What Masks Reveal
Introduction
In
this lesson, students explore the cultural significance of masks by investigating
the role they play in ceremonies and on special occasions in societies from widely
separated regions of the world. They then reflect on masking behavior in American
society, such as at Halloween and in the circus.
Learning Objectives
(1) To become aware of the social purpose and significance
of cultural artifacts such as masks. (2) To recognize the influence that stereotyping
can have on one's response to artifacts of a different culture or society. (3)
To explore connections between cultures and societies -- including American society
-- relating to their use of masks.
Guiding Question: What
can masks tell us about the people who make them?
Background
While it is perfectly fine to enjoy masks from
many cultures as rich, colorful works of art, one can gain a deeper understanding
by considering how masks are used in a particular culture and the meanings that
the tradition-bearers bring to them. In general,
masks have two important social functions: (1) they provide a disguise for the
wearer and (2) they allow the wearer to assume the identity, at least temporarily,
of some other person or being. An individual
in clown makeup, for example, is allowed in most societies to behave in ways that
would otherwise be deemed inappropriate or offensive. This is certainly entertaining
to the viewers, but it also highlights and presumably conveys something about
the boundaries of what is appropriate in that particular society.
Traditionally, masks are often worn at dangerous times of "border-crossing" --
what anthropologists call periods of "liminality" -- such as funerals or the planting
and nurturing of spring crops. Not unexpectedly, these are also times when the
spirits are in closest contact with the people. In religious rituals during these
times, the person wearing the mask often becomes the spirit being represented,
or at least serves as a medium through which the spirit is allowed to communicate
with the people, as in many American Indian and African societies.
Of course, masks can also serve as simple enhancements to story-telling, as a
way for actors to "disappear" into the roles they are playing (Japanese Noh masks,
for example). Yet even this use of masks can be more complicated than one might
suppose: at one time, for instance, Korean masked dance troupes ritually burned
their masks after they had been used, suggesting that an element of religious
tradition had carried over to the stage.
1
Divide the class into small groups. Provide each group with pictures of masks
from three cultures, but do not tell students where they are from. All groups
can work on the same three masks, or you can vary the assortment. Select examples
from these EDSITEment websites:
2 Have the groups produce a brief catalog description for
each mask, including a description of its appearance and hypotheses about its
use and where it comes from. Students can imagine themselves museum curators or
appraisers like those on the popular public television program, Antiques Road
Show.
3 How can you tell the difference between a smiling mask
and one that is snarling or threatening to bite? Can the meaning of facial expressions
differ from culture to culture? Why might
it be important to record things like the number of feathers or horns on a mask?
What could such details symbolize? How can we tell if they are symbolic?How
should we interpret the coloring of a mask? How can we tell if it is symbolic,
a reflection of the skin color of the people who made the mask, or just a result
of the material they used?What part might
stereotyping play in our conclusions about where a mask was made and what it is
used for? Should we think of masks as part of "primitive" culture? Should we look
at them as portraits of the people who wear them? What can the style and material
of a mask suggest about its origins and purpose?
4 Conclude this discussion by having students suggest questions
they would ask in order to understand the cultural significance of a mask. List
their suggestions on the chalkboard. Among the questions that might appear on
their list: - What region is the mask from?
- What
society or community made the mask?
- When
is the mask worn?
- Who wears it?
- What
is its social function?
- What does it represent
to those who use it?
5 Provide each group with background information on their
masks (available at the websites listed above) and maps they can use to locate
the regions where their masks were created. You can print out outline maps of
the Caribbean, the Arctic, and Africa in the "Atlas" section of the
National Geographic Xpeditions website on EDSITEment.
6 Have students pair-off in their groups to revise their catalog
descriptions, giving each pair one mask to work on. Direct students to use the
background information to answer the questions they listed as important for understanding
the mask's cultural significance. Have them locate where the mask comes from on
the appropriate map and organize the other information in a chart or with bullet-points.
Advise students that they might not find answers to all their questions.
7 When they have completed their research, have students share
information in a "show and tell" class discussion. Display the masks in different
groupings to highlight similarities and differences. Some suggestions:
- Group the masks geographically and discuss stylistic
elements that seem to identify a mask as coming from a particular region. What
are some traits that seem to appear in all regions (e.g., exaggerated eyes and
mouth)?
- Group the masks according to the occasions
when they are worn: initiation rites, funeral rites, festivities, storytelling
performances, etc. Explore thematic connections between these different occasions.
To what extent are these times when members of the community are crossing some
kind of border -- from youth to adulthood, from life to death, from winter to
spring? To what extent are they occasions marked by a need to preserve and pass
down traditions -- recount legends, reaffirm beliefs, restore values, reinforce
rules of behavior?
- Group the masks according
to their social function. To what extent are they all intended to disguise the
wearer? Do some serve to identify the wearer as prominent in the society? Or to
give the wearer a new, supernatural identity within the society? Discuss the range
of emotions the masks are designed to provoke -- for example, fright, amusement,
disgust, reverence, curiosity, empathy or a sense of self-identification. What
do these reactions contribute to the occasions when they are worn?
- Group
the masks according to what they represent: historical figures, characters of
myth and legend, character types like "an old man" or "a fool," and so on. To
what extent could we say that masks like these represent ideas? Talk about the
kinds of ideas the masks bring to life -- authority, identity, honor, responsibility,
right and wrong. How do we evoke these "spirits" in our society?
8 Conclude the lesson by talking about the use of masks in
American society. Students might mention Halloween, Mardi Gras, masquerades, theatrical
performances, the circus, or clowns and mimes in mask-like makeup. How do these
uses of masks compare to their use in traditional societies? Collaborative
or Take-Home Activity Assign a take-home activity,
or work with you school's art teacher to have students design or make masks for
an appropriate occasion in their lives -- a holiday, a birthday, a personal milestone,
a family event -- and produce a catalog description of the mask that explains
its cultural significance.
Extending the Lesson
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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