week 2: african ivories

this is probably most people’s impression of africa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSElmEmEjb4

i thought it was cute. and admittedly, i would have never guessed that they were medicine students. (i’m sorry, i’ve been white-washed.)

unfortunately, african ivories do reinforce a negative image of africa. its origin is violent, taken from innocent animals. it is stained with blood that we can’t see… but it’s there. even if they try to wash the blood off, they can never wash away their sins. but that’s not important right now.

i was aware of ivory carvings since young, but they were mostly of western symbols. of beautiful western women with beautiful drapery. it never occurred to me that ivories could be of african culture. it was a new experience for me to see ivory sculptures with features that were not caucasian. at the same time, i was introduced to how the westerns commissioned ivories from the african craftsmen, and how these craftsmen were able to capture the western aesthetics and also inject the local african aesthetics into the commissions.

we were introduced to a more elegant side of africa… and i really hope that one day we can see africa in this way again.

and no more ivories. seriously.

and philippines destroying the seized ivories was a really bold move. but it worries me that it would increase the price of ivories in the blackmarket, since it doesn’t exactly deal with the demand side (economics theory suggests that when supply decreases, but demand does not, prices go up). especially considering that the demand for ivories (which is a luxury item) is price inelastic (meaning that demand would not change that much even if prices increase).