Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah—Mobility & Technology

Mobilizing Masquerades: Sierra Leone

For over two decades, scholars have turned their attention towards contemporary urban expressions, while largely overlooking masquerade arts of African cities, outside of their importation from rural, village contexts, or as state-sponsored festivals (Vogel 1994; Kasfir 2000). As such, there have been very few documented urban masquerading traditions in Africa and little discussion of their performance (Nunley 1987, Reed 2003, Fenton 2016 and forthcoming). Ordehlay cultural societies of Freetown, Sierra Leone provide a compelling example of urban-invented arts and their spread to towns in the outlying rural areas of Sierra Leone. This is counterintuitive to the typical spread of masquerades, which, according to scholars, spreads from the rural into the urban zone. Further, while urban-based artists and members are interacting with communities upline—a substitute for “provincial” or anywhere outside of the capital city—they are also interacting with international branches of the societies. Both interactions are strengthened by the collapse of time and space 20 characteristic of the techno-global landscape of contemporary Africa.