XVIIIᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Guinze were iron currency objects used by the Loma, Kissi, Konianke, Mende and Kouranko in parts of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Their significance extended beyond exchange: they also protected houses and land and served as resting places for the spirits of the deceased and ancestors. The passage presents them as a multifunctional cultural object rather than as a narrowly economic instrument.
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Le récit
Among the Loma, Kissi, Konianke, Mende and Kouranko, iron objects known as guinze combined several functions that modern categories might separate. They circulated as coins, but their meaning was not exhausted by monetary exchange. The same objects also participated in domestic protection, territorial guardianship and relations with the dead.
Guinze were associated with the protection of houses and land. This role placed them within the practical and symbolic organization of inhabited space, where material objects could also act as safeguards. Their use therefore linked economic life with household security and the possession or protection of land.
The objects additionally served as resting places for the spirits of the departed and ancestors. This funerary and ancestral dimension made guinze part of a wider religious world in which objects could mediate between living communities and the dead. Treating them as only coins would consequently obscure their social and spiritual importance.
XVIIIᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Guinze were iron currency objects used by the Loma, Kissi, Konianke, Mende and Kouranko in parts of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Their significance extended beyond exchange: they also protected houses and land and served as resting places for the spirits of the deceased and ancestors. The passage presents them as a multifunctional cultural object rather than as a narrowly economic instrument.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Among the Loma, Kissi, Konianke, Mende and Kouranko, iron objects known as guinze combined several functions that modern categories might separate. They circulated as coins, but their meaning was not exhausted by monetary exchange. The same objects also participated in domestic protection, territorial guardianship and relations with the dead.
Guinze were associated with the protection of houses and land. This role placed them within the practical and symbolic organization of inhabited space, where material objects could also act as safeguards. Their use therefore linked economic life with household security and the possession or protection of land.
The objects additionally served as resting places for the spirits of the departed and ancestors. This funerary and ancestral dimension made guinze part of a wider religious world in which objects could mediate between living communities and the dead. Treating them as only coins would consequently obscure their social and spiritual importance.