Stanford Humanities Center
Elizabeth Jacob is a PhD candidate in African history at Stanford University. Her current project explores gender, family, and politics in West Africa, with a focus on Côte d'Ivoire. Other research interests include pan-Africanism, decolonization, and feminist history and theory. She received her BA in history and french and francophone studies from Columbia University.
SHC Project
Women, Gender, and the Politics of Public Motherhood in Côte d’Ivoire, 1893–1983
Queen mothers and women warriors figure prominently in West African tradition. Yet in modern political systems, African women’s influence often appears marginal. Elizabeth Jacob's dissertation examines this apparent gulf between “tradition” and “modernity” by tracing the history of public motherhood in Côte d’Ivoire. It narrates the fraught relationship between gender, motherhood, and politics, demonstrating how maternal authority emerged as both a site of female power and a locus of political contestation over the course of the 20th century.
