It depicts a doll made to look like a "typical" or stereotypical American black woman, but strangely carrying a broom in one hand and a shotgun in the other. It is placed in a box decorated with syrup labels. Her work began with found objects arranged in boxes and these items mainly reflect her mixed ancestry (Hillstrom, 1999: 582).
1.4) Theoretical Foundation.
Ethnic Identity.
The ethnic identity is in essence a past orientated form of identity, embedded the cultural heritage of the individual or group. This identity contrasts with a sense of belonging linked with citizenship within a political state, or present orientated affiliations to specific groups demanding professional, occupational, or class loyalties (De Vos, 1995: 34). Ethnicity is symbolically represented in self conscious variations in languages and customs. It is symbolised in the ritual practices which are its affirmation, particularly by dramatic symbolic representation of a past. To know one's origin is to have not only a sense provance, but perhaps more importantly, a sense continuity in which one finds to some degree the personal and social meaning of human existence. It is to know why one behaves and acts in accordance with custom. Concern with origins is a concern with parentage. To know who they are individual and groups look back to their progenitors human conflict emphasised contrast and so out of unity springs continuity (De Vos, 1995: 67). Betye Saar inspects her roots by looking at popular representations of the black female in America and incorporates her own ideas by turning the woman (Aunt Jamaima) into a warrior with modern western weapons in her hands. In Coronation of Musaa Moolo Casamace, Southern Senegal one can easily spot a traditional and primitive infuence on Mbaye's style, he depicts a local coronation scene with such comfort that it is easy to believe he identifies with his work in at least a cultural sense.
