African Influences in
Cybernetics
Ron Eglash
introduction
The problems of natural!artificial dualisms encountered by
cyborgs are similar to those which plague activists and theorists in the long historical battles against racism. Primitivist
racism operates by making non-western culture too concrete, and thus "closer to
nature"-not really a culture at all, but rather beings of uncontrolled emotion and
direct bodily sensation, rooted in an edenic ecology. Orienta list racism operates by
making non-western culture too abstract, and thus "arabesque''-not really a "natural" human, but one devoid of emotion, caring only for money and an inscrutable
spiritual transcendence. Racism on the African continent-tending towards
Oriental ism in the north, and Primitivism in the south-precludes any simple opposition that a category like "African cybernetics" might hold. An anti-racist characterization of African influences in cybernetics must be situated in ways which do not
merely reverse or refute its claims, but address its historical construction.
17}
AFRICAN INFLUENCES IN CYBERNETICS
Opposition to racism has often been composed through two totalizing, essentialist·.
strategies: sameness and difference. For example, Mudimbe (1988) demonstrates
how the category of a singular "African philosophy" has been primarily an invention of difference, having its creation in the play between "the beautiful myths of
the 'savage mind' and the African ideological strategies of otherness." In contrast,
structuralists such as Levi-Strauss have attempted to prove that African
1
systems are fundamentally the same as those of Europeans (both having their
in arbitrary symbol systems). The problem of these unitary assessments of epistemological status is made particularly clear by the contradictions in the philosophic
approach of Sandra Harding, where African conceptual views were at first characterized as the holistic opposite of Western reductionism (Harding 1989), and then
soon after as having exactly the same analytic approach as Western science
(Harding 1990). As Mudimbe notes, neither sameness nor difference will suffice.
This critique indicates that the analysis of interactions between cybernetic theory
and the African diaspora should not be limited to a purely epistemological pe,;pe<:-.
live. At the same time, however, socially grounded analyses of science have all too
often presented a kind of "Realpolitik" approach to the social construction of
cybernetics, one in which the science of computation and con-
trol systems is merely a thin disguise for methods of soc:ial
domination and control (e.g., Lilienfeld 1974). Here any subaltern irlen.tihr:
(female, non-white, working class, etc.) appears only as yet another powerless victim, and typically one for whom a previously natural existence is endangered by
the intrusion of artifice. Thus the focus of this essay on African contributions to
cybernetics is not an attempt to overlook the brutal tragedies enacted by that science, but rather to underscore the multifaceted aspects of its history, and thus
possibilities for resistance and reconfigurations. By moving between questions of
epistemological structure and social constructions of science, this essay will suggest some possible origins of cybernetic theory in African culture, ways that Black
people have negotiated the rise of cybernetic technology in the West, and the confluence of these histories in the lived experience of the African diaspora.
information and Representation in Cybernetics
Cybernetic theory is based on two dimensions of communication systems. One is the information structure, the
other the physical representation of that information. The
most fundamental characteristic of an information structure is its computational
complexity, which is a measure of its capacity for recursion (i.e., self-reference,
reflexivity). This mathematical result agrees nicely with our intuition about the crucial role of reflexive awareness in our own "information structure." The most
fundamental characteristic of a representational system is
the analog-digital distinction. Digital representation requires a code
table (the dictionary, Morse code, the genetic code, etc.) based on physically arbitrary symbols (text, numbers, flag colors, etc.). Saussure postulated this characteristic when he spoke of the "arbitrariness of the linguistic signifier." Analog
representation is based on a proportionality between physical changes in a signal
and changes in the information it represents (e.g., waveforms, images, vocal intonation). For example, as my excitement increases, so does the loudness of my voice.
While digital systems use grammars, syntax, and other relations of symbolic logic,
analog systems are based on physical dynamics-the realm of feedback, hysteresis,
{18
and resonance. This dichotomy is fundamental to current cybernetic debates concerning, for example, which type of representation is used by neurons in the
human brain, or the type recommended for artificial brains.
In the first years of American cybernetics, analog and digital systems were seen as
epistemologically equivalent, both considered capable of complex kinds of representation (cf. Rubinoff 1953). But by the early 1960s a political dualism was coupled to this representation dichotomy. The "counterculture" radicals of the
cybernetics community-Norbert Wiener, Gregory Bateson, Hazel Henderson, Paul
Goodman, Kenneth Boulding, Barry Commoner, Margaret Mead, among
others-made the erroneous claim that analog systems were more concrete, more
"real" or "natural," and therefore (according to this romantic cybernetics) ethically
superior. In social domains, this converged with Rousseau's legacy of the moral
superiority of oral over literate cultures.' Thus, for example, Mcluhan (1966) writes:
It was ... a considerable revelation when writing came to detribalize and to
individualize man .... Cybernation seems to be taking us out of the visual world
of classified data back into the tribal world of integral patterns and corporate
awareness (McLuhan 1966, p 102].
For African-Americans this meant a debilitating valorization. They could use this
ethical claim to combat some racism, but only in terms of identifying as unconscious, innocent natives in a lost past. Thus African modes of representation in the
use of sculpture, movement and rhythm were often abandoned to modernist
claims that Africa was the culture of non-representation, the culture af the Real.
By the 1970s, widespread epistemological critiques af realism-noting that it is representation that allows self-consciousness and intentionality-resulted in interpretations which limited cultural analysis to arbitrary signifiers. African dance, for
example, would be a set of movement symbols, not a waveform.
Subsequently, African cultural analysis became split between those who retained the
modernist trope of African identity grounded in naturalist realism (recognizing analog systems but refusing to see them as representation), versus those who adopted
the postmodern trope of textual metaphor (which avoids primitivism at the expense
of abandoning recognition of analog systems)-reggae versus rap.'
Postmodern cybernetics, however, has shown that analog systems are capable of
the flexible representation required to perform complex (Turing Machine-equivalent) computations, as demonstrated in both theory and experiment (Wolfram
1984, Touretzky 1986, Rubel1989, Blum, Shub and Smale 1989).ln particular, a
new appreciation for analog systems was fundamental to the rise of fractal geometry, nonlinear dynamics, and other branches of chaos theory (Gleick 1987, see
also Dewdney 1985, Pagels 1988). By viewing physical systems as forms of computation, rather than merely inert structures, researchers became open to the possibility of having infinite variation in deterministic physical dynamics. Analog
systems can achieve the same levels of recursive computation as digital systems; the two are epistemological equals.
In other words, the appeal to digital systems in African culture may well have been
a necessary antidote to the skewed social portrait of it, but it is not the only
recourse for combating ethnocentric epistemological claims. African cultures have
indeed developed systems of analog representation which are capable of the com-
19}
AFRICAN INFL UENCES IN CYBERNETICS
EGLASH
plexities of recursion, and there are indications that this ind igenous
technology has been in conversation with cybernetic concepts in the
west.
Goldsmith (1981) reports golem legends going back to the fourth cen tury B.C.E., and describes their continuing popularity in Jewish legend.
Norbert Weiner, th e Jewish founder of analog cybernetics, was quite
influenced by this concept of information embedded in physical
dynamics (Heims 1984, Eglash 1992). He made several references to
the golem in his writing, and reported that even as a child he was fascinated by the idea of making a doll come al ive. His religious identity
was closely tied to gashmuit, the informal, physical (and trad itiona lly
female) side of Judaism, and he was particula rly proud of his ancestry
to famed Egyptian physician Moses Maimon ides.
Africa in the origins of the cybernetics
Fig. 1. Branching fractals in Saharan cities
The use of African material culture as a form of ana log representation
is particularly vivid in cases of recursive information flow. In African
architecture, recursive scaling-that is fractal geometry-can be seen
in a variety of forms. In North Africa it is associated with the feedback
of the "arabesque" artistic form, particularly in the branches of
branches forming city streets (figure 1). In Central Africa it can be
seen in additive rectangular wall format ions (figure 2). and in West
Africa we see circular swirls of circular houses and granaries (figure 3).
This is not limited to a visual argument; the fractal structure of
African settlement patterns has been confirmed by computational
analysis of digitized photos in Eglash and Broadwell (1989).
Recursive scali ng in Egyptian temples can be viewed as a formalized
version of the fractal architecture found elsewhere in Africa, and is
most significant in its use of the Fibonacci sequence (Badawy 1965;
see Petruso 1985 for additional Egyptian use of the sequence). The
sequence is named for Leonardo Fibonacci (ca. 1175- 1250), who is
also associated with an un usual example of recursive architecture in
Europe (Schroeder 1991 , p 85). The Fibonacci sequence was one of the
fi rst mathematical models for biolog ical growth patterns, and inspired
Alan Turing and other important figures in the history of computational morphogenesis. Since Fibonacci was sent to North Africa as a
boy, and devoted his years there to mathematics education (Gies and
Gies 1969). it is possible that this seminal example of recursive scaling
is of African origin.
Fig. 2. Logone-Birni in Cameroon
Benoit Mandelbrot, the "father of fractal geometry," reports that his
invention is the result of combining the abstract mathematics of
Georg Cantor with the empirical studies of H. E. Hurst. Cantor was a
nineteenth-century Rosicrucian mystic, who often combined his
mathematics with his religious belief. His cousin Moritz Cantor was a
famous scholar in the geometry of Egyptian art and architecture.
Given these facts, and the similarity of this first European fracta l to
the Egyptian architectural structure symbolizing creation (the lotus).
an Egyptian origin is likely here as wel l. H.E. Hurst also has Egyptian
connections, as will be discussed shortly.
Recursive scaling also occurs in the case of certa in African sculptu ral
forms, where it is often related to animist religious concepts.
Although frequently reduced to "fetish worship" or "natural spiritua lity" in western descriptions, anim ism is, on the contrary, typically concerned with a cu ltu ral transfer of information or energy through
Fig. 3. Songay village of Labbazanga
physical dynamics. While anim ist religions are still active in Africa
today, this conception of animated physica l fo rm is quite ancient, and
is reflected in the myths of God creating humanity from clay. In some North
African traditions certain spiritualists cou ld create their own clay robots, "golems."
{ 20
In addition to spatial analog representation , many Africa n societies
have developed techniques for the analog representation of
Fig. 4. Mandelbrot fractal
time-varying systems, including transformation into frequency- or
phase-doma in representation . In figure 5 we see anim ist energy flow, drawn by a
Bambara seer for the author, visualized as a spiral wave emanating from a sacrificial egg. The dashed lines inside the figure are a digita l code symbolizing good fortune. Undulatory schemes in Egyptian art (Badawy 1959) show an understanding
of motion as a rhythmic time series, and the transformation of time-series to a frequency- domain representation can be seen in African conceptualizations of circular time (figure 6). The extreme in African time-series ana lysis is the search for
patterns in the Nile floods. The most recent data set, taken once a year for 15 centuries, became the basis for the work of H.E. Hurst mentioned previou sly. A British
civil servant, Hurst spent 62 years in Egypt, and fina lly deduced a sca ling law, based
Fig. 5
on this time-series, wh ich Mandelbrot used to bring
Cantor's abstract set theory into em pirical practice.
75-90
~YEllOW GROUPS
EL:2l RED GROUPS
Fig. 6- Cyclic time in Africa. Cycling age-grade system
of the Karimojong of Uganda. They recognize four
fixed generation sets, encompassing a total span of
100 to 120 years. Each generation set is subdivided
into five age sets. The Gazelles and Zebras, who are
called "yellow· because of their brass ornaments, are
associated in a grandfather-grandson relationship. A
similar relationship exists between the "red" generation sets, the Lions and Mountains. In this diagram
only the Zebras and the Mountains are active, the former in a position of authority and the latter of obedience. (in Zaslavsky 1973, p. 263)
The most com mon frequency ana lysis used by
Weiner and others in modern cybernetics is the
Fourier transform. Fourier began his work with an
analysis of Descartes' theory of equations; he did not
leave thi s static framework until his exped it ion to
Egypt in 1798, where he analyzed the geometry of
Egyptian architecture. It was here that he devised
the basis for the Fourier transform. A comparison of
Fourier's visualizations of convergence of a seq uence
with a diagram of Egypti an architecture (which,
because of the Fibonacci sequence, also shows convergence to a limit), suggests that the African concept of recursive structu re and dynamic form may
have contributed to th is analysis as well.
Africa n influence in American cyber netics
Related to these systems of ana log recu rsion are
stud ies on computational self- reference ; these too
have possible African influences. For example,
Seymour Papert, a wh ite computer scientist who
championed hierarch ica l, non -recursive computing
in the 1960s, made a dra matic conversion to decentralized computation fo llowing his U.N. work in
21 }
AFRICAN INFLUENCES IN CYBERNETICS
Africa in the mid-70s. Another white engineer, N. Negroponte, developed his conceptions for self-organized computing following his study of "vernacular architecture," most of which was African. Earl Jones, one of the first African-American
computer engineers, was in innovator in decentralized data distribution.
Analog computing networks have become increasingly important in the post-modern phase of American cybernetics, where they are no longer a stronghold of holistic hippy science, but rather a promising (and well-funded) area of resea rch for the
military and industry (Eglash 1990, 1992). African influences in American science
date back to the contributions in biological knowledge and metalwork by slaves;
the biological (especially botanical) is particularly significant for cybernet ics due to
its involvement in models of information coding. While romantic accounts of cultural difference would use botanical expertise to emphasize the "naturalness" of
African traditions, this is certainly not the only interpretation. George Washington
Carver, for example, declared that not only did God create the Kingdom of Plants
and the Kingdom of Animals, but that He also had a "Kingdom of the Synthetic."
This spiritual legitimation of the artificial fits well into the African religious traditions of analog representation discussed previously.
A direct line for African influences in analog cybernetics can be seen in the work of
E. E. Just, who used music as both a conceptual model for decentralized biological
morphogenesis, and as a cultural basis for understanding his African heritage
(Manning 1983, pp. 203, 261). Just's work, particularly that on info rmation encoded in non-symbolic representation (based in part on Just's rebellion aga inst the
position that the only intracellular information is that of a "master code" in the cell
nucleus). was taken up by Ross G. Henderson, an important influence in the
General Systems Theory (GST) community (Haraway 1976). wh ich in turn influenced the origins of cybernetics through studies of aggregate self-organizing phenomena and positive feedback loops.
Fig. 7. Many traditional African hairstyles
use recursive procedures, often embedding
layers of social meaning in their braids of
braids. This style, "le fils a tresse" (from
Cameroon} uses a fractal branching pattern.
As previously noted, the GST and related cybernetics comm unity
took a romanticist turn in the 1960s, which resu lted in a disa bl ing
of the analog conception by Realism (cf. Varela's accou nt of the
"nonrepresentationist point of view" developed in the 1960s with
McCulloch, Maturana, and others [Varela 1987, pp. 48-49]). What
little involvement the Black community had in the cybernetics
movement was, however, often opposed to this romantic tendency.
For example, at the first Cybercu ltural Research conference in
1966, James Boggs, a Black political activist, suggested that the
"new cybercultural society" would not be alienating to Blacks
because (un like whites) they could draw on a labor history in which
their dual identity as both biological automatic machines and the
makers/users of machines were deeply im bricated with their cultura l identity (Boggs 1966, p. 172). Black identification with categories of the artificial are here political, but converge with the
same conceptions that informed Carver and others; concepts that
parallel the animist legitimations of the artificial in Africa.
The lived experience of African -Americans' interactions between these Africa n
diasporic innovations and their survival of American racism is particularly apparent
in the work of African -American women. As Nakano Glenn (1992) argues for the
{22
EGLASH
case of service workers, gender and race cannot be reduced to "add itive oppressions," and must be seen as the site of an interlocking or relationa l dynamic. For
example, both the traditional work of African women (Hay and Sticher 1984). and
specific labor locations for women of all ethnicities in America have contributed to
the frequency of their involvement in biomedica lly related fields. From 1876 to
1969, over ha If of the Black wom en science Ph. D.s have been in bio-sciences (Jay
1971). and the Black women inventor, Clara Fry, special ized in hea lth -care tools
(James 1989, p. 80). The most relevant exa mple in cybernetics is the work of
Patricia Cowings, who makes cyborgs for NASA. In an interview in th is volume,
Cowings discusses her use of analog biofeedback as a method for reducing motion
sickness in space, and notes several complex interactions between her identity as a
Black wom an and her successful career in cybernetics. Yet she has distanced herself
from the cla ims for any simple mimesis of "African cultu re" in her construction of
cybernetics. The contribut ions of African-American women to what has become
modern cybernetics should be seen as a form of resistance that cannot be reduced
to either the restoration of tradition or a relocation to un iversa lism.
Black cybernetics in the postmodern era
The rejection of cybernetic roma nticism by radical Africa n-Americans was no
longer necessary by the mid-70s, when youth sub-culture had tu rned from hippy
naturalism to the urban affin ity of punk-rock and hip-hop (Ha ll 1980, Hebdige
1987, hooks 1990). Thus the popular rap group Digital Underground displays an
appreciation of cybernetics which is polit ica lly oppositiona l but no longer primitivist or naturalizing. While the impact of new cybernetic technologies on AfricanAmerican commun ities has been part of a long history of labor displacement (Jones
1985, Hacker 1979). environmenta l racism, and other subjugations, here we can
also see some hints for the appropriation of technology in new configurations. For
example, the fa mous "scratch" sound in hip-hop came about when the normal ly
silent back-cue of the dee-jay's turnt able was amplified and moved in time to the
beat, thus changing a passive reproduction into an active synthetic instrument;
tu rning tables on the turntable.
To what extent is this subcu ltural cybernetics merely "bricolage"- reassembling
available components for a practica l goa l- and to what extent is it a deeper understanding of abstract principles? First, we should note that "official" cybernetics is
both; it used pre-existing abstract principles- feedback, information theory, etc.-for
pra ctical application in a new assemblage. Indeed, the divisions between bricolage
and science in general are far more permeable than we have been led to believe. This
point has been admirably made in Sherry Turkle's study of bricolage prog ramm ing
styles in the hacker com munity, where she also notes that the interaction between
popular cu lture and the scientific community is an active source of ideas in both
di rections.
Let us pursue this question a bit further. Setting aside both the definition of cybernetics and its interaction with popu lar cultu re, what kinds of technologi-
cal capability does the vernacular cybernetics of the
African-American community represent? One clear illustration
can be found in the striking utilization of the ana log/di gital dua lism for the production of musical signifiers in the divisions between reggae and rap music. As previously noted, reggae is more aligned with th e naturalizing trope of modern ity, and
23 }
AFRICAN INFLUENCES IN CYBERNETICS
rap with the artificial affinities of the postmodern. In reggae we see the language
of analog representation. "Rastaman Vibration" lets us "tune into de riddem;" we
become resonant nodes linked by the waveforms of a polyphonic beat. In rap music
it is digital communication that signifies cultural identity. Natural harmonies are
broken up by arbitrary soundbites and vocal collage, and the melody is subordinated to a newly spliced code; a mutant reprogramming of the social software.
From the viewpoint of cultural studies, the utilization of the analog/digital division
in reggae vs. rap does indeed count as a technological capability. But would it also
count from the view of a cybernetics engineer? The use of the scratch sound mentioned earlier is associated with the birth of rap, but phonograph records are analog
devices. Similarly, reggae makes use of an array of both analog and digital audio
equipment. Isn't the use of technological language by African diasporic subcultures
merely linguistic play? The answer is no.
Rap
Fractal Dimension
Source
Despite (in fact because of) the wide
1.246
Why is that? (Boogie Down Productions) assortment of apparatus, rap and reggae
1.219
Hold Your Own (Kid Frost)
artists have created a technology for
1.170
Eric B for President (Eric B)
signal processing that would indeed
1.274
The Bridge (M.C. Shan)
meet the specificities of current cyber1.259
Supersonic (JJ Fad)
1.186
Queen of Royal Badness (Queen Latifah) netics engineering. The evidence for this
70% Dis (M.C. Lyte)
1.158
begins in the work of Richard Voss, who
first
measured the fractal dimension for
Reggae
various types of acoustic communica1.454
Many Rivers to Cross (Jimmy Cliff)
tion in 1977. Voss discovered that the
1.286
Trench Town Rock (Bob Marley)
1.341
Pressure Drop (Jimmy Cliff)
physical arbitrariness of digital signifiers
1.329
Rivers of Babylon (Jimmy Cliff)
meant that the waveforms of digital
1.285
You Can Get It (Jimmy Cliff)
communication were a succession of
1.386
Sing Our Own Song (Judy Mowatt)
fairly random signals, overall creati ng a
1.374
Rock Me (Judy Mowatt)
"white-noise spectrum." In analog waveFigure 8: Fractal dimension differences in Rap vs. Reggae
forms, on the other hand, long-term
changes in information were reflected in long-term signal changes. Since there were
similar information changes on many scales, the result was a fractal structure, or
"1/F noise spectrum," in the case of analog communication. Thus the waveform created by pitch changes in speech, which are primarily due to the phonetic differences
between words, tends toward a white-noise spectrum, while the pitch signal of
music shows the fractal structure of analog representation.
Voss (1988) later showed that this relationship held for all types of music, both
instrumental and vocal, with samples ranging from Indian ragas to Russian folksongs. My own studies (Eglash 1993) show that while reggae music also has this
fractal structure, rap is t h e only music (aside from avant-garde experiments such as those of John Cage) wh ich violates t h is r ule (figure 8). The
reason for this is the intentiona l violation of analog representation by digital coding, a violation that invokes rap artists' oppositional stance, but also offers a positive outlook in the possibilities for their cybernetic innovation. Moreover, the
rap-reggae fusions that are now becoming increasingly popular (e.g. ragamuffin)
have characteristics which indicate that their signals are likely to average a fractal
dimension value half-way between the two. This precision of control over an
abstract cybernetic principle indicates that it is not simply a matter of the adoption
of terminology; African diasporic identity is expressed in these examples through a
{ 24
conscious manipulation of complex signal characteristics.
Applications to science education
One might think that such rich vernacular cybernetics
would be an obvious resource for improving science ed ucation, but such opportunities have been ignored . For exam ple, The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported in Anderson (1989)
suggests that Black high-school students have cultural barriers to their participation in science, based on studies which supposedly indicate "fewer science-related
experiences" (p. 45). But the examples of such experiences-planting a seed, watching an egg hatch-a re primarily naturalistic; the artificial realms of video games
and audio technology, which are surely "science-related," are completely excluded.
Even more disturbing is the claim of "cultural barriers" based on reports that "a
substantial portion of Blacks did not have confidence in the ability of science to
solve most or some of our problems," and that they were "less convinced of the
benefits of science to society." Here a potential route to involving Black youth in
science education-by recognizing their critique as an intelligent understanding of
science history-is instead dismissed as ignorance.
Similarly, an ideology of individualism is persistently portrayed as a neutral, universal
characteristic of scientific style and rational thought (e.g., Pearson 1985, p. 174)
which African-Americans must adopt. But like the turn to collective computation in
cybernetics, collective scientific production can often be a robust path to success.
Both this obligatory individualism, and the previously noted naturalistic assumptions,
operate in the NAEP's report that African-American youth "did not believe so strongly
as their national peers that individuals' actions can make a difference in solving societal problems." Reluctance toward "using an economy car, separati ng trash for recycling, or turning off lights" are symptoms of this pathology (p. 48). A better
un-derstanding of African-American cultural connections to science would suggest
that such individualistic approaches are neither universal nor uniquely beneficial.
Conclusion
In summary: the history of African interactions with cybernetics does not revolve
around a sing le essence. It includes white engineers bringing ideas from Africa and
Black engineers who make no claims about inspiration from any ethnic tradition. A
portrait of the multivariate dynam ics between the African diaspora and the information sciences-from the celebration of popular culture to the struggle of minority
scientists-must be brought together with an understanding of the lived experience
of people, from a multiplicity of ethnic configurations, who have found themselves
fused, networked and oddly interfaced in the evolution of cyborg society.
Notes
1. This was combated in different ways by structuralists and post-structura lists. According to Levi-Strauss,
the arbitrariness of non-western symbolics (e.g., a fox sta nds for stupidity in one mythology and cunning
in another) proves that they are just as digital as Europeans, with the exception of the ora l/literate
dichotomy. Derrida, while agreeing with this position, takes Levi-Strauss to task for retaining the oral/literate dichotomy, and details how speech is just writing in air instead of paper-thus again using digitality
as the justification for epistemological equivalence. Tragically, poststructuralists have adopted Rousseau's
assumption that analog representation is not as abstract as digital.
2. That's not to say that the division is uniform (e.g., occasional use of digital motifs in reggae), nor that
there are not insta nces of the third alternative, analog representation, on either side. For example, while
Monique Wittig's The Lesbian Body used digital collage to create a European-centered self-birthing, Audre
25}
\
AFRICAN INFLUENCES IN CYBERNETICS
Lorde's lesbian self-birthing in Zami was equally recursive, but based on analog representation.
EGLASH
Simon and Schuster, 1988.
Perczel, C. F. "Ethiopian Crosses at the Portland Art Museum." African Arts 12, no. 3, 1975.
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