultimately the power of Babessi pots, which in virtue of their mode of production and of their function may become agents in particular circumstances.

Babessi pots, as with pots in other African settings (Barley 1994; Berns 1990, 1993; Berzock 2005; Gosselain 2002), are treated as people from the very onset of their making. In the Grassfields, this association persists throughout their social life, in which, as people, they continue to play a role as containers of substances that insure the prosperity of the society and the respect of its laws. From birth to death and beyond, pots are important agents in social life and are used in the majority of events that mark individual and community life passages. Pots also mediate physically and conceptually between genders, bringing together contrasting discourses of power--particularly the tension between male control over the reproduction of hierarchy and female generative powers--that otherwise are rarely expressed in the official narratives and accounts of local society.

Although these aspects may emerge in a variety of contexts, here I focus primarily on the production process and on selected instances that clearly show the role of pots as actual persons embedded in complex networks of social relations. The examples I have chosen show how Babessi pots are invested with variable functions and meanings, which are informed by the intention of their makers or, more frequently, by their social interactions. In these varied roles as "social agents," pots embody a broad set of shared meanings and practices, which reveal important facets of Babessi culture.

MAKING POTS, MAKING BABIES

When talking with my informants in the field about the ideal image of Babessi culture, pots are often described as the "work of women." This expression implies that they can be identified as women's distinctive contribution to the family's economy and the community's social life. As in many other kingdoms of the western Grassfields, women contribute to the household's economy primarily through farming, which provides the basis of livelihood and, in many cases, an important cash contribution to the family's finances. Pottery, however, defines the role of women in a way that is perceived to be intrinsically Babessi (FIG. 2). Until the 1940s-50s, all Babessi women were taught to mold clay pots. Even though many opted for other kinds of income-generating activities in their adult lives, each woman I interviewed recounted memories of the times spent working at her mother's side, helping with the collection of clay or with the firing of the pots. Young boys and men, on the other hand, would participate in the production of clay pots only as occasional helpers, and even then only in activities that are not directly connected to the shaping of the pot or its decoration.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

Making clay pots, which is the most visible form of artistic production in Babessi, is considered the most appropriate "handwork" for women (FIG. 3), and the reason for this is often expressed in metaphysical terms. As many of my older female informants stated, pottery is a "gift of God to women" which underlines their importance in community life. Although women are for the most part excluded from the local power hierarchy and take no part in official decision-making processes, their fundamental social role as farmers, mothers, and potters is often stressed in conversations with men and women alike. Indeed, each of these three roles underlines the generative and nurturing role of women, whose ability to give and maintain life lies at the core of the wealth and power controlled by the male political hierarchy and of the community itself.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

In Babessi, working with clay functions as a very strong metaphor for human reproduction. As noted by Nicolas Argenti, "It is not the forms of pots, but the technique of potting which is inherently procreational in the Grassfields" (1999:9). In Babessi this is true from the very onset of the process. The site where the clay is collected, called the mvoh, is equated to the king's inner room, the most private and sacred core of the palace. This is the place where the king (fwa) conceives the offspring who will insure the continuation and the vitality of the kingdom, carefully controlling the vital substance that warrants the existence and prosperity of the village (FIG. 4). (5) In a similar way, the mvoh is a place of great potential where the material necessary for the production of pots--and, metaphorically, of people--is found.

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

The association between pots and people is expressed in many ways during the process of pottery making. The bottom of the pot (nyikuh) is in itself considered a potential person (FIG. 5). Magdalene V., an elderly Babessi potter, once explained to me

   You were very lucky to be able to see how they make pots in this
   village. In the old times this would have not been easy, as
   strangers could not witness this process.... When god is molding man
   you cannot know the center of a human being. As god makes it you
   will not see, you just see the man when it is complete. That is why
   Babessi people did not want strangers to see how Babessi women were
   closing the bottoms of the pots. (6)

[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]

The bottom of the pot, with its symmetry, balance, and regularity, is like the "center of a human being," as Magdalene V. put it, that needs to be regarded with care because it contains the potential for human life. Once the process is initiated, in fact, the potter cannot decide to suspend it at her will, but must carry on the building and the modeling to its final form. Should a significant disruptive event occur to interrupt the process, such as an accident or the announcement of a relative's death, the potter may be forced to abandon the bottom before pulling up the walls. In this case the nascent pot cannot simply be thrown back with the rest of the clay and recycled: Either the potter calls on one of her friends or relatives to continue the work for her or, if that is not possible, the bottom is left in a corner until chance intervenes to damage it. Only cracked and broken pots can be recycled and remodeled.

Me boh, the verb used to refer to the molding of clay, is also used to describe the process going on in the womb during the first months of pregnancy. Like pots, children are "molded" in the womb thanks to the productive and reproductive abilities of women, who are perceived as transforming a soft malleable material into structured beings (FIG. 6). The firing process, like labor and delivery, is a critical phase in the making of pots (FIGS. 7-9). Although the vocabulary used to describe the two activities differs, many potters told me that having unfired pots is like being pregnant. (7) One should never sell a pot before it is fired, as "one cannot show a baby before she has delivered." Indeed many factors could still jeopardize the outcome of the firing. During this period, one should be very careful to avoid quarrels and fights, or even engage in any sort of conversation while placing the pots on the fire. Jealousy, witchcraft, and evil forces may be particularly dangerous during this liminal phase and contribute to the destruction of long hours of productive work. It is only after the pot has been removed from the embers and sprinkled with ntse (the red, bloodlike liquid that gives to the pot its final "skin")8 that the work of the potter can be assessed and her "delivery" considered successful (FIG. 10). According to Lydia T., "It is just like when you deliver and you hear the baby crying. Then you can be happy that you have given birth." (9)

[FIGURES 6-10 OMITTED]

POWER AND FORMS

Once fired, pots start their lives as social objects and acquire a multiplicity of meanings and roles. While many are used for cooking and serving food, as storage containers or to cook traditional medicines, certain pots acquire a more distinctive social agency. By virtue of their primary function, Babessi pots undergo a number of semantic transformations over the course of their lives depending on the occasion. In certain ways, then, the plasticity of clay and its potential to adapt to different needs continues even after the vessels are fired.

As in many parts of Africa, Babessi sacred and ceremonial pots are often identical in form to their domestic counterparts (cf. Barley 1994, Berns 2000, Spindel 1989) and it is only through their use that one is able to determine the functions and meanings of the vessels. Cooking pots, which are generally decorated with a simple pattern made by a roulette, (10) may become containers used in a variety of ways both domestic and ritual. More elaborate anthropomorphic and zoomorphic relief decorations embellish the surfaces of water pots, wash basins, and palm wine pots, whether destined for private use or for public display.

The application of the decoration generally follows a strict sequence that can take from one to four hours, depending on the commission and the inventiveness and skill of the potter. First, she delineates the space for the decoration through the application of two fine parallel coils (koke, meaning 'belt' or 'necklace') just below the neck of the pot. Within that space, the potter then composes the decorative program, choosing a subject and the patterns she prefers. Once the space between the koke is smoothed with the aid of a leaf, each decorative element is shaped individually and applied directly onto the pot freehand. Together they form one or more continuous rows that wrap all the way around the pot, creating a rich and attractive motif (FIG. 11). After she applies the different elements the potter may smooth the decorative surface with her wet fingers or a small leaf, or create a texture with a plastic comb (satu; Fig. 12).

[FIGURES 11-12 OMITTED]

All the potters I interviewed stated that there is no preferred or "appropriate" decoration for a water pot and that any image or symbol can be placed on it. For the most part, potters agreed that the decoration of a water pot should not contain images that are "frightful" (mebime, 'inspiring feelings of awe and respect and revealing connection with supernatural forces'), as it is a pot that is placed inside the kitchen from which anyone can drink. (11) As stated by Lydia T., "one should never be frightened by a water pot, as it is something for all the people." (12) However, this does not mean that water pots cannot contain images that in Grassfields iconography are related to the power of the palace authorities and of the ancestors. Water pots are often decorated with spiders, snakes, frogs, cowrie shells, (13) and a variety of geometrical patterns, which potters use to reference the spiritual world or even events and spaces connected to the palace (FIG. 13). For example, ostensibly abstract designs in fact constitute references to the entrance to the ngwo compound (lo mwaneke), bracelets given to a princess in the ceremony preceding her marriage (bulubu and mbamba), or the bamboo windows in the house of a male association (manjong). In choosing to apply images that refer to male hierarchy and political power onto a water pot destined for a woman's kitchen, the potters suggest the profound connection between the domestic and official spheres. Even though men control political power and retain exclusive access to the secret knowledge and objects from which that power originates, women are aware that the images associated with its public display represent a wider notion of power that connects human and spiritual worlds in which they also take part. In the interpretations of the potters, cowrie shells, snakes, frogs, and other zoomorphic and geometrical patterns placed on pots give form to different elements of the social space inhabited by men, women, ancestors, gods, and animals. Many of these images, such as lizards or snakes, reflect local belief in the transformative power of kings, twins, and ancestors. Others, like the scorpion, refer to the punitive power of the king. Spiders, chameleons, and frogs may be a reference to the ability to communicate with the otherworld, whereas cowrie shells, bracelets, human heads, or skulls are mainly associated with the life of the palace. However, these images' reference to spiritual, supernatural, and political power is not so strictly or exclusively defined as to prevent potters from applying these decorations to different kinds of containers. Many of the elements placed on water pots can also be found on the more elaborate and "frightful" palm wine pots (kuh mendu), with the possible exception of the snake-spider (or earth spider) combination that is very common on water pots and basins but never found on palm wine pots (FIG. 14). On the other hand, images of human heads and human beings, which recall more explicitly the idea of political control and hierarchical power, are found mostly on palm wine pots and wash basins usually associated with men, and never on water jars. (14)

[FIGURES 13-14 OMITTED]

While in other kingdoms of the Grassfields certain motifs (especially those of animals) refer to specific titles and privileges and cannot be used by commoners or women, Babessi potters have the freedom to combine anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images to create their personal decorations. With the exception of anthropomorphic motifs that are generally considered per se "frightful" images, to be placed on special pots, other patterns are loosely characterized in relation to their symbolic and emotional impact. Though never explicitly defined by the potters, it became clear that vessels are mebime ("frightful") not because of any single decorative element. Instead, it is their combination and the elaboration of the design pattern that communicates the "frightfulness" of a pot. A pot identified as mebime generally displays an almost mesmerizing decoration, whose design and texture are likely to inspire in the viewer awe and an immediate sense of respect.

Without denying the relevance of the symbolic significance of certain motifs, the attitude of the potters and of many of their customers suggests that the importance and affecting power of pottery motifs does not reside in the univocal and regionally shared association of form and meaning, (15) but in their ability to refer in different ways to hierarchical and spiritual powers. As shown by Argenti, meanings and interpretations of individual icons are subject to a wide range of variability depending on the social and political contexts of use:

   ... [I]n the different polities of the Grassfields, icons are named
   according to a set of referents which are used dynamically to
   negotiate one's position in the hierarchy. While iconic
   representations circulate largely unchanged, whether in clay, wood,
   mud or stone, the referents of those representations vary as much as
   hierarchies do between polities.... The motif, in other words, does
   [not] represent an object but rather the property of transformation;
   the key to power in Grassfields cosmology (1999:19-20).

This use of images as icons that represent local ideas and aesthetics of power is a common feature throughout the region. However, rather unusually, in Babessi the molding of all anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometrical motifs is always the creative work of women, thus giving a particular meaning to the idea of the property of transformation as the key to Grassfields power noted by Argenti. Whereas in legends, tales, and rituals this property is often represented as the ability to cross the boundaries among human, natural, and spiritual realms and is usually associated with twins, kings, and particularly powerful male figures, according to the potters the idea of transformation refers mainly to generative powers and the ability to mold soft matter into structured beings, containers, and images. Through their generative and creative abilities, Babessi women give shape to essential elements of the kingdom's daily and ritual life, molding both the people and the pots that take part in it.

The visual features of the pots further emphasize this social and relational quality. Babessi style has remained fairly consistent over the last century. (16) However, that is not to say that potters endlessly reproduce a static tradition. On the contrary, they engage in a continuous dialogue with the reality in which they live. Unrestricted by any traditional law in the modeling of their designs, Babessi potters can draw freely from the regional iconographic repertoire or even invent their own personal motifs and derive inspiration from different sources. Potters take great pride in their ability to create new designs and combinations. (17) It is not unusual, for example, to find from time to time modern icons of power such as Nike logos or Coca Cola lettering alongside traditional motifs, applied on pots destined for successful, middle-class, urban households. The freedom of Babessi potters to choose motifs based on their significance, form, or aesthetic appeal allows for an ongoing, though subtle, transformation of the visual power and agency of the pots they produce. In most cases Babessi potters seem more concerned with a pot's final effect than with each motif's semantic reference. The completed pot itself constitutes an index that refers in a multilayered and open way to the role and importance of its owner, whether the owner is the traditional head of a compound or a middle class urban professional, a long-standing male palace association or a newly formed rotating credit group.

FUNCTION AND SOCIAL RELATIONS

The artistry and skill of a potter as manifested in the regularity of shape and intricacy of decoration are important elements in understanding the ability of an object to affect its recipients. However, formal qualities by themselves are not what render a pot powerful or ritually significant. Indeed, it is necessary to distinguish different levels of visibility and different levels of the understanding of power. On the one hand, the visual power of a pot may be connected to the reiteration and combination of forms--such as lizards, human heads, double bells, spiders, or snakes--associated with metaphysical forces and hierarchical privileges that reinforce the exceptional status of a ritual container. On the other hand, the affecting power of a vessel may originate simply from its use: When employed in a ritual, medical, or social interaction, even ordinary, unembellished cooking pots can become captivating and awesome objects. In this case, the transformation of the pot into a powerful social agent is not attributed to the potter, but to those who acquire and use the pot, those who alter its appearance by drawing on its surface and wrapping leaves around its neck, whether for medicinal purposes or for decorative effect.

While visual appearance and the use of medicine might enhance the vessel's power in various ways, a pot's function as container remains central to its agency and determines its role in both private and public domains. Ritual pots and the pots placed on medicine shrines, for example, contain the supernatural powers invested in them by the ritual specialist: Once consecrated through the use of medicine, these ordinary pots become receptacles of benevolent and evil forces that manifest themselves in the actions and public displays of the various groups that compose the articulate hierarchical structure of Grassfields societies. Clay pots are, in fact, kept in the secret houses of the kingdom's regulatory societies and other groups, all generally defined as juju, (18) whose masquerades embody the subversive and fierce components of political power, which can be controlled and handled only by male initiates. (19) Whether made "frightful" through the skill of their makers or through the use of magic, these pots cease to be ordinary objects but become the embodiment of an essentially indecipherable force, which is able to strongly affect peoples' lives. (20) Juju pots, in particular, whether they actually contain medicine or rest upon medicinal leaves, are used to share wine among members of the society and are the core of the masquerades power. As containers of the spiritual and ancestral forces that govern the juju society, they are objects that must be treated with great respect and circumspection.

In other instances, the agency of a pot is enhanced by its ability to contain and transform, through the cooking process, culturally significant ingredients. The range of substances that might be contained and cooked physically and metaphorically is broader than that generally defined as "food?' Indeed, the act of cooking and the subsequent sharing of the cooked food are central to many events that mark domestic and public social life. As suggested by Brad Weiss (1996:27), food is an integral part of the making of a "lived world of meaning and experience." Choices and preferences conditioning the selection and preparation of items to cook and the pots to cook them in cannot be assessed exclusively in terms of the functional necessity of nourishment nor even as the enhancement of flavor for the enjoyment of eating.

Cooking in Babessi must be understood in relation to a wider set of sociocultural practices and meanings. "To cook" (mena) is a verb used in Babessi to refer to a number of literal and figurative transformations that occur daily and on ritual occasions. Cooking transforms ingredients from their "natural" and raw state into a cultural product. This fundamental change is sometimes achieved metaphorically simply by placing crucial ingredients in a clay pot, which even in the absence of fire "cooks" ingredients into a culturally significant product. Pots can thus be seen as instruments of cultural transformation that are likely to be found in all those instances in which critical passages in an individual's life or in the life of the community need to be culturally sanctioned. Indeed, Babessi clay pots have increasingly become very special cooking containers whose artistic agency has been enhanced by the gradual shift of their use from daily routine to particular events.

In day-to-day use, locally made pots have been largely supplanted by those of cast aluminum and the most common serving dishes are Chinese or Nigerian made enamel pans (FIG. 15). The practical advantages of using such durable containers rather than the local clay "country" pots are obvious. (21) In addition to greater durability, the possession of a good range of "whitemen pans" is a visible statement of status. (22) Clay pots have not been entirely replaced, however, and they continue to be the preferred choice for occasions in which "traditional" acts are performed (FIG. 16). Because they are molded of clay--the soil of the ancestors-and are produced through processes and skills that have been passed on from one generation to the next, "country" pots are the proper containers to be used whenever the "cooking" directly involves social and spiritual forces. Clay pots are themselves the result of "cooking": They are "roasted" (twaghoke) in the fire, and thus they are the result of a fundamental material and cultural transformation, which in turn confers to them the ability to cook and transform.

[FIGURES 15-16 OMITTED]

POTS AND LIFE PASSAGES

The powerful and transformative agency of pots is evident in a number of private and public events that mark the life of individuals and of the community (FIG. 17). For example, the wide, shallow pots called ntieke are commonly referred to as men's wash basins even though they are used for various purposes: to wash hands before a meal, to cover a water pot, or to serve a large quantity of food. They take on other, more spiritually significant roles in life's passages (FIGS. 18-20). In Babessi, the ntieke is made or purchased to bathe a newborn baby twice a day during the first months of life. The ntieke is then kept by the mother in a special place and preserved until the child has grown into an independent adult. Only then is its function fulfilled, allowing the mother to start using the pot as a normal household container. However, if the baby dies soon after delivery, the pot is used to wash the corpse and is broken over the grave immediately after burial. To keep the pot would be a dangerous thing, as the "cooking" process that transforms babies into fully socialized human beings was not successfully accomplished. This is the only circumstance in Babessi in which pots are broken over the grave. The basin used to wash the corpse of an adult is not broken after burial. In this case, death is not framed as an unsuccessful transformation, but as an appropriate and natural passage to a different stage of life in the ancestral world.

[FIGURES 17-20 OMITTED]

Pots also play a role in other important life passages. For example, in the celebration that marks the official "graduation" of a young man from the ngwo regulatory society in Babessi, clay pots are given away to sanction the passage from neophyte to full member of the society. After several years of initiation (23) during which the boys are expected to serve in the ngwo compound taking care of menial tasks and gradually learning the laws of the society, the boys are dismissed from service and given the title of nchinda. For the ceremony accompanying the graduation, which is held in the compound of the family of the young graduate, the mother of the young man will make, or commission a potter to make, a certain number of ntieke.

When used for the ngwo graduation, the ntieke is rubbed in camwood just like the body of the young graduate. The young nchinda displays his pots as a bride would, all but one of which will be taken away by visiting senior members. The last ntieke, which is preserved with great care and used by the young man, is a visible sign of the achievement of a further step towards social adulthood. The pots are used here as an index of the agency of the young graduate, who performs a metaphorical wedding with the older members of the society. They may also be seen as indexes in and of themselves that stand for the life-changing passage that has transformed the boy into a young man.

By contrast, the use of other pots refers more to the social importance of the group than to identification with individual members. This is especially true for pots used by palace societies, quarter assemblies, and for other social gatherings. On most public occasions, pots are displayed as signs of unity and community. In Babessi, a palm wine pot (FIG. 21) is among the first things that the members of a newly formed male association (samba house) (24) or rotating credit group (njangi) needs to acquire, as it is considered highly inappropriate for a society to meet and share raffia wine out of plastic containers. However, the use of the clay pot (kuh chuo or kuh meh, 'group pot') is not just a choice dictated by proper etiquette. Sharing from the pot is an important sign of group unity: Within both age-mate groups and rotating credit associations, each week a different member is responsible for celebrating (or cooking) the meeting (mena chuo). The raffia wine brought by the celebrant is placed in the pot and shared among all the members. The pot filled with raffia wine becomes an index of the group's common mind and purpose. For this reason, even though not consecrated with any particular medicine, the pot acquires a very strong power and can be taken as a "testimony" in case of internal conflicts. According to Michael T., a wine tapper and diviner:

[FIGURE 21 OMITTED]

   If one is accused of a crime and he claims to be innocent he might
   be asked to take and oath over the common pot. A pot from which
   many people drink has a power, it can affect anyone who is not
   sincere. If the person is sure that he is innocent, then he goes to
   the pot when mimbo has been placed inside. He will talk, talk, talk
   saying that he did not do what he is accused of and he calls on the
   pot to be his testimony. Then he will drink some of the wine that is
   inside the pot and everybody else will also drink. If it is true he
   will live, if he is lying he will die. (25)

Pots' social relevance is strongly connected to their function as cooking containers and to their ability to contain and transform physical and spiritual substances indispensable in individual and community life. Jean-Pierre Warnier (1993, 1999:59ff.) has pointed out the importance of the container metaphor in understanding the conception of social and political power in the Grassfields. According to Warnier, the king, the notables, the compound heads are "containers" who preserve and administer the "vital substances" that ensure the continuation and prosperity of the kingdom. As political and family leaders, men control and ensure the potential reproduction of the society through a careful management of the vital substances--i.e., blood, semen, and saliva--that they contain in their bodies. These substances and powers are also embodied in the containers used in private and public rituals that mark many fundamental passages. The emphasis on procreation and transformation, which recurs in many of the critical events of individual and social life, also underlines this extreme degree of male control that characterizes Grassfields hierarchical power structure.

However, the Babessi concept of a potter-God, who molds pots and people out of the clay soil, also suggests a further implication of this metaphor: If bodies are containers, it can also be argued that containers--whether decorated with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs or not--are bodies. The connection between pots and bodies is emphasized in the terms used to describe different parts of the pots, which have bellies (bvo), mouths (chiu), and necklaces (koka). Eating dishes also have a navel (tuo). This anthropomorphization of containers states once more the strong connection between the creative and reproductive powers of Babessi women.

However, women's ability to make children, cook, and mold the pots used for social and ritual occasions does not warrant any particular social recognition in the public arena. While women are intrinsically associated with the production and reproduction of the life cycles of individuals, men appropriate these abilities through the ritual use of pots that become containers of the powerful and secret substances preserved in the centers of political power, thus claiming for themselves the life-giving properties that are posited as the root of societal reproduction and hierarchical organization.

Rather than presenting and representing unequivocally symbols of fertility, power, and prestige, Babessi pots display these references in social interactions, thus disclosing different layers of meaning. As shown by the examples above, the understanding of the agency of pots in their context of production requires an investigation of multiple aspects of local society. Pots are the result of the creative agency of their makers who, through a deeply cultural re/productive process, impress in their shape and in their decoration shifting ideas of aesthetics and visual power. By choosing heterogeneous images that refer to traditional and imported iconographies, potters combine apparently inconsistent elements, thus giving life to objects that reflect the plasticity of local culture.

Once made, purchased, and used, Babessi pots may acquire roles and meanings that go beyond the intentions of their makers (FIG. 22). Throughout their social life they become agents able to affect their environment. Used in life passages, rituals, and social gatherings, pots acquire a presence that is strongly connected to their ability to contain natural, supernatural, and social forces that inform the lives of groups and individuals. In many instances of their social life, pots embody crucial values at the core of local society and take part in the process of continuous production of culture. Obviously this is not a neutral role. Indeed, the analysis of their context of use and of the social relations they mediate reveals that the secondary agency displayed by these objects is embedded in a network of social relationships that are ultimately--and fundamentally--political. It might be worth noting, as a final remark, that even though the traditional power structure of the kingdom still has a strong influence on the daily life of people, many changes are occurring in response to different challenges. In particular, gender relationships are undergoing significant transformations and there are an increasing number of young women who refuse to submit their productive and reproductive power to male control (Goheen 1996). It might not be so surprising that, along with their role as wives, these young women refuse also to become potters, thus failing to provide a significant material agent for the reproduction of traditional society.

[FIGURE 22 OMITTED]

All photos by Silvia Forni

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Notes

Research for this article was carried out during three field trips over a period of ten months between November 1998 and February 2001. Funding was provided by the Missione Etnologica Italiana in Africa Equatoriale. A shorter version of this paper was presented in the Art and Agency panel during the African Studies Association meeting in November 2005. I wish to thank Nicolas Argenti, Ivan Bargna, Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Barbara Frank, Wyatt MacGaffey, and Costa Petridis for commenting on earlier drafts of this paper. I am especially grateful to Kinsey Katchka for her thoughtful remarks and patient editing.

(1) The Western Grassfields is a region that corresponds to the anglophone North West Province of the Republic of Cameroon. The territory is characterized by high plateaus densely inhabited by a population divided in numerous independent kingdoms, each with its own language and government. Babessi (which the inhabitants call Wushincho) is a medium-sized kingdom located at the eastern end of the Ndop Plain, at the foot of steep hills which delimit the village's territory to the north and east and mark the border with the Bui Division. The village has a population of approximately 12,700 inhabitants, according to the official estimate in 2000, itself based on figures from the 1987 census. In 1992 Babessi was chosen as the subdivisional headquarters for the area including Bangolan, Baba I, and Babungo; however, this administrative role does not reflect a leadership of Babessi in relation to its neighboring kingdoms.

(2) Also the kingdom of Nsei, which is today the most active pottery center of the region (see Forni 2001), was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for its ornate pots and clay pipe-heads. Regardless of their proximity and the fact that they produce similar types of items, the styles of pots and decorations are rather different.

(3) Both Argenti (1999) and Koloss (2000) mention the importance of Babessi pots in the kingdom of Oku. Moreover, Babessi pots are also illustrated in Tardit's volume on the kingdom of Bamum (1980) and they were present in the display of the "traditional Barnum kitchen" in the arts and craft museum in Fumban when I visited in June 2000.

(4) According to Gell (1998:13ff.), art objects are indexes that permit a particular cognitive operation, identified as the abduction of agency, a sign of human agency whose meaning is not fixed, as proposed by a strictly symbolic approach, but inferred from its context of use.

(5) Grassfields kingdoms are polities governed by a king and by a hierarchy of notables who control all public political and ritual functions. Although the organization of the hierarchy, the allocation of roles, and rights might vary from kingdom to kingdom, the political structure is fairly consistent. Besides ensuring the government of the village, this hierarchical organization also has strong symbolic significance. As suggested by Warnier (1993), the king himself is considered a "container of vital substances" indispensable for the well-being of the village. The king, his family, his personal success, and his possessions are important symbols of the kingdom's health, fertility, and prosperity (see also Feldman-Savelsberg 1999). In the palace, the fwa's inner room is the most sacred place of all, where only certain categories of notables and the fwa's wives can enter.

(6) Interview with author, Babessi, December 2000.

(7) The reverse association is also true. De Heusch (quoted in Herbert 1993:213) describes in detail Thonga rituals of birth that see the child "as the product of successful firing," a piece of ceramic ware that has been fired and not cracked. For other associations between cooking and giving birth see Feldman-Savelsberg 1999.

(8) Also the final searing of carvings performed by Oku carvers (Argenti 2002) is referred to as "putting the skin on." This practice further emphasizes the strong parallel between artistic creativity and human reproductivity that in Grassfields conceptions seems to emerge throughout expressive media.

(9) Interview with author, Babessi, May 2000.

(10) Roulette patterns on cooking pots are obtained either with a wooden, carved roulette or simply with the dried stem of the plantain flower (tuo kungo). Applied decoration is generally reserved for pots that are not handled very often, since the decorative elements may detach themselves with use.

(11) In reality, though, men rarely drink directly out of water pots. When reaching the kitchen, a man would generally ask the woman or a child to draw some water for him. This is common behavior throughout the Grassfields and has been noted also by Argenti (1999) in the kingdom of Oku.

(12) Interview with author, Babessi, May 2000.

(13) Frogs, spiders, and snakes have different meanings in different parts of the Grassfields region. In Babessi, where these images are often found on water pots, the emphasis is placed on the connection of these animals to the realm of water and to the power of fertility.

(14) While Babessi potters produce a range of anthropomorphic decorations, generally applied on palm wine prestige pots, they do not create clay figurines such as those created for ritual use by the Mfunte-Wuli who reside north of the Grassfields (Baeke 1995) or the decorative sculptures made by the male potters in the nearby kingdom of Nsei (Forni 2001).

(15) Different authors, such as Gebauer (1979), Northern (1984), and Knopfli (1998), have investigated the meaning of Grassfields symbols. Virtually all the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs may be associated with some form of political and/or spiritual power; however, meanings seem to shift significantly depending on their context of use even within the Grassfields. Thus, defining univocal associations between forms and meanings is almost impossible, even though it is clear that the decorations on the pots make explicit reference to the visual idiom of power shared among Grassfields kingdoms.

(16) The consistency of Babessi pottery style is clearly demonstrated by the pot collection of the Bamenda Provincial Museum and the Prespot Museum in Nsei. The Bamenda Museum contains, among other things, a collection of pots from different villages in the North West Province initiated in the late 1950s by American collectors living in the area. The Prespot Museum houses a collection of old and new Nsei and Babessi pots and pipes. It was set up in the 1980s in one of the guest houses attached to the Presbyterian pottery project (Prespot) in the village of Nsei as a sort of reference collection that could inspire the project's creations. Recently, thanks to UNESCO funding, the Prespot collection moved to a separate museum building inaugurated in 2005.

(17) All of the potters in the village and also a few of their customers were in fact able to recognize without hesitation a pot made by any of them. "It is like my handwriting," potter Margaret B. told me once. "I make my nyanga [pidgin term to define any sort of decorations and especially body decorations, which translates the local term nyaka] different from the others. People like to buy my pots because I take my time, I do not rush. The others just try to copy what I do, but my own decorations are good (mejuh)."

(18) The term juju is a pidgin term used throughout the Grassfields region to refer to the masquerades, dance group, and sacred objects connected to palace regulatory societies and male associations. Jujus embody sacred powers that are highly respected and feared by men and women alike. The most powerful jujus, who appear during annual celebrations and palace-related ceremonies, may not be seen by women or uninitiated men.

(19) Ritual uses of pots are not just those connected to the male societies. Pots are also central in funerals and certain healing rituals. However, medicine pots and palm wine pots used in male societies and juju houses are considered the most powerful and affecting containers, which can cause real harm to those who are not entitled to see them or those who act against the laws of the society (see also Koloss 200).

(20) The language used to describe the powerful presence of juju pots bears strong similarities with the description of Kongo minkisi, and ceramic minkisi in particular (MacGaffey 1993, Thompson 1995). However, even though they are containers of spiritual forces, Babessi ritual pots do not acquire individuality and personality comparable to that of minkisi.

(21) When talking in pidgin, Babessi people and traders usually refer to clay pots as "country" pots, to distinguish them from imported china and metalware, which are always identified as "whitemen pans" regardless of the fact that most of these containers come from Nigeria. Also, potters commonly make a distinction between kuh (generic term for pot) and kuh mekalema (whitemen pots).

(22) The possession of metal pots and pans is valued also among potters, who never use the pots they make to cook daily meals. In many potters' compounds one is likely to find an even larger selection of metalware than in ordinary farmers' compound. This is because women potters have more access to cash that they can use to equip their kitchens. See also Barley 1994:72 for a similar situation among the Dowayos in the 1970s. However, it is not only metalware that is sought after and valued; European-style china (porcelain) plates are considered even more prestigious in the Grassfields (at least in Oku) and referred to admiringly in pidgin as "breakable plates" (Nicolas Argenti, personal communication).

(23) Nowadays, boys serve the ngwo for a period of about five years, during which time they continue to go to school. In the past the initiation period was between seven and nine years. The boys lived in the ngwo compound. Today it is possible to acquire the title of nchinda even without serving in the compound, by simply paying all the necessary fees and taking a short instruction course.

(24) Besides constructing their own meeting house in the compound assigned to them by the fon, upon their formation samba groups need to acquire different objects that will constitute the common property of the group. These include one big and two small drums, a denge (thumb piano in pidgin), shueme (a fiber and bamboo emblem carried along when samba members are attending a celebration), a samba (fiber bag used to collect gifts after performing at death celebrations), ngio' (a calabash with long neck), and kuh meh (a large clay palm wine pot).

(25) Interview with author, Babessi, January 2001.

Silvia Forni teaches Anthropology of Art and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Turin, Italy. She has conducted research on pottery in the Cameroon Grassfields between 1998 and 2001. [e-mail]