Brett-Smith, Sarah

Department: Department of Art History
Position: Professor
Research Interests: Art of West Africa
Ph.D., Yale University, 1982
Phone: (848) 932-1326
Email: brettsmi@rutgers.edu
Office Hours: On Leave Fall, 2020
Office Location: Room 008E

Biographical Information:

Professor Brett-Smith recently completed a book on Bamana mud cloth or bògòlanfini. This monograph is designed to balance her previous work on the production of ritual sculpture by Bamana men with an in-depth investigation of female art-making. The book, The Silence of the Women: Bamana Mud Cloths (5 Continents Editions, 2014) explores the history of the mud cloth tradition, the technique of manufacture, the symbolism of the designs on the cloth, and the important role of mud cloth at critical moments -- excision, marriage, childbirth and death -- in women's lives. Her other publications include: The Making of Bamana Sculpture: Creativity and Gender, Cambridge University Press, 1994 -- winner of the Arnold J. Rubin Award for the most outstanding book on African Art, 1993, awarded by the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, and winner of Honorable Mention for the 1995 Victor Turner Prize, awarded by the Society for Humanistic Anthropology, The Artfulness of M'Fa Jigi: An Interview with Nyamaton Diarra (University of Wisconsin Press, 1996), and "The Mouth of the Komo," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 31 (1997): 71. A download of the introduction to this book can be found on Academia.edu under Dr. Brett-Smith's page. In addition earlier articles and the introduction to Dr. Brett-Smith's 1994 book, The Making of Bamana Sculpture, can also be downloaded from this page.

SBS tata at Koumi

Sarah Brett-Smith and the mud cloth artist, Salimata Kone

Visiting the pond at Koumi, the source of the mud used by Salimata in dyeing cloth.

circa 1978

Select Publications:

Books

The Silence of the Women. Bamana Mud Cloths. Milan: Five Continents Press, 2014.

The Making of Bamana Sculpture: Creativity and Gender. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Won the Arnold J. Rubin award for the most outstanding book on African Art, 1993-1995, awarded by the Arts Council of the African Studies Association. Honorable Mention for the 1995 Victor Turner Prize awarded by the Society for Humanistic Anthropology.

The Artfulness of M’Fa Jigi: An Interview with Nyamaton Diarra. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1996

Articles

“When is an Object finished: The Creation of the Invisible Among the Bamana of Mali,” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, no. 39, Spring 2001, pp. 102-136.

"The Mouth of the Komo," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, no. 31, Spring 1997, pp. 71-96.

"Bamanakan ka Gelen" or "The Voice of the Bamana is Hard," Art Tribal 2, 1987, pp. 3-15.

"Symbolic Blood: Cloths for Excised Women," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 1982, 15-31.

"The Poisonous Child," Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, no. 6, Autumn 1983, pp. 47-64.

Current Interests & Research:

Bamana (Bambara) sculpture: gender and art making
--The symbolism of Bamana, Dogon, Malinke, Minianka, Senufo and Bobo textiles
--Surrealism and "primitive" art.

Undergraduate Classes Taught:

Introduction to Oceanic, African and Pre-Columbian Art
--Arts of West Africa; Arts of Central Africa
--Pre-Columbian and Meso-American Art

Short Bio: Professor Brett-Smith’s most recent book is The Silence of the Women: Bamana Mud Cloths (Five Continents Press, 2014). This fully illustrated volume documents an in-depth field investigation of female dyeing that balances her previous work on the production of ritual sculpture by Bamana men. The Silence of the Women discusses the technique of painting cloth with mud, the symbolism of the designs on the cloth, and the important role of ritually charged mud cloth at critical moments -- excision, marriage, childbirth and death -- in women's lives. Read from beginning to end it describes the entirety of women’s lives among the Bamana – difficult, harsh in many respects, but also characterized by great affection for other women and respect for those who have achieved a deep level of knowledge. Professor Brett-Smith’s publications also include: The Making of Bamana Sculpture: Creativity and Gender, Cambridge University Press, 1994 -- winner of the Arnold J. Rubin Award for the most outstanding book on African Art, 1993, awarded by the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, and winner of Honorable Mention for the 1995 Victor Turner Prize, awarded by the Society for Humanistic Anthropology, The Artfulness of M'Fa Jigi: An Interview with Nyamaton Diarra (University of Wisconsin Press, 1996), and "The Mouth of the Komo," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 31 (1997): 71. Dr. Brett-Smith is currently working on an article dealing with concepts of personhood and the “Demoiselles D’Avignon.” Early articles and the introduction to Dr. Brett-Smith's 1994 book, The Making of Bamana Sculpture, can be downloaded from Dr. Brett-Smith’s page on Academia.edu.