ColorAcademy 2005 - Anthropology

Anthropology

The anthropology of colour covers the study of the colour aesthetic systems of different countries, the cultural symbolisms of colour and the optical differences in the psychology and perception of colour, as well as different geographical colour naming concepts such as those of a recent researcher, Paul Kay, on colour naming in different cultures.

The colours of the dress and body painting of different nations is another aspect of the anthropology of colour. Although the aesthetics of colour theory seems universal, what is pleasing in colour may vary from one culture to another.For example, the rules for colour display in the West Suk of Kenya was studied by Dr. Harold Schneider, who described very specific sequences of colour that were considered beautiful, conforming to a concept, known as

'pachigh'. Several authors have described the colour symbolic systems of different cultures (see the Eranos Year Book 1972). Early work in the field of the study of colour vision of different countries was that of Clements and Geddes.

Wierd black shapes are made by the Malayans for their presentation rice baskets in the form of birds, step pyramids or dangling cylinders (to baffle evil spirits). Black wefts as in an Iban example can be obtained by soaking the strips in black mud or staining with elderberry, or sumach, oak galls or rusty iron. Dark purple is obtained from amaranth or iris petals. By contrast, alder roots give orange; and berberis, yellow. The outer sheath of guinea corn makes a dull red used in Nigeria, whilst the Indians of Washington mixed chewed alder bark and salmon eggs for their red vermilion. The North American Indians favoured mostly red, yellow and blue. On the North West coast the following colours were used: yellow ochre, red ochre, cinnabar and red berries, maroon and brown from Lignite, black and grey from charcoal, and green from fungus and moss.

In Africa colour symbolism used to be particularly important. White tended to symbolise spirit colours whilst red tended to repel spirits, as on the lips of a M’pongime mask from Gabun. Blue was used for scars on, for example, the Yoruba masks of a Gelede society in Nigeria. Red, white and blue were painted on the Congo masks of the Bena Biombo style. In the Transvaal there was a favoured use of maroon pigments; and a purplish claret in Zimbabwe. The Bushmen use bole or haematite for red and brown, and blue is from iron and silicic acid. Other colours they use are yellow ochre, zinc white and charcoal black.

Amongst the Pakot of the Suk, Kenya, there is a conventional concept of beauty of colour as applied to beads. While all colours or pigments are pretty, so long as they’re not too faded, coloured beads arranged in a pattern are beautiful, but the Pakot have preferences which exclude various arrangements. Some colours are preferred, such as blue, but any colour may be strung out in a solid line and be contrasted with any other solid coloured string and called pretty. But, when differently coloured beads are put together on the same string, an alternation of blue and white or of red and white is acceptable, while alternate red and yellow, red and blue, or yellow and white is not considered pretty, no matter what pattern they form. The reason is because the latter groupings have a reduced contrast between the colours, and have become like the drab colours of goats and sheep, considered to be boring. White and yellow, for example, provide little tone contrast whereas blue and white are considered pretty. This concept is known as pachigh.

Bibliography

BRADSHAW, A. (1952) World Costumes. This was a classic work on the subject. Since the 1950s there have been many more works on world costumes.

CLEMENTS, E. (1930) Racial differences in Colour Blindness. Amer.J.Phys.Anthrop. XIV pp.417-432.

GEDDES, W.R. (1946) The Colour Sense of Fijian Natives. Brit.J.Psychol. XXXVII pp.30-36.

KAY, P., BERLIN, B., MAFFI, L. and MERRIFIELD, W. (1997) Color naming across languages. In Color Categories in Thought and Languages. Hardin

C.L. and MAFFI, L. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni. Press.

PORTMANN, A. and RITSEMA, R. (eds) (1972) The Realms of Colour. Eranos Year book. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

SCHNEIDER, H. (1956) J. Anthrop. Society. Man, August 1956 pp103-106.

VILLAS-BOAS, O. and C. (1979) Xingu: Tribal Territory. London: Collins. A classic work illustrating tribal colours.

RILEY, O. (1955) Masks and Magic. London: Thames and Hudson.

SCHNEIDER, H.K. (1956) The Interpretation of Pakot Visual Art. Royal Anthropological Institute, August 1956 pp.103-106.

ZAHAN, D. (1974) White, Red and Black: Colour Symbolism in Black Africa, in The Realms of Colour. Leiden: E.J. Brill.