Alien or Accepted? African Perspectives on the Western 'Other' in 15th and 16th Century Art

The visual record of Africa's interaction with the West is proving to be a rich source of information concerning the changing natures of ethnographic perception. Post-contact imagery reflects shifting attitudes shaped by political, economic and historical events and trends. Examination of an individual artist's treatment of "the other" and his departure from or conformation with prevailing cultural attitudes can reveal a range of responses and interpretations of the outsider as enemy, a part of daily life, or a being with religious or prestige associations. This article compares ivory carvers' attitudes towards late 15th/early 16th-century Portuguese travelers to both Sierra Leone and Nigeria's Benin Kingdom. Artists in both areas depicted the Portuguese in ivories made for foreign use, but the nature of their interaction with foreigners shaped these depictions.