Semiotics of Female Dance Group Masks and Costumes in Cross River State

This study examined the semiotic structures embedded in female dance group masks and costumes in Cross River State, Nigeria, situating them within broader indigenous performance traditions historically influenced by institutions such as Ekpe and Ekpo societies. Although these institutions are predominantly associated with male masquerade systems, female dance traditions such as Ekombi and Abang represent equally significant cultural systems in which visual and kinetic elements function as structured communicative codes. The study adopted a qualitative research design based on visual documentary analysis of recorded performances obtained from online video repositories and a key informant interview with a cultural custodian. These sources provided complementary interpretive material for understanding how meaning is produced in performance contexts. The analysis was guided by Saussurean and Peircean semiotic frameworks, which enabled a layered interpretation of costume, movement, and adornment as systems of signs. Findings revealed that female dance group masks and costumes functioned as complex semiotic systems through which identity, spirituality, femininity, ecological knowledge, and communal memory were communicated. The study further demonstrated that meaning was not inherent in material forms but socially constructed through shared cultural codes activated during performance. The study concluded that female dance group performance traditions in Cross River State constitute a deeply structured yet underexplored domain of African visual semiotics and cultural communication.