Yesterday, I featured a little bit of the history of the African Renaissance Monument – its building and funding process, the way it looms over the city of Dakar, and the president’s role in its controversy and construction. So what do the locals think of this towering, bronze structure?
The answer: not much. Though Senegal is a fairly liberal Muslim country in some aspects, modesty is still appreciated, and the fact that the woman in the statue is pretty scantily clad is a source of embarrassment for many traditional Senegalese. And much like Christianity warns against worshipping idols, the Islamic faith avoids extravagant representations of the human form – the statue obviously doesn’t adhere to this rule. Women in Dakar were also put off by the way the female figure in the statue appears to be dominated by the man, dragged on by him in what many consider to be a subservient, sexist way.
Combine these feelings with strong opposition to spending such a huge sum of money on a largely unneeded monument, and the statue is viewed unfavorably among locals, to say the least. Protests accompanied its dedication in April 2010.
Rachael Cullins is a twentysomething American girl living in Dakar, Senegal, with her husband and two dogs. She blogs about her adventures in Senegal and travels elsewhere in West Africa. She will reside in Dakar until summer 2013, when she and her family will move to another foreign post as part of her husband’s career with the U.S. government. In addition to West Africa, she has traveled to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and Costa Rica and plans to continually add to that list.
