Academic Projects
— Concluded & Ongoing —
Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy
A monographic project that explored why Ethiopian kings pursued long-distance diplomatic contacts with Latin Europe in the late Middle Ages (concluded 2021).
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Africa Collecting Europe
This book project focusses on a period of alleged political decline (the years between 1470–1530 CE) in the Christian kingdom of Solomonic Ethiopia. It centres ostensibly 'inexplicable' material culture from the highlands — imported icons, new local styles and iconographies — to trace practices of elite patronage and and endowment, aiming to tell a larger story about the assertion of power in an African Christian kingdom.
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Gold and Ivory between Medieval Africa and Europe
This research project examines the role of north-east African realms for the trade in gold and ivory between Africa and Europe between the 12th-16th centuries. It also aims to conduct Stable Isotope Analysis on a 12th-century carved ivory from Trier, Germany, now in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Germany (ongoing).
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