Chokwe masks and Franciscan missionaries in Sandoa, Belgian Congo, ca. 1948

It is not widely known that, in the first half of the 20th century, Belgian missionaries df the Order of Saint Francis gathered important data on Chok we peoples, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This artic le discusses a selection of mostly unpublished field photographs of Chokwe masks, made by Father Marchal in the village of Sandoa, Katanga Province, i n 1948. After a brief history of Franciscan missionary activity in the form er Belgian Congo, an attempt is made to identify the different mask charact ers shown in Marchal's photographs. The central section of the article exam ines a detailed report by Marchal's fellow missionary Father Borgonjon on a Chokwe initiation ritual for adolescent boys, which constitutes an importa nt context for masking. The conclusion addresses some methodological questi ons in relation to the use of missionary photographs as anthropological and art historical documents. [Demacratic Republic of the Congo, Chokwe, masks , missionaries, photography].