Women Washing Themselves, Senegal, 1780s
Caption, negresses se lavants (women washing themselves); two women, one carries infant on her back. Soon after giving birth, Villeneuve writes, a woman washes herself and her child in cold water, after which she places the child on a mat and covers it with a loincloth. From the 12th or 15th day, a woman will carry the child on her back, keeping it there almost all day long (pp. 118-119). Villeneuve lived in the Senegal region for about two years in the mid-to-late 1780s. The engravings in his book, he writes, were made from drawings that were mostly done on the spot during his African residence (vol. 1, pp. v-vi). The same illustration appears in color in the English translation of Villeneuve; see Frederic Shoberl (ed.), Africa; containing a description of the manners and customs, with some historical particulars of the Moors of the Zahara . . . (London, 1821), vol. 3, facing p. 81.
Image Title
Women Washing Themselves, Senegal, 1780s
RegID
SI-OB-615
Date
1780-1790
Title
Women Washing Themselves, Senegal, 1780s
Source
Renè Claude Geoffroy de Villeneuve, L'Afrique, ou histoire, moeurs, usages et coutumes des africains: le Sènègal (Paris, 1814), vol. 4, facing p. 119. (Copy in Special Collections, University of Virginia Library)
Language
French
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Western Savanna
Reproduced In
Renè Claude Geoffroy de Villeneuve, L'Afrique, ou histoire, moeurs, usages et coutumes des africains: le Sènègal (Paris, 1814), vol. 4, facing p. 119.
Researchers
Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
26-Aug-10
Identifier
VILE-119