all photos by the author, except where otherwise noted
Ogbinon, a sacred, black-suited masquerade with a head crest made out of jawbones, genuflects to a cement sculpture in the Cross River town of Adim (Fig. 1). His knees barely touch the ground before he jumps to his feet and chases a young man. Yanked back by an attendant, he twists around and unleashes a fury of machete blows on the chains that restrain him. Next the masquerade kneels back down; this time for a minute of silence. In front of him, on a stool, sits a life-sized, polychrome female figure. Towering above him, on a high pedestal, stands a naturalistically rendered traditional ruler with a sword and a shield. Suddenly the masquerade dangles from the wrought iron fence that encloses the commemorative monument's platform. He crosses its length, leaps to the ground and performs another set of superbly...