111 transcend yet obviously arise from the biological mother-child unit.1 My fascination began fi fty years ago on my fi rst fi eldtrip among the Igbo in eastern Nigeria. By a roadside I was surprised yet delighted to see a larger-than-life sun-dried clay sculpture of Ala, the earth goddess, with two children at her sides, front and center in an mbari house populated with other fi gures (fi g. 2). This powerful goddess is the mother of other gods, of plants, animals, and of humans. She is the font of morality and guardian of Igbo traditions as well: a cultural genetrix. When I later learned that the deity Ancient Mother nurtures male initiates with “the milk of knowledge” among some Senufo groups (fi g. 1), I could not let this subject go unexplored. This paper focuses on several African cultures that have devoted extraordinary thought, ritual activity, and artistic energy to maternity and its images. The preoccupations examined here occur in three widely separated parts of the continent: southern Nigeria among the Igbo; the Western Sudan among the Bamana and Senufo; and the Congo watershed among Pende and Luba peoples. In all these cultures motherhood blossoms into layered concepts, powers, and metaphors. Sculptured and painted versions, uses, and interpretations of mother-and-child images clearly vary greatly in different places. Yet even where they are prominent or even dominant, local beliefs also recognize a balanced female/male reciprocity underlying biological life and culture. In some cases, as among the Owerri Igbo and Pende, our subject is clearly ascendant,2 whereas the Bamana Gwan association emphasizes male/ female reciprocity yet places greater stress on the female, probably because its primary mission is fertility and population increase. The Luba combine the genders in female fi gures, only a few of which are maternities. They produce few male statues. COMPLEXITY OF MATERNITY IN AFRICA By Herbert M. Cole FIG. 3 (above left): Senufo mother and child. Photo: Herbert M. Cole, 1978. FIG. 4 (left): Ala (Earth) and children (detail) in the mbari to Obiala in Ndiama Obube Ulakwo, Imo State, Nigeria. Photo: Herbert M. Cole, 1966. FIG. 5 (above): Mbari in Nguma, showing sun, moon, and rainbow paintings on wall above Mamy Wata. Photo: Herbert M. Cole, 1966. FIG. 6 (below): Termite mound. Southern Nigeria. Photo: Herbert M. Cole, 1966. FIG. 7 (right): Pounding “yam.” Photo: Herbert M. Cole, 1966.
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