ABSTRACT
The topic of art as contest in intercultural settings has been touched upon by some anthropologists but, strangely, has not yet received the sustained attention it merits. Some indigenes accommodated to the change, without simply emulating the model of themselves set by the colonizers, by exploiting Western imagery for local ends, transforming it in the process. Caricature and mimicry are the major modes, for the white man was not seen as superior for long: The natives began to know him better, and ceased devising tales which would explain his superiority. In colonial Africa for instance, British officials held that blacks were incapable of creating great art. Various nationalist groups have attempted to adopt comparable hegemonic strategies. Indigenous constraints on individual expression may be real nonetheless, and in times of flux and development they may well be internally contested.
