1975-2025
Beckwith and Fisher’s efforts have produced a unique and extensive working archive of unprecedented breadth, impeccable organisation and cultural significance. Spanning fifty years and covering one hundred and fifty different cultures from thirty two countries, the African Ceremonies Archive includes rare photographs, transparencies, digital images, video films, music, an online African museum and over 200 hand-written journals.
Story of the Archive
The Archive covers the story of the origin of humankind in Africa. Starting with the earliest lifestyle, the hunter-gatherers of Botswana and Tanzania, it follows the paths of nomads, pastoralists, agriculturalists, traders, urban dwellers and Royal Kingdoms. From the deserts of the Sahara, to the Omo River Valley of Ethiopia, from the plains of Kenya, to the grasslands of Cameroon, the archive charts the journeys of people from birth to death. It explores religions and beliefs from Voodoo and Animism, to Islam, Judaism and Christianity; courtship and marriage; displays of femininity and masculinity; seasonal rituals and healing exorcisms. These unique cultural traditions, rituals and art forms display a boundless and brilliant creativity, and reveal a deep link to the spiritual world.
Kara Men Painting their Bodies for Courtship, Ethiopia (year?)
Wodaabe Male Charm Dancer, Niger 1981
Rashaida Man with Wives, Eritrea 1992
A Home for the Archive
Much of Beckwith and Fisher's work is irreplaceable. Over forty percent of what they have recorded no longer exists. As a compendium of human creativity in Africa, this Archive will be invaluable to historians, artists, anthropologists, filmmakers, curators, collectors, writers, students and the general public. Our mission now is to preserve this extraordinary legacy of cultural heritage and share it with the world. Aware that traditions and ceremonies are disappearing rapidly across Africa, Beckwith and Fisher have expressed their intention to place the African Ceremonies Archive – the world’s most extensive photographic archive of traditional African cultures and ceremonies – with an institution yet to be selected.
Thousands of Africans have helped us make this study by inviting us into their private and often sacred worlds. They are extremely proud of these recordings. This is Africa’s heritage and extraordinary gift to the continent and world at large."
Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher
CONTENTS OF THE ARCHIVE:
750,000
photographs, covering 150 cultural groups
1000+
hours of video footage
17
published books by Beckwith & Fisher
5
television films
200
hand-written field journals illustrated with drawings and photographs
40
years worth of field drawings by Carol Beckwith
400
additional books on traditional African art and culture
plus...
lectures, music, Online Museum...
Fieldwork Diaries (above)
1979 - 2017
TOP ROW: Carol with Wodaabe charm dancer, Niger. Drawing of Wodaabe courtship jewellery from our Niger journal. Photographing a Swahili wedding, Lamu.
MIDDLE ROW: Map of our travels through Ethiopia. Wodaabe girl at male charm dance, Niger. Journal watercolour of Lamu and the East African coast, Kenya.
BOTTOM ROW: Carol with Wodaabe charm dancers, being taught the art of winking, Niger. Journal drawing of a Swahili wedding bed, Lamu, Kenya. Angela showing Maasai girl the beauty of her courtship jewellery on the camera screen, Kenya.
TOP ROW: Drawing of Fon fetish symbols, Abomey, Benin. Sand sculpture of Mami Wata, the voodoo goddess of women's wellbeing. Map of Rendille, Kenya.
MIDDLE ROW: Photographic permit for Coronation of Voodoo King, Benin. Angela greeting Katjambia, a renowned Himba exorcist, Namibia. A Pende mask envelopes Carol to entertain the crowd, DR Congo.
BOTTOM ROW: Shooting in 100 degrees, Eritrea. Woodabe protectrive talsimans, Niger. Angela chased by a Bedik spirit mask, Senegal.
African Ceremonies’ Archive is a rare and priceless record of humanity - one that carries tremendous historical importance and educational purpose. The assembling of the archive itself forms a remarkable story of the way individuals, filled with curiosity and a sense of wonder, can enter the world and make an entire way of life visible to future generations. The archive will also become an international destination for scholars who seek to draw on these unique primary sources to further the world’s understanding of African Culture.”
Cheryl Finley
Professor of History of Art and African American Studies, Cornell University