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The Republic of Benin in West Africa is home to more than 40 ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Fon. During the early 17th century, the Fon established a society ruled by a dynasty of kings, who over the years forged the powerful kingdom of Dahomey. In their capital city of Abomey, the rulers built a remarkable complex of palaces which became the centre of the kingdom's political, social and religious life. The palace walls were decorated with colourful low-relief sculptures, or bas-reliefs, recounting legends and battles and glorifying the dynasty's region. In a society with no written language, these visual stories have perpetuated the history and myths of the Fon people.
Dahomey’s Royal Architecture examines the West African kingdom of Dahomey, located in present-day Republic of Benin. The book explores the Royal Palace of Dahomey’s relationship to the religious, cultural, and national identity of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Dahomey (c. 1625–1892), colonial Dahomey (1892–1960) and post-colonial Benin (1960–present). The Royal Palace of Dahomey covers more than 108 acres and was surrounded by a wall over two miles long. When the French colonial army arrived in Abomey in 1892, the ruling king set fire to the palace to keep it from falling into enemy hands. Though much of the palace structure was subsequently left to ruin, a portion of it was restored...
An exciting tour of remarkable wall art around the globe, from prehistoric caves to futuristic wonders. People have been drawing on walls since ancient times. They do it to create beauty, to tell a story, to make a statement, or just to say, “I was here.” You can find wall art in a remote cave in Patagonia and a desert castle in Jordan, a kingly palace in the Republic of Benin and the National Palace of Mexico, a miles-long flood channel in Los Angeles and a sky-high rooftop in Norway. In Wall to Wall, award-winning author, illustrator, and muralist Mary Ann Fraser takes readers on a worldwide journey through time, stopping to see amazing mural art along the way. Stunning color illustrations and fascinating photographs illuminate both famous and little-known examples, and lighthearted text tells engaging stories about the people who inspired or created them. A glossary, selected bibliography, and section about the preservation of murals conclude the book. No reader will ever again pass by a mural—whether in a historic building, a museum, or out on the street—without stopping to take a closer look.
Teaching Women’s History: Breaking Barriers and Undoing Male Centrism in K-12 Social Studies challenges and guides K-12 history teachers to incorporate comprehensive and diverse women’s history into every region and era of their history curriculum. Providing a wealth of practical examples, ideas, and lesson plans – all backed by scholarly research – for secondary and middle school classes, this book demonstrates how teachers can weave women’s history into their curriculum today. It breaks down how history is taught currently, how teachers are prepared, and what expectations are set in state standards and textbooks and then shows how teachers can use pedagogical approaches to better...
This important and overdue book examines illuminated manuscripts and other book arts of the Global Middle Ages. Illuminated manuscripts and illustrated or decorated books—like today’s museums—preserve a rich array of information about how premodern peoples conceived of and perceived the world, its many cultures, and everyone’s place in it. Often a Eurocentric field of study, manuscripts are prisms through which we can glimpse the interconnected global history of humanity. Toward a Global Middle Ages is the first publication to examine decorated books produced across the globe during the period traditionally known as medieval. Through essays and case studies, the volume’s multidisci...
For millennia, people of all cultures have decorated the surfaces of their domestic, religious, and public buildings. Earthen architecture in particular has been, and continues to be, a common ground for surface decoration such as paintings, sculpted bas-relief, and ornamental plasterwork. This volume explores the complex issues associated with preserving these surfaces. Case studies from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas are presented. The publication is the result of a colloquium held in 2004 at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, co-organized by the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and the National Park Service (NPS). The meeting brought together fifty-five conservators, cultural resource managers, materials scientists, engineers, architects, archaeologists, anthropologists, and artists from eleven countries. Divided into four themes--Archaeological Sites, Museum Practice, Historic Buildings, and Living Traditions--the papers examine the conservation of decorated surfaces on earthen architecture within these different contexts.
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Exploring notions of history, collective memory, cultural memory, public memory, official memory, and public history, Slavery in the Age of Memory: Engaging the Past explains how ordinary citizens, social groups, governments and institutions engage with the past of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade. It illuminates how and why over the last five decades the debates about slavery have become so relevant in the societies where slavery existed and which participated in the Atlantic slave trade. The book draws on a variety of case studies to investigate its central questions. How have social actors and groups in Europe, Africa and the Americas engaged with the slave past of their societies? Ar...
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