20 May Sacred Waters: Arts and Ecologies of Mami Wata and Other Aquatic Divinities in Africa
Henry Drewal (Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Thursday, May 20, 2010 / 4:00 PM
McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
Arts for sacred waters in Africa are ancient and widespread. They express deeply-held beliefs and practices about the sanctity and power of water. Mami Wata, Pidgin English for “Mother Water,” is the name of a widely worshiped deity, as well as the generic term for a vast “school” of water deities across much of the African continent. Mami Wata’s many attributes and roles are as fluid as water itself — only the frames of history and culture can give her specificity. This talk explores some of the faces and engagements of Mami Wata in selected environments — cultural and ecological.
Sponsored by the Idee Levitan IHC Endowed Lecture Series, IHC’s Oil+Water series and the Community Environmental Council.