Ntozake Visit and Reflecting on Mother/Daughterhood

In reflecting upon our visit with Ntozake, I find myself thinking of mothering. Although that may not have been the main topic of discussion for our conversations with her, I cannot help but think of my own mother after the visit. Ntozake’s work often centers a type of motherhood, not always biological in nature, and after meeting her, I felt a need to call my mom and talk to her about my experience. When I called my mother, after sending her a few photos and a video of Ntozake addressing my mom, her only response was “You are blessed”.

For me, my experience meeting with Ntozake centered me back into the ways that my mother first introduced me to her work and the conversations that I have had with my own mother surrounding identity and the ways that our identities change our experiences in the world. My own mother influences the way I see Ntozake’s work and the way I understand my own lived experiences, so I wanted to share this experience with her as much as possible, because I know if she was granted with the opportunity to meet with Ntozake so openly she would utilize and appreciate it fully.

It is also important to note that although her work focuses on motherhood and ideas of mothering often, it is not just content of her work that highlights ideas of motherhood, but also the ways in which her work is intergenerational and can bring common ground to “mothers” and “daughters”, not only biological ones, but relationships that are created from commonality and experience.