Detail View: The AMICA Library: Staff

Luba staffs often contain many layers of meaning, the most obscure perhaps known only to the bearer. The staff itself is sometimes thought of as a "map" of territory, the decorated flat areas representing political centers and the undecorated shaft uninhabited territory. Movement of groups of Luba, or of historic personages, can be read in the designs that connect one part of the staff to another.

The female figure atop this staff emphasizes the importance of women in Luba society, while the distinctive pattern of decorated scars on her abdomen makes visible her cultural identity as Luba. The paddle-like shape of the staff refers to the migration of the Luba people to their present locations in the Congo using canoes to move along the great rivers of the region. These special staffs were important symbols of legitimacy and power and were only used by chieftans.