Speaker: Sabrina Amrane
What do primary documents reveal about the deep interconnections between West Africa, the Maghreb, and other world regions in the period from approximately 700 - 1600 CE?
When describing West Africa in this period, textbook accounts often focus on the trans-Sahara trade in gold and salt, but the reality is much more complex! This presentation for teachers uses up-to-date scholarship on the regions to reveal ways in which West African empires were deeply interconnected with other parts of the Islamic world. Teachers will learn a conceptual framework for understanding primary sources about the region and delve into a handful of specific sources. This talk will prepare teachers to better understand a range of possible classroom resources, including: their own textbooks, the interactive Gold Road website, and beyond. The presentation itself is about 25 minutes and can be followed by Q & A specifically relevant to teachers’ classroom contexts and materials.
About the Speaker
Sabrina Amrane is a graduate student at UC Berkeley, with a focus on African history. Specifically, her research explores the political thrust of major but overlooked oasis cities within the wider trans-Saharan network, interactions between key Saharan actors and coastal imperial rule, and conceptions of territoriality within a nomadic milieu in the medieval Maghrib. Drawing on repositories of written material and collecting oral histories, she aims to examine the geographic imagination of Arabs and Berbers in the central Algerian Sahara.
Suggested Audiences
Age: K-12 teachers. This talk is not funded for community college settings.
Preparation: There is no preparation necessary. However, teachers would benefit from a pre-presentation exploration of the interactive Gold Road website. You are also welcome to share your own classroom resources prior to the date of the presentation so the presenter can prepare to answer questions about your specific resources. Alternatively, you might want to explore this set of three Gold Road-focused lessons, introduced at the 2024 African Studies Association teacher workshop.
Courses: ideal for 7th and 10th grade social studies teachers and any other teachers who teach about West Africa