Please join us for this month's Coffee With the Curator presentation, "Anything But Backward: Sub-Saharan West Africa in the Later Middle Ages," presented by Dr. Máire Johnson!

For much of the existence of the modern school of history, any culture that did not possess many of the elements European historians expected to find was discounted as unimportant or backward. Sub-Saharan West Africa—the region west of Lake Chad and north of the Gulf of Guinea and centered on the Niger River valley—was one region consistently ignored, not least because its residents were plundered for the Atlantic slave trade for centuries. Yet the Niger Valley throughout the pre-modern period was home to a sequence of complex, creative, and vital societies. “Sub-Saharan West Africa in the later Middle Ages” explores aspects of just one of these cultures, the Empire of Mali.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Máire Johnson (pronounced MOY-ra or MOR-a) is the Associate Professor of pre-modern history at Emporia State University, where she has been teaching since the fall of 2015 and where her learners refer to her as “Dr. J.” Máire also has taught at Oklahoma State University, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Elizabethtown College, and the University of Toronto in Canada. Although she teaches pre-modern courses on a wide array of topics, starting with the birth of the universe and extending through roughly 1600 CE, her expertise is in the medieval era, c400–c1400 CE.

Choose from three ways to join the presentation:

• In-person: Join us at the Museum for Dr. Johnson's live, in-person presentation! Face coverings and social distancing will be required while in the Museum. No need to register — simply walk in! Coffee and tea, generously provided by The Spice Merchant - Wichita's Gourmet Coffee & Tea Roaster, and pre-packaged refreshments provided.
• Virtually via Zoom (free for Members with discount code)
• Virtually via YouTube Livestream (free for Members with discount code)

Click to Register Virtually

For those who sign up virtually: Everything you need to tune in will be sent to you in a follow-up email after registration is complete.

Admission: $4 for nonmembers, Members are free!

This program is in partnership with Humanities Kansas’ Humanities Hotline. Call 1-888-416-2018 any time to hear short history stories with different topics every month!