ACADEMIC RESEARCH AREAS

Core Themes

SEEING

BUILDING

THINKING

WORLDS

Place making

EXHIBITIONS & MUSEUMS

:One keen interest is in museums and their exhibitions. I have curated a number of exhibitions and am committed to issues of equity, inclusion & diversity in these contexts. A number of my students have gone on to become curators. Like my other writing, making my subjects accessible to the general public is important. Recent Exhibitions Below:

ARCHITECTURE & URBAN PLANNING
From my doctoral dissertation research to the present I find architecture and planning to be of major interest. Architectural preservation in Africa and the U.S are also a key concern. I have addressed symbolic and technical issues. Adobe architecture and sustainability are especially important. I include architecture in my general art texts.
Misc articles, mapping projects and 2 books

THEORY & METHODOLOGY
Most of my writing in one way or another touches on theoretical issues related to both African art & Western engagements with these works. I am not bound to one theory but intellectual history generally. I am especially now focused on African Art HISTORY particularly the Medieval Period. I am also deeply committed to global art history.
Misc articles and forthcoming books

GEOGRAPHIES OF RESEARCH
My first extended African period was in the Yoruba region of R. Benin. Doctoral work took me to northern Togo, then southern R. Benin (Fon) & more recently Ife (Nigeria), Cameroon & other parts of Africa. the historic relationships between Africa and Europe (Picasso and earlier) are key. Traveling to places is a key part of any research project.
Diverse books and related engagements.

MAPPING & GIS PROJECTS
While I have long been interested in mapping (as are many Africanists), I started engaging with GIS early with the Baobab Project. The kinds of information one can ascertain through complex mapping provides critical data points in Africa where texts are too often missing. Cartography (map making) is a fun piece and important piece of this.
Misc. GIS projects and publications

Seeing:
EXHIBITION
& MUSEUMS

Building:

Architecture and
urban planning

Thinking:

Art History,
Theory,
Methodology

WORLDS:

Research
Geographies

Place Making:

Mapping and GIS Projects

CURRENT AND ONGOING PROJECTS

I tend to work on multiple projects simultaneously, collecting information, images, bibliography sources and the larger corpus, then at a key point in time a projects calls on me to finish it up and get it out the door.