{"id":13132,"date":"2023-02-06T14:27:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T13:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=13132"},"modified":"2023-02-06T14:30:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T13:30:34","slug":"explainer-does-the-kankurang-masquerade-belong-to-only-the-mandinka-tribe-in-the-gambia-and-do-women-wear-the-costume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/explainer-does-the-kankurang-masquerade-belong-to-only-the-mandinka-tribe-in-the-gambia-and-do-women-wear-the-costume\/","title":{"rendered":"Explainer: Does the Kankurang masquerade belong to only the Mandinka tribe in The Gambia, and do women wear the costume?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Kankurang masquerade is one of the famous cultural practices observed by many in The Gambia. During the Miss Gambia Pageant held on Friday, December 30, 2022, at the Coco Ocean Hotel, a lady was seen dressed in a Kankurang masquerade regalia during a pageant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image: Photo of a woman dressed in Kankurang. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This spectacle has sparked a lot of controversies. A Facebook post<\/a>, tagged \u201copinion\u201d by Fatu Network, condemned the lady for wearing masquerade regalia, describing it as \u201cdisrespectful to the Mandinka Culture.\u201d That post has generated over 422 comments, 580 engagements, and 17 shares at the time of conducting this fact-check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Facebook user, Badibunka A.K.A Jawaro<\/a>, said, \u201cThis is a total disrespect to our culture and sabotage; if you don’t know your culture and its roots, this is what it lead(s) you too, (I) am heartbroken seeing this Allah, Yalong [sic].\u201d But others like Modou Drammeh<\/a> have a contrary opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBelie, this country (is) full of comedians! Kankurang is a Kankurang whether male or female; no law says only men should put on the masquerade. Let these fanatics chill and know that culture doesn’t belong to anyone’s father,\u201d Drammeh fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image: Other comments from the post.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other comments<\/a> from the post suggest that the masquerade is not for the Mandinka ethnic group only, raising questions about who owns it and who decides how it has evolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two concerns raised were which tribe in Gambia the Kankurand masquerade belongs to and if women wear the attire of the Kankurand masquerade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop, DUBAWA examined the issues by finding out from experts the facts behind the cultural practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Kankurang?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kankurang combines the Mandinka words \u2018kango\u2019 and \u2018Kurango\u2019, which translate as \u201cvoice\u201d and \u201cenforce,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The masquerade wears a mask made of the bark and red fibre of the \u2018faara tree,\u2019 and there are three different types of Kankurang in the manding societies, which include,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Ifangbondi, who is invisible to the human eye and acts to shield boys from evil during the night time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Jamba, a masked dancer responsible for ensuring that the community\u2019s life is orderly and disciplined through his enforcement. This type can be seen at social occasions such as weddings and age-grade initiation ceremonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Wulengo, who is supposed to protect circumcised boys from evil spirits, wicked people, and witchcraft UNESCO<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kankurang initiate is clothed in leaves, and his body is painted with vegetable dyes. This is associated with circumcision ceremonies and initiatory rites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, we sought to find out if, in Gambia, the Kankurang masquerade is a culture for only the Mandinka tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who does the Kankurang masquerade belong to?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kausu Drammeh, a Gambian history and political science specialist based in the United States, said, \u201cKankurang masquerade is a culture known only for the Mandinka tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMasquerade is purely for Mandinka and is traditionally displayed by men,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sulayman Ceesay, a Gambian cultural ambassador based in Sweden, also confirmed that the Kankurang masquerade is \u201cpurely for the Mandings (Mandinkas) and is typically worn by men. I grew up in a community and region known for masquerade, but it never happened,\u201d Mr Ceesay added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a UNESCO<\/a> research report conducted to preserve the cultures of different tribes in The Gambia, it was discovered that the Kankurang is an initiatory rite practised in The Gambia, in the Manding provinces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gambia information site<\/a> also states, \u201cThe Kankurang is a secret society of traditional masquerades, used in traditional Mandinka circumcision and initiation rites, whose rituals can be seen all over The Gambia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A publication by The Point Newspaper Gambia<\/a> also confirms that the Kankurang is tied to the Mandinka communities in the Gambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can then conclude that in Gambia, the Kankurang masquerade is a cultural practice only for the Mandinka (Manding) tribe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, we inquired about <\/strong>women wearing the Kankurang masquerade costume because some comments on the post suggested they couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do women traditionally wear the Kankurang masquerade costume?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aja Mama Ceesay, a 65-year-old woman from \u2018Kani Kunda Suba\u2019 in Sabach Sanjal District, in the North Bank Region with decades of experience in Kankurang cultural practice, shared that women do not wear the Kankurang costume because tradition doesn’t allow women to be Kankurang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have never seen a female Kankurang. The costume is mainly for men, and not every man can wear it. It is for men with strong spiritual means.\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman added that the Kankurang guards the initiated boys against evil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about women dressing up as Kankurang masquerades, Suleyman Ceesay said, \u201cWomen don\u2019t wear Kankurang because it is for men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ebrima S. Sanneh, a History and Geography teacher at the Gambia College<\/a>, also said that \u201cI have never seen a female Kankurang in my life, and I grew up in a region that practices Kanjurang every time.\u201d The Kankurang masquerade guides initiated boys in communities and disciplines people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, in a report published by the Voice of Gambia,<\/a> Hassoum Ceesay, Director General of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), is quoted to have described Kankurang as \u201ca highly respected and valued aspect of the Senegambia culture and heritage which is a Manding masking tradition that dates back hundreds of years.\u201d He, on the other hand, said in a 2023 report published on theeastafrican<\/a> that \u201cwhile it is unclear, it wasn\u2019t wrong for the female contestant to wear it during the beauty pageant. I believe the intention was great. The intention was to showcase our culture and heritage.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kankurang masquerade tradition belongs to the Mandinka ethnic group of The Gambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”The researcher produced this fact-check per the DUBAWA 2023 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with (The Fatu Network) Daily Trust to facilitate the ethos of \u201ctruth\u201d in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kankurang masquerade is one of the famous cultural practices observed by many in The Gambia. During the Miss Gambia Pageant held on Friday, December 30, 2022, at the Coco Ocean Hotel, a lady was seen dressed in a Kankurang masquerade regalia during a pageant. This spectacle has sparked a lot of controversies. A Facebook post, tagged \u201copinion\u201d by Fatu Network, condemned the lady for wearing masquerade regalia, describing it as \u201cdisrespectful to the Mandinka Culture.\u201d That post has generated over 422 comments, 580 engagements, and 17 shares at the time of conducting this fact-check.  Another Facebook user, Badibunka A.K.A Jawaro, said, \u201cThis is a total disrespect to our culture and sabotage; if you don’t know your culture and its roots, this is what it lead(s) you too, (I) am heartbroken seeing this Allah, Yalong [sic].\u201d But others like Modou Drammeh have a contrary opinion. \u201cBelie, this country (is) full of comedians! Kankurang is a Kankurang whether male or female; no law says only men should put on the masquerade. Let these fanatics chill and know that culture doesn’t belong to anyone’s father,\u201d Drammeh fired. Other comments from the post suggest that the masquerade is not for the Mandinka ethnic group only, raising questions about who owns it and who decides how it has evolved. The two concerns raised were which tribe in Gambia the Kankurand masquerade belongs to and if women wear the attire of the Kankurand masquerade.  Against this backdrop, DUBAWA examined the issues by finding out from experts the facts behind the cultural practice. What is Kankurang? Kankurang combines the Mandinka words \u2018kango\u2019 and \u2018Kurango\u2019, which translate as \u201cvoice\u201d and \u201cenforce,\u201d respectively. The masquerade wears a mask made of the bark and red fibre of the \u2018faara tree,\u2019 and there are three different types of Kankurang in the manding societies, which include, \u2022 Ifangbondi, who is invisible to the human eye and acts to shield boys from evil during the night time. \u2022 Jamba, a masked dancer responsible for ensuring that the community\u2019s life is orderly and disciplined through his enforcement. This type can be seen at social occasions such as weddings and age-grade initiation ceremonies. \u2022 Wulengo, who is supposed to protect circumcised boys from evil spirits, wicked people, and witchcraft UNESCO. The Kankurang initiate is clothed in leaves, and his body is painted with vegetable dyes. This is associated with circumcision ceremonies and initiatory rites.  Firstly, we sought to find out if, in Gambia, the Kankurang masquerade is a culture for only the Mandinka tribe. Who does the Kankurang masquerade belong to? Kausu Drammeh, a Gambian history and political science specialist based in the United States, said, \u201cKankurang masquerade is a culture known only for the Mandinka tribe. \u201cMasquerade is purely for Mandinka and is traditionally displayed by men,\u201d he said. Sulayman Ceesay, a Gambian cultural ambassador based in Sweden, also confirmed that the Kankurang masquerade is \u201cpurely for the Mandings (Mandinkas) and is typically worn by men. I grew up in a community and region known for masquerade, but it never happened,\u201d Mr Ceesay added. In a UNESCO research report conducted to preserve the cultures of different tribes in The Gambia, it was discovered that the Kankurang is an initiatory rite practised in The Gambia, in the Manding provinces.  The Gambia information site also states, \u201cThe Kankurang is a secret society of traditional masquerades, used in traditional Mandinka circumcision and initiation rites, whose rituals can be seen all over The Gambia.\u201d A publication by The Point Newspaper Gambia also confirms that the Kankurang is tied to the Mandinka communities in the Gambia. We can then conclude that in Gambia, the Kankurang masquerade is a cultural practice only for the Mandinka (Manding) tribe.  Secondly, we inquired about women wearing the Kankurang masquerade costume because some comments on the post suggested they couldn\u2019t. Do women traditionally wear the Kankurang masquerade costume? Aja Mama Ceesay, a 65-year-old woman from \u2018Kani Kunda Suba\u2019 in Sabach Sanjal District, in the North Bank Region with decades of experience in Kankurang cultural practice, shared that women do not wear the Kankurang costume because tradition doesn’t allow women to be Kankurang. \u201cI have never seen a female Kankurang. The costume is mainly for men, and not every man can wear it. It is for men with strong spiritual means.\u201d she explained. The woman added that the Kankurang guards the initiated boys against evil.  When asked about women dressing up as Kankurang masquerades, Suleyman Ceesay said, \u201cWomen don\u2019t wear Kankurang because it is for men.\u201d Ebrima S. Sanneh, a History and Geography teacher at the Gambia College, also said that \u201cI have never seen a female Kankurang in my life, and I grew up in a region that practices Kanjurang every time.\u201d The Kankurang masquerade guides initiated boys in communities and disciplines people.\u201d On the other hand, in a report published by the Voice of Gambia, Hassoum Ceesay, Director General of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), is quoted to have described Kankurang as \u201ca highly respected and valued aspect of the Senegambia culture and heritage which is a Manding masking tradition that dates back hundreds of years.\u201d He, on the other hand, said in a 2023 report published on theeastafrican that \u201cwhile it is unclear, it wasn\u2019t wrong for the female contestant to wear it during the beauty pageant. I believe the intention was great. The intention was to showcase our culture and heritage.\u201d   The Kankurang masquerade tradition belongs to the Mandinka ethnic group of The Gambia. ”The researcher produced this fact-check per the DUBAWA 2023 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with (The Fatu Network) Daily Trust to facilitate the ethos of \u201ctruth\u201d in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[4,123,2815],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3788],"class_list":["post-13132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mainstream","category-the-gambia"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-3pO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3788,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"dawda-baldeh","display_name":"Dawda Baldeh","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Kankurang-masquerade.png?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13132"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13138,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132\/revisions\/13138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13132"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=13132"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=13132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}