Entanglements of Belonging: Identifying with Place in an Urban Muslim Masquerade

Sparked by a period of mass conversions to Islam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, prominent Zara families in what is now the large city of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso developed nocturnal ‘white masks’, or Lo Gbe. This chapter examines the formulation and updating of what became a regionally-specific Zara Muslim identity in the city's Sya district, as articulated through this Muslim masquerade practice. Since its inception, Lo Gbe has been entangled in various social and political agendas in the city. White mask practice has assisted in negotiating Sya's fraught history as the un-urbanized core of an urban center. It has expressed Zara Muslims’ sense of belonging to Sya, reasserted long-lost rights, and enacted values impinged upon by urbanization. Lo Gbe demonstrates how a culturally and ethnically particular Muslim artistic practice makes meaning across cultures, ethnicities, and religions in an urban center.

Keywords: Bobo ; Conversion to Islam ; Heritage ; Lo Gbe ; Mask performance ; Masquerade performance ; Muslim identity ; Nighttime masquerade ; Nocturnal masquerade ; Oral history ; Sya ; Urban center ; Urbanization ; White masks ; Zara