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Mama Benz: An African Market Woman
| Length: | 48 min |
| Released: | 1994 |
| Ages: |
College Adult |
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The colorful markets of Africa are often dominated by strong older women. They control prices and determine who can buy their goods. These imperious women rule the market and are treated with deference. Thanks to their business acumen, they have amassed a great deal of wealth.
Such entrepreneurs are affectionately referred to as Mama Benz, because as a trademark, each has her own chauffeured Mercedes Benz. This film focuses on one woman who presides over the cloth market in Lomé, Togo. She is a lavishly dressed matron with a fully-staffed mansion who proudly travels the rutted dirt roads in her limousine.
Despite her success, Mama Benz has not become too grand for the bedlam of the marketplace. Every day she takes her accustomed place in the stall, surrounded by gloriously colored textiles, and haggles with her customers. The other market women look up to her and work hard in hopes that they too will someday attain her success and become a Mama Benz.
Also sold under the title: God Gave Her a Mercedes Benz.
Such entrepreneurs are affectionately referred to as Mama Benz, because as a trademark, each has her own chauffeured Mercedes Benz. This film focuses on one woman who presides over the cloth market in Lomé, Togo. She is a lavishly dressed matron with a fully-staffed mansion who proudly travels the rutted dirt roads in her limousine.
Despite her success, Mama Benz has not become too grand for the bedlam of the marketplace. Every day she takes her accustomed place in the stall, surrounded by gloriously colored textiles, and haggles with her customers. The other market women look up to her and work hard in hopes that they too will someday attain her success and become a Mama Benz.
Also sold under the title: God Gave Her a Mercedes Benz.
Margaret Mead Film Festival, 1995
National Women's Studies Association, 1994
National Women's Studies Association, 1994
