Authorship & Authority: The Contested Origins of Dakar’s African Renaissance Monument

On the shoreline of the Ouakam neighborhood of Dakar, two volcanic hills called les Mamelles (the breasts) rise above the flat expanse of the city. One mamelle features an iconic lighthouse built in 1864; the other serves as the platform for the African Renaissance Monument(ARM), constructed in 2009 and dedicated in 2010. Billed as the highest (not to be confused with the tallest) sculpture in the world, the
164 feet of steel frame and bronze bodies atop the 300-foot-high hill creates a tow