Marla C. Berns is director of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Richard Fardon is professor of West African anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Sidney Littlefield Kasfir is professor of African art history at Emory University. Other contributors include Joerg Adelberger, Gassia Armenian, Jean Borgatti, John Boston, Mette Bovin, Barbara Frank, Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi, Helene Joubert, Nancy Neaher Maas, John Picton, Susan Picton, Arnold Rubin, Constanze Weise, and John C. Willis.

Brings together figurative wood sculptures and ceramic vessels, masks, and elaborate bronze and iron regalia selected to exemplify important typologies within the Benue River Valley

Forewords--Marla C. Berns and Stephane Martin; A Note from the Director of Museums, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria--Nath Mayo Adediran; Preface--Marla C. Berns Introduction: Central Nigeria Unmasked--Marla C. Berns and Richard Fardon Part 1 The Lower Benue: Fluid Artistic Identities 1 Introduction: Reimagining Lower Benue Art History --Sidney Littlefield Kasfir; 2 Idoma Art and the Intersection of Benue Histories and Geographies --Sidney Littlefield Kasfir; Interleaf A Idoma and Tiv Artists--Sidney Littlefield Kasfir; Interleaf B Umale Oganegi, Igala Artist--Susan Picton; 3 The Ancestral Masquerade: A Paradigm of Benue Valley Art History --Sidney Littlefield Kasfir A. The Igala Egwu Afia--John Boston; B. Ebira Masquerade and Its Histories--John Picton; C. Ndako Gboya Masquerades of the Nupe--Constanze Weise; D. Power and Gender in the History of Egungun--John C. Willis; E. Dead Fathers of Okpella--Jean Borgatti; 4 Ebira and the Niger-Benue Confluence: Material Culture and Masquerade; Artifact and Identity Revisited--John Picton; 5 Igala Masquerades and Figure Sculpture--John Boston; 6 Lost-Wax Casting along the Benue--Nancy Neaher Maas; Interleaf C A Note on the "Igala" Bell--Nancy Neaher Maas; Interleaf D A Note on Idoma Bells and Smoking Pipes--Sidney Littlefield Kasfir Part 2 The Middle Benue: Visual Resemblances, Connected Histories 7 Introduction: The Middle Benue--Richard Fardon; 8 The Quick and the Dead: Versatile Wooden Figures from the Middle Benue--Richard Fardon; Interleaf E Wurbo Jukun Sculpture from the Taraba and Wase River Valleys --Marla C. Berns; 9 A Memoir: The Jukun of the Middle Benue with a Brief Entry on the Goemai--Arnold Rubin; 10 Hybrids: Theranthropic Horizontal Masquerades from the Middle Benue--Richard Fardon; Interleaf F Mining the Rubin Archive: Mid-Twentieth-Century Documentation of Two Mumuye Masquerades--Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi; 11 Seen or Heard? Masquerades That Cry and Figures That Talk among the Mumuye--Mette Bovin; Interleaf G Heavy Metal: The Prestige of Iron in the Middle Benue --Richard Fardon; 12 Kantana, Kulere, and Their Neighbors South of the Jos Plateau --Barbara Frank; Interleaf H A Myriad of Mangam Masks--Marla C. Berns; 13 Embodiments Large and Small: Sacred Wood Sculpture of the Wurkun and Bikwin--Joerg Adelberger; 14 Enigmatic Embodiments: Vertical Masks in Cross-Cultural Perspective--Marla C. Berns Part 3 The Upper Benue: Expressive and Ritual Capacities of Clay 15 Introduction to Upper Benue Arts--Marla C. Berns; 16 Modeling Therapies: Vessels for Healing and Protection in the Western Gongola Valley--Marla C. Berns; 17 Containing Power: Identities in Clay in the Eastern Gongola Valley, the Ga'anda--Marla C. Berns; 18 Containing Power: Identities in Clay in the Eastern Gongola Valley, the 'Bena, Yungur, and Dera--Marla C. Berns; Interleaf I Vestiges in Wood: Ancestor Sculptures of the Eastern Gongola Valley --Marla C. Berns Epilogue Making the Market for Benue Arts: Notes on the French Connection --Helene Joubert Notes to the Text; References Cited; Index; Contributors