Sahelian leather amulets (gris-gris, safi)

Sub-Saharan Africa: the tradition

African protective objects are extraordinarily varied, but a shared idea runs through many of them: power (Kongo nkisi, Bamana nyama, Yoruba ase) can be gathered, packed into a container and directed by a specialist. Across the Sahel, Islamic written amulets merged with older practice to create the leather-wrapped gris-gris worn by millions. Ethiopia developed its own Christian magic scrolls, written by debtera clerics. Many objects were collected by missionaries, soldiers and ethnographers in the colonial era, sometimes by force, and their presence in European museums is now debated and, in some cases, being returned.