Howard S. Schwartz Memorial Lecture
“1325: Mansa Musa, Al-Saheli, and How Medieval Africa Helped Shape Modernity” – Suzanne Preston Blier (Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University)
Thursday, March 6, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
Conrad. A. Elvehjem Building, Room L140
During the famed 1325 Hajj journeys of Mali Emperor Mansa Musa and Granada poet Al Saheli, their travels Individually or together cross three continents – Europe (Spain), Asia (Arabia), and Africa (Egypt, the Sahara, Mali and Morocco), providing key insight into these centers and related events. These men and this journey offer vital insight into how Medieval Africa helped to foster the changes that shaped modernity.
Howard S. Schwartz Memorial Lecture Workshop for Graduate Students and Faculty: “From Igbo Ukwu to Igbo Landing: How Medieval African Objects Speak.”
Led by Prof. Suzanne Preston Blier (Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University)
Friday, March 7, 2025, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Open to Graduate Students and Faculty. Lunch will be provided. RSVP by Friday, February 28, 2025 to Prof. Thomas Dale (tedale@wisc.edu) to register for lunch and workshop and receive a link to the reading.
Abstract: The well-known Medieval Nigerian archaeological site of Igbo-Ukwu has long been recognized for its one-of-a-kind bronze sculptures and other works. In this lecture I re-examine this art corpus from the vantage of the work of contemporary Igbo engagement through the literary arts of Chinua Achebe and others, arguing that the works message the importance of holding Igbo leaders in check. I then take us to the site of Igbo Landing, the Sea Islands site near Savannah, Georgia where a group suicide of recently arrived enslaved Igbo took place in 1803. I example the plantation slavery context of this tragic incident and related Gullah visual arts that appear to have Igbo connections, returning to the Igbo and Southeastern Nigeria in this same 1803 era to explore the contexts of enslavement and related visual references there.