The Enduring Appeal of the African Matriarch
By Arthur Mwenkanya Katabalwa There are moments in a nation's life when a public figure ceases to be merely a person and becomes a mirror. People see in them not simply an individual, but a reflection of what they long for, what they have lost, or perhaps what they fear is slipping away. Leaving aside the legal proceedings now before the courts for Dr. Miria Matembe (pictured), what has fascinated me is not the case itself but the public's response to the woman. Social media has overflowed with comments that are remarkably similar in sentiment: "I wish she were my mother." Others have called her our auntie , our grandmother , or simply a real African woman . That is a remarkable thing to say about a seventy-three-year-old woman in an age intoxicated with youth. It tells us something profound—not necessarily about Dr. Matembe herself, but about ourselves. We are looking for our mothers. Not our biological mothers, but something much older and larger: the African mat...
