The objects
These multi-coloured plastic dolls, western in their appearance,
are very popular in Africa today. They are a common everyday item
in many communities around the world, but still fit in the Museum’s
collection of more traditional African dolls from the late 19th to
early 20th century.
Above: Yellow and pink moulded plastic
female dolls.
How the plastic dolls were acquired
The dolls were bought for a few francs from a stall selling an
eclectic mix of objects at the daily street market of Mopti, an
important trading port on the vast River Niger in Mali, West
Africa.
“I’d see if I could find any of these plastic dolls. We looked
in all the little stores and always checked and checked. Later in
the afternoon, one of my friends said: is this the kind of doll you
want? The woman at the store couldn’t really understand why I was
so excited.
“[The two dolls] were about £1.50. It’s not about the money;
it’s about what they mean to the people still today. I don’t
presume that they are of any monetary value but they do have
significance.” (Sarah Worden, Curator of African Collections,
2011)
What do they mean to the people?
In many African cultures parents make or buy dolls to give to
their children. It is said that a girl who likes playing with dolls
in her childhood will have many children. Just like her mother, the
girl carries the doll like a little baby tied onto her back.
As the girls grow older, the dolls acquire a different meaning.
During their initiation – a ceremony celebrating the fertility of a
young girl – young women receive a wooden fertility doll which
is made by their fathers. The doll represents a model of their
future child. To ensure her child will be healthy and strong, the
young woman has to treat it like a real infant.
Above: Click on the image to see two
fertility dolls from Ghana.
A man who wishes to marry a woman might give her a doll as a
sign of his commitment. A very elaborately designed doll can also
be a wedding present to wish the couple a child as soon as
possible.
Instead of symbolizing future souls, some dolls take the place
of a dead individual – for example, in Nigeria, an ere
ibeji doll is often used to represent a dead twin and to keep
the harmony between twins’ souls.
Above: Click on the images to see twin
figures from Nigeria.
What makes a doll?
In the western world, a doll is usually associated with a
clearly recognizable female figure. The variety of shapes,
materials and sizes of African dolls challenges this notion. The
dolls can be simple or highly complex and creative objects. They
might be made from local, natural materials, such as wood, cane,
calabashes, mud or clay. If available, imported materials such as
glass or plastic beads are used for decoration and emphasize the
value of the doll.
Above: Click on the images to get more
information about the materials used to make these dolls.
The two plastic dolls bought in Mali are a marked contrast with
the traditionally manufactured African dolls. Probably
mass-produced in China, this type of doll is sold in many markets
across Africa along with other plastic toys and domestic objects.
Still, girls carry them in the same way they carry more traditional
dolls, and they keep them for years.