Mothers of Invention: Gender, Strategic Essentialism, and Women's Genital Power in West Africa

Across West Africa, postmenopausal women, whom Laura Grillo calls the “Mothers,” have expressed outrage at male political mismanagement by exposing their breasts and genitalia. This essay explores the contributions of and tensions within Grillo's analysis of the Mothers' history of protest, referencing Grillo's superb ethnographic and historical account.