Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas

by Henry John Drewal, Marilyn Houlberg (Contributor), Bogumil Jewsiewicki (Contributor)

This book traces the visual cultures and histories of Mami Wata and other African water divinities. Mami Wata , often portrayed with the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish, is at once beautiful, jealous, generous, seductive, and potentially deadly. A water spirit widely known across Africa and the African diaspora, her origins are said to lie "overseas," although she has been thoroughly incorporated into local beliefs and practics. She can bring good fortune in the form of money, and her power increased between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries, the era of growing international trade between Africa and the rest of the world. Her name, which may be translated as "Mother Water" or "Mistress Water," is pidgin English, a language developed to lubricate trade. Africans forcibly carried across the Atlantic as part of that "trade" brought with them their beliefs and practices honoring Mami Wata and other ancestral deities.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, Art, Spirituality

228 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2008

Reviews

[Jewell]

A brilliant book that explores the evolution of the water goddess from Africa and throughout the diaspora. I saw the exhibit at the Smithsonian and it was GORGEOUS.

[Amy Noell]

Hey, is that Amy L. Noell in print?? This catalogue accompanies the new exhibition curated by one of my professors. I have a (very small) essay in the book. The show is all about Mami Wata, that ubiquitous water goddess who still travels the globe in the iconography of African, American (in the true broad sense of Americas), and Indian cultural groups.

[Lantz]

An excellent non-fiction overview of Mami Wata in African Art. If you have responsibility for a library you should have this book on your shelf. This book documents part of a rich heritage of cultural history that comes out of Africa. I for one thought it was all from the Greeks, but alas I did not know what I did not know. A real contribution to our knowledge of cultural heritage.

[Cicely]

This book coincided with an exhibition at the Fowler Museum of art. Many art book as way to dry to actually read. Not this one. Fascinating!

[Sean]

Fascinating.