Panel 2 | Colorful Threads: Interwoven Worlds of Art and Culture in the Western Indian Ocean 

Panel 2: MATERIAL CONNECTIONS AND RUPTURES
Discussant
Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann - Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Africa Institute, U.A.E
Panelists
The Commonality of Labor: The History and Legacy of Building Construction in Modern Mauritius
Dwight Carey - Assistant Professor of Art and the History of Art, Amherst College, U.S.A
From Swamp to Sea: Mangrove Poles and the Making of Space in the Western Indian Ocean
Nidhi Mahajan - Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, U.S.A
Escape Artist: Vamona Navelcar’s Flight Across Continents
R. Benedito Ferrão - Assistant Professor of English & Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies, William and Mary, U.S.A
The Africa Institute hosts the third symposium as part of its four-part series dedicated to Africa’s Indian Ocean rim, titled “Colorful Threads: The Interwoven Worlds of Art and Culture in the Western Indian Ocean.” The symposium, held from 14-16 December 2023 in Sharjah, UAE, explored diverse facets, from feminism and cinema to artmaking, echoing the dynamic complexities of the Indian Ocean rim.
This four-part series falls under the theme, “Thinking the Archipelago: Africa’s Indian Ocean Islands,” which is part of The Africa Institute’s year-round initiative, “Country-Focused Season,” dedicated to developing and supporting original scholarship and programming that expands understanding of African and African diaspora studies among the academic community and the broader public.
Organized by The Africa Institute in collaboration with leading scholars Jeremy Prestholdt, Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego; Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, Professor of Anthropology at Georgetown University in Qatar; and Uday Chandra, Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar, this symposium is co-organized by Prita Meier, Associate Professor of Art History at New York University, and Laura Fair, Professor of African History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University.
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