The Politics of Maternity: Mother & Child Imagery in African Arts

Dr. Herbert M. Cole

This talk samples the forms and meanings of 3000 years of compelling African Mother and Child imagery. Spiritually or politically significant in nearly all cases, the maternity icon has diverse roles in such realms as education, divination, social protest, and cosmology. The talk will contrast earlier traditional patriarchal images, such as the Queen Mother from Cameroon (left) with contemporary art, by mothers, that explores "maternal subjectivity"—what it means to bear and raise children in a male-dominated culture.