Caravans of gold, fragments in time : art, culture, and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa / edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, organizer, host institution.

Aga Khan Museum (Toronto, Ont.), host institution.

National Museum of African Art (U.S.), host institution.

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, editor, curator, contributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Material culture.

History.

Civilization, Medieval.

Art objects, Medieval.

Commerce.

Africa, West--Commerce--History--Exhibitions.

Africa, West.

Africa, North--Commerce--History--Exhibitions.

Africa, North.

Sahara--Commerce--History--Exhibitions.

Sahara.

Africa.

North Africa.

West Africa.

Art objects, Medieval--Economic aspects--Exhibitions.

Civilization, Medieval--Exhibitions.

Material culture--Africa, West--History--Exhibitions.

Material culture--Africa, North--History--Exhibitions.

Material culture--Sahara--History--Exhibitions.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

History.

Physical Description:

311 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 29 cm

Other Title:

Art, culture, and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa

Place of Publication:

[Evanston, Illinois] : Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University : in association with Princeton University Press, [2019]

Summary:

"Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time draws on the latest archaeological discoveries and art historical research to construct a compelling look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy. Contributors from diverse disciplines present case studies that form a rich portrayal of a distant time. Topics include descriptions of key medieval cities around the Sahara; networks of exchange that contributed to the circulation of gold, copper, and ivory and their associated art forms; and medieval glass bead production in West Africa's forest region. Featuring a wealth of color images, this fascinating book demonstrates how the rootedness of place, culture, and tradition is closely tied to the circulation of people, objects, and ideas. These "fragments in time" offer irrefutable evidence of the key role that Africa played in medieval history and promote a new understanding of the past and the present"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Section I: Groundwork. Caravans of gold, fragments in time : an introduction / Kathleen Bickford Berzock

Uncertain fragments : a divination / Chris Abani

Views from afar : reading medieval trans-Saharan trade through Arabic accounts / Robert Launay

The sources of gold : narratives, technology, and visual culture from the Mande and Akan worlds / Ralph A. Austen

Fragments at risk : the protection of cultural heritage in Mali, Morocco, and Nigeria / Mamadi Dembélé, Ahmed Ettahrir, Youssef Khiara, and Yousuf Abdallah Usman.

Section II: Sites. The Sahara as a cultural zone / Cynthia Becker

Sijilmasa's role in the African gold trade / Ronald A. Messier and Abdallah Fili

Essouk-Tadmekka : a southern Saharan center of the early Islamic camel caravan trade / Sam Nixon

Gao, a middle Niger city in medieval trade / Mamadou Cissé

Urbanization and trade networks in the inland Niger Delta / Mamadi Dembélé

Politics and trade in medieval Northern Nigeria / Detlef Gronenborn.

Section III: Matter in motion. Gold, ivory, and copper, materials and arts of trans-Saharan trade / Sarah M. Guérin

Dinars as historical texts : documenting the African gold trade / Ron Messier

Gold processing at the early Islamic market town of Tadmekka, Mali : preliminary results from experimental replication / Gianluca Pastorelli, Marc Walton, and Sam Nixon

Medieval glass bead production and exchange / Adidemi Babatunde Babalola

The written word : Islamic literacy and Arabic manuscripts in West Africa / Mauro Nobili.

Section IV: Reverberations. Red gold : things made of copper, bronze, and brass / Raymond Silverman

Gnawa material culture : innovation across the Sahara / Cynthia Becker

Saharan crossing : the realities of migration today / Galya Ben-Arieh

Bibliography

Lenders to the exhibition

Contributors.

Notes:

Published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, January 26, 2019-July 21, 2019; The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2019-February 23, 2020; and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, April 8-November 29, 2020.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 294-309).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780691182681

069118268X

OCLC:

1032654614