The Iconoclastic Impulse in African Art History

FAIN: FA-57267-13

Zoe Sara Strother
Columbia University (New York, NY 10027-7922)

Monuments and works of art often come to a violent end in Africa, whether burned, buried, smashed, or drowned. This book-length project argues that such destruction (or iconoclasm) is fundamental to art history in Africa and the agents overwhelmingly African, despite preconceptions to the contrary. The text seeks to recover this history in Central and West Africa, based on nearly four years of fieldwork and extensive archival research in Great Britain, France, and Belgium. In particular, the manuscript will argue that the mutilation or destruction of art objects during the 20th century served to lay the foundation for a modern identity formation. The research for this project is complete. I am applying for support for sabbatical leave in 2013 to devote myself exclusively to the completion of a book manuscript with five chapters, of which one is already complete.