Talk:Kuba art

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Visual arts

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Kuba kingdom?[edit]

Zoocat56 Your recent edits suggest that the Kuba Kingdom exists today, yet the article on the subject and these sources ya Kama, van Dorp etal, Encyclopedia Britannica and Bortolot of Colombia speak of it in past tense. Please supply sources that support use of the present tense. If that is strong enough, the article Kuba Kingdom should be rewritten to reflect those sources. Sincerely, HopsonRoad (talk) 14:37, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Of course the kingdom is no longer independent but exists as an administrative unit, the Bakuba (Kuba) chiefdom of Mweka territory in Kasai province, and is led by the Kuba king. The story of its colonization and survival under indirect rule is the subject of Jan Vansina's book Being Colonized. I don't know of a good account of how the kingdom has survived since independence in 1960. However, a recent report by the Congo Research Group mentions the kingdom, king and chiefdom from the bottom of page 12 to the bottom of page 13. As further evidence that some Kuba still believe in the kingdom I offer this press release.

HopsonRoad, that being said my edits were more a response to putting the entire Kuba art article in the past tense as if Kuba sculptors and textile makers didn't exist anymore. It came accross to me almost as if you were writing about some long lost civilization and the edit comment about a "historical culture" irked me. I have now reviewed several offline reference works on "Kuba", "Kuba art", and "Kuba Kingdom", and see that it is the style to write in the past tense as even Vansina has. So I no longer have any objection to it's use. I've been reminded that writing in the past tense doesn't mean that something is long lost and buried! By the way the first paragraph of the Kuba kingdom article is written in the present tense and past efforts to change this has met resistance (not on my part). Zoocat56 (talk)

Zoocat56, thanks for looking into this question and reporting on it. Certainly the culture still exists and should be spoken of in the present tense. The existence of the kingdom as an officially recognized entity is surprisingly tenuous. The press release could be the work of self-styled descendants of the royal line, as could be imagined of descendants of European royals in countries that are now republics, e.g. Greek royal family and King Simeon II of Bulgaria. I couldn't find an official website, while searching on "Royaume des Bakuba", that one might expect if there were some degree of official recognition. I'm satisfied with the current use of tense in the article, if you are. Cheers, HopsonRoad (talk) 20:58, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]