Northwestern University’s Program of African Studies and Block Museum of Art are proud to partner on “African Heritage in Dialogue,” an ongoing platform intended to promote, celebrate, and enable exchange with cultural heritage professionals working on the African continent. In the inaugural 2021 “African Heritage in Dialogue series: Looking Ahead with Caravans of Gold Partners,” we follow up with institutional leaders and archaeologists in Mali, Morocco, and Nigeria who have been fundamental to developing and presenting The Block’s exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time.
This series explores essential questions: How are cultural institutions and researchers managing during the pandemic? What other factors have impacted their work over the past year? How do archaeologists and museums in each country work together in beneficial ways? And, where lies the future of archaeology, museum practice, and cultural heritage in different countries and regions?
This conversation features Rochdi Bernoussi (director, Musée Bank al-Maghrib, Rabat), Abdallah Fili (professor of archaeology, Université Chouaib Doukali d ‘El-Jadida, Rabat), Youssef Khiara (director of cultural patrimony, Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Rabat). The conversation is moderated by Kathleen Bickford Berzock (associate director of curatorial affairs, Block Museum) and Amanda Logan (Associate Professor, Anthropology, Northwestern University).
Caravans of Gold is currently at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African Art: https://africa.si.edu/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/caravans-of-gold-fragments-in-time-art-culture-and-exchange-across-medieval-saharan-africa/
The exhibition can also be viewed through the app: https://caravansofgold.org/progressive-web-app/
Additional resources can be accessed through the exhibition website: https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/exhibitions/2019/caravans-of-gold,-fragments-in-time-art,-culture,-and-exchange-across-medieval-saharan-africa.htm