Traditional Igbo Healing

Igbo traditional healer Oscar Mokeme dons a mask and clothing of a elder healer and dances in a possession trance to recorded Igbo music as he perceives and tries to clear illness from people at the presentation.
Held at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, January 23, 2012

Oscar Mokeme the Director of the Museum of African Culture discusses how Igbo masks and sculpture is used to communicate and teach. Presented at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, January 23, 2012.

Oscar Mokeme is the founder and executive director for the Museum of African Culture in Portland, Maine. Born in Nigeria to Igbo parents, he apprenticed traditional Igbo healing medicine, studied business administration at the Oxford School of Business in Oxford, England, earned  an undergraduate degree in Humanities at Southern New Hampshire University, and earned a Master's degree in Psychology at Union Institute. He is the recipient of several awards and grants, from the Maine Arts Commission, Maine Humanities Council, Maine Community Foundation, and the United Way.

In addition to preserving, interpreting, and curating all the Museum's exhibitions, Mokeme practices traditional pluralistic trans-cultural Igbo complementary therapies and healing rituals. He hosts workshops, performances, and lectures on African arts and culture for educational institutions and organizations.