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Blood Flowers: How Beauty Colonized Africa
Nov
6
2026
11:30am - 1:00pm
On Campus Event - Carpenter Library, Carpenter Library Room B21
Most of the fresh roses in Europe come from East Africa, but sellers go to some length to conceal the origin of these roses. This talk examines why they would do that. On the one hand, roses have been associated with Africa since late antiquity; on the other, roses were used in the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment as examples of abstract beauty, whose origins were precisely beside the point. What happened to these ideals when roses began to be cultivated as a cash crop in the African postcolony.
Sponsored by Literatures in English, Class of 1902 Lecture Fund, Africana Studies, Classics, History, Political Science, & International Studies
Audience: Public
Type(s): Lecture
Submitted by:
Contact:
Jamie Taylor
Bryn Mawr College welcomes the full participation of all individuals in all aspects of campus life. Should you wish to request a disability-related accommodation for this event, please contact the event sponsor/coordinator. Requests should be made as early as possible.