sexism and the construction of reality: an Afro‐American example

The literature on the art of the Suriname Maroons depicts men as active artists producing decorative woodcarvings as gifts of love for their women, who are passive connoisseurs. This paper explores the ways by which Maroon women use their own arts to affirm their social relationships and to reflect on them. It also traces misconceptions about Maroon women and their arts to notions of gender that are held by ethnographers and by the Maroons themselves. [Afro-America, gender, art, song, women].