Quiz #90Answer the question and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing. Post your reply to the comment box. Must include your e-mail to be eligible to win. Winners choose their own book from our Prize Bucket.
According to Alice Walker, what does the name “Mammy” come from?
Evelyn-
but I got that information from a book Alice wrote called Living by the Word. It's on page 58.
Jill-
Alice Walker contended that "Mammy was named for her mammary glands - the body parts that indicate her primary caretaking role." Other writers note that the image of the mammy does relate to a figure in African mythology but the name "mammy" itself is derived from, as indicated above, mammary glands. See Alice Walker in Ms. Magazine, May/June 1994. For more on Walker and also for info on other contentions about mammys see the book "Mothers and Daughters: Connection, Empowerment, and Transformation" by Andrea O'Reilly and Sharon Abbey.
Thank you both.
6 comments:
Alice Walker said that "Mammy" is originally an African word (Ghanaian version is "mame").
Evelyn,
Can you provide a reference link? Sorry, I should have asked this initially.
Thanks,
I don't want to win, just wanted to answer...but I got that information from a book Alice wrote called Living by the Word. It's on page 58.
Here's a link online to the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=m9vSViOPwN8C&dq=alice+walker+and+mammy&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Thanks, I have another source but I don't own so I needed to ask.
No worries on the drawing.
Evelyn and Susan,
Alice Walker contended that "Mammy was named for her mammary glands - the body parts that indicate her primary caretaking role." Other writers note that the image of the mammy does relate to a figure in African mythology but the name "mammy" itself is derived from, as indicated above, mammary glands. See Alice Walker in Ms. Magazine, May/June 1994. For more on Walker and also for info on other contentions about mammys see the book "Mothers and Daughters: Connection, Empowerment, and Transformation" by Andrea O'Reilly and Sharon Abbey.
Jill,
Thanks for weighing. Thank Maude, we don't have to rely on me. :-)
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