Following the Gold Road: Global Medieval Africa in the Time of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai with Fallou Ngom and Gana Ndiaye

The Gold Road is a three-part lecture series that explores the medieval West African empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai (6th–16th centuries). This series is for K-12 educators and all of those who are curious to see the ways in which West Africa has shaped the modern world. The program reframes global medieval history by centering Africa’s essential role in the world economy through its prized resource—gold—and by spotlighting its contributions to art, architecture, learning, and governance. This session with Dr. Fallou Ngom will focus on Ajami Manuscripts & Knowledge Production in West Africa. Medieval West Africa achieved remarkable knowledge and literacies, flourishing on trans-Saharan trade routes and embracing Islam as a cultural force. Despite this astounding history, for centuries, sub-Saharan Africa has been misunderstood as a largely illiterate region because of the Eurocentric definition of literacy as only the ability to read and write in European languages using the Latin script. However, millions of Africans have been reading and writing in both classical Arabic and their local languages, often using enriched forms of the Arabic script known as Ajami. This discussion invites scholars, educators, students, and the public to discover what can be learned from studying Ajami texts produced during this period of Africa’s history. FEATURING: Fallou Ngom, Professor of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University Dr. Gana Ndiaye, Assistant Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, Yale University Hosted by the Africa America Institute in partnership with the Boston University African Studies Center and the Howard University Center for African Studies.