Wax Prints of the Sahel features color photographs that depict original commemorative cotton cloths.  Messages written on the cloths serve a griot function that aims to entertain and to educate the reader-viewer.    Each cloth illustrates how commemorative wax prints are a means of preserving African cultural history for future generations. 

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Boyd painstakingly amassed and curated the cloths from African countries as narratives of the human experience. Dr. Boyd’s book constitutes a seminal work that has interdisciplinary appeal for learners and scholars.

Renée Larrier, Professor Emerita, Rutgers.

Dr. Boyd’s book broadens the study of commemorative images, an important genre in art and visual culture.

Andrew Gurstelle, Academic Director, Museum of Anthropology, Wake Forest University.

The remarkable array of prints in Boyd’s unique book demonstrates that African textiles have functioned as means of communication and information-sharing as well as chronicles of historical events within the local culture and in the world.

Joyce Hope Scott, Clinical Professor of African American Studies

Debra Boyd presents the reader with lush color photographs of commemorative cotton cloths produced in the African Sahel, one of the most bio- and culturally diverse areas in the world.

Dolan Hubbard, Professor and Chairperson (retired) Dept. of English, Morgan State University

About the Author

Debra S. Boyd (-Buggs) is a professor of French and Francophone Literatures. A recipient of multiple Fulbright scholarships, she has taught and held administrative positions at universities in the United States and in Africa. Boyd is the co-editor of Camel Tracks: Critical Perspectives on Sahelian Literatures and numerous articles and the Genius of the Sahel documentary film series.

Category: Contemporary Art, Politics/AFRICA                                     

Trim size: 6x9"

Page count: 154