“Masking “Indian,” Identity, and the African Turn: Journeying with the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors
Presentation Location
VSU University Center, Theater
Document Type
Event
Start Date
11-3-2023 10:00 AM
End Date
11-3-2023 11:00 AM
Description
“Masking “Indian,” Identity, and the African Turn: Journeying with the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors
Jeffrey David Ehrenreich (University of New Orleans)
This presentation documents an innovation and transformation of performance and identity in the masking tradition of New Orleans Black culture. In “masking Indian” among its African American participants—commonly known as “Mardi Gras Indians” (MGI)—covering one’s face was dangerous during the Jim Crow era. In common cause with Indigenous native Americans, celebrating “tribes” or “gangs” paraded through their own neighborhoods in “suits” with headdresses inspired by indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and with their faces mostly visible. In contrast, some groups have increasingly taken their inspirations from designs more obviously African. One group—the Mandingo Warriors, the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi—has pioneered the covering of the entire face with masks unmistakably African in their design, as well as with face paintings, all with the conscious understanding that it is an African identity, not an Indian one, that is proudly being displayed. Other groups have been influenced by, and now copy, this style of masking. From an historical and anthropological perspective, the tradition and performance of “masking Indian” is being brought full circle back to its African roots and origins.
Recommended Citation
Ehrenreich, Jeffrey David, "“Masking “Indian,” Identity, and the African Turn: Journeying with the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors" (2023). Annual Meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society. 24.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/southernanthro_meeting/2023/schedule/24
“Masking “Indian,” Identity, and the African Turn: Journeying with the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors
VSU University Center, Theater
“Masking “Indian,” Identity, and the African Turn: Journeying with the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors
Jeffrey David Ehrenreich (University of New Orleans)
This presentation documents an innovation and transformation of performance and identity in the masking tradition of New Orleans Black culture. In “masking Indian” among its African American participants—commonly known as “Mardi Gras Indians” (MGI)—covering one’s face was dangerous during the Jim Crow era. In common cause with Indigenous native Americans, celebrating “tribes” or “gangs” paraded through their own neighborhoods in “suits” with headdresses inspired by indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and with their faces mostly visible. In contrast, some groups have increasingly taken their inspirations from designs more obviously African. One group—the Mandingo Warriors, the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi—has pioneered the covering of the entire face with masks unmistakably African in their design, as well as with face paintings, all with the conscious understanding that it is an African identity, not an Indian one, that is proudly being displayed. Other groups have been influenced by, and now copy, this style of masking. From an historical and anthropological perspective, the tradition and performance of “masking Indian” is being brought full circle back to its African roots and origins.