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History, culture & knowledge

African histories, archives, oral traditions, popular culture, literature, languages and the politics of scholarship.

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11 publications

11 publications

An archival chromolithograph detail shows Menelik II enthroned among religious and political figures.
Menelik II’s coronation: detail from an 1890 chromolithograph after Pio Joris (1843–1921), depicting the 1889 ceremony. Library of Congress, Ethiopian Collection. Digital reproduction date unrecorded.
Pio Joris / Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division · Public domain
Image details

Coronation of Menelik II — archival chromolithograph detail

Historical record: 1890 print depicting 1889 coronation; reproduction date unrecorded.

Converted the source JPEG to WebP with original dimensions and framing preserved. Source is a detail already cropped by the Library of Congress. Original artist died in 1921; 1890 publication. Faithful reproduction of a public-domain visual artwork.

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Adwa: treaty language, defended sovereignty and political memory

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A brass plaque shows a centrally placed mounted king with attendants of different sizes.
Plaque with equestrian ọ́bà (king) and attendants, Court of Benin, ca. 1540–70. Ìgùn Ẹ́rọ̀nwwọ̀n guild artists; The Met, 1978.412.309. Historical object; reproduction date unrecorded.
Ìgùn Ẹ́rọ̀nwwọ̀n guild artists / The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0
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Plaque with equestrian ọ́bà (king) and attendants

Historical record: ca. 1540–70 (object); photograph date unrecorded.

Converted the source JPEG to WebP with original dimensions and framing preserved. No crop or content edits; museum image released through its CC0 Open Access programme.

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Benin’s royal art: authority, colonial seizure and the politics of restitution

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6 sources
Wire and stakes extend across a dry landscape along the Namibia–Botswana boundary in 2018.
The Namibia–Botswana boundary fence, photographed 19 October 2018.
Hp.Baumeler · CC BY-SA 4.0
Image details

Border fence Namibia Botswana (2018)

Historical record: 2018-10-19.

Full-frame 1280 × 853 Commons thumbnail converted losslessly to WebP. No additional crop, retouching or generated content.

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The OAU’s border settlement: sovereignty, liberation and cooperation

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6 sources
Sandstone east tower of the Union Buildings in Pretoria, photographed in 2017.
The Union Buildings’ east tower, Pretoria, 17 November 2017. The 1956 women’s march brought its demands to this administrative seat.
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Image details

Union Buildings – East tower

Historical record: 2017-11-17.

Full-frame 960 × 1440 Commons thumbnail converted losslessly to WebP. No additional crop, retouching or generated content.

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South African women made citizenship a question of work, movement and the home

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7 sources
White-gloved hands use a soft brush to clean an Arabic manuscript page on a conservation work surface.
A manuscript is cleaned at SAVAMA-DCI in Bamako, 8 August 2019. Mark Fischer, “Timbuktu Manuscript”, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Mark Fischer
Image details

Timbuktu Manuscript

Historical record: 2019-08-08.

Original licence and this reproduction: CC BY-SA 2.0, linked in the rights record. Full frame proportionally resized from 4852 × 3235 to 1600 × 1067 and converted to lossless WebP. No crop, retouching or generated elements.

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Timbuktu’s manuscripts: knowledge, social obligations and the work of custodians

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Sunlight enters the ruined coral-stone mosque interior through pointed arches and roof openings at Kilwa Kisiwani.
Inside the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani, photographed on 16 July 2016. Janetmpurdy / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Janetmpurdy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Image details

Great Mosque Kilwa Kisiwani Tanzania

Historical record: 2016-07-16.

Full frame preserved at original 1086 × 724 dimensions; converted to lossless WebP. No crop, retouching or generated elements. Image redistribution retains CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Kilwa’s trading cities: how archaeology reveals an African urban history

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Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Christian Rogg with their teams beside a Ghana flag
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and British High Commissioner Christian Rogg with their teams, Ghana, 9 October 2026. Ghana MFA / APO Group.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Ghana / APO Group
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Ghana foreign minister and UK High Commissioner, 9 October 2026

Image date: 2026-10-09.

Converted to lossless WebP without cropping; the full distributed image and visible watermark are preserved. Individual photographer not supplied by the publisher.

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Ghana brings reparatory justice into its 9 October talks with the UK

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7 sources
Ibrahim Njoya sits with a pen at a table holding an open book, surrounded by several attendants.
Ibrahim Njoya in his study at Foumban, 25 May 1917. Photograph by Frédéric Gadmer. Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, AP62T121311, via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0.
Frédéric Gadmer / Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie (France) · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Njoya in his study, Foumban, 25 May 1917 (AP62T121311)

Historical record: 1917-05-25.

Converted to lossless WebP without cropping or changing the image content. Credit: Ministère de la Culture, Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, AP62T121311; diffusion GrandPalaisRmn Photo. The image is reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Bamum’s royal archive: writing, authority and the making of historical memory

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An aged manuscript page containing Arabic text divided into numbered sections.
First page of Tunisia’s 1861 constitution. Arabic manuscript; National Archives of Tunisia, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Beylical administration of Tunis / National Archives of Tunisia · Public domain
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First page of the Tunisian Constitution of 1861

Historical record: 1861 (document; digitisation date unspecified).

Converted to lossless WebP without cropping or changing the image content.

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Tunisia’s 1861 constitution: who could hold power to account?

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A conference participant holding a microphone at the Language Diversity Conference in Accra
A participant speaks on the opening day of the Language Diversity Conference in Accra, Ghana, 2 October 2026.
Justice Okai-Allotey · CC BY-SA 4.0
Image details

LDC Day One 105.jpg

Image date: 2026-10-02.

Resized and converted to WebP; layout crops may apply. The resized photograph and display crops retain CC BY-SA 4.0.

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After Accra’s language conference, African communities put knowledge control on the agenda

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An early twentieth-century Senegalese postcard showing a man holding a drum
An early 20th-century Senegalese postcard captioned 'Griot Diola' by photographer François-Edmond Fortier. Historical image; its colonial caption is an attribution by the postcard publisher, not independent confirmation of the sitter's identity.
François-Edmond Fortier (1862–1928) · Public domain
Image details

Sénégal-Griot Diola (AOF).jpg

Historical record: Early 20th century; precise capture date not supplied.

Resized and converted to WebP; layout crops may apply. The precise original capture date and sitter’s identity are not established. The publisher’s historic caption is retained as an attribution.

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Who decides how African knowledge enters the digital world?

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6 sources