Customer Reviews

Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History (African Art)

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I am particularly interested in the way oral cultures memorise masses of pragmatic information. Having read material from many cultures all over the world, none have been as clearly presented in terms of the text as this one. And none have been so beautifully illustrated. The quality of the photographs is superb. The authors make is clear that Luba art is not art for art's sake - it is art for memory's sake. But even if you want to ignore all the incredible description of how the art is used, then the images alone are worth the price of the book many times over. Luba art is stunning.

But it is the way the memory board, the lukasa, works that makes this book astounding. Having tested the effectiveness of a large number of traditional memory aids, it is the lukasa I find the most immediately effective - and I suspect I have only scratched the surface of the potential. It is only in the Luba context that it could be fully utilised. In summary, a wonderful book to read and to stare at!