Judaic threads in the West African tapestry [Ressource électronique] : no more forever ? / Labelle Prussin

Notes bibliogr.

The perception of the Sahara Desert as an impenetrable barrier overlooks the reality that for millennia, trade, travel, and communication generated a rich repertoire of similarities in iconography, style, and technology between North and West Africa. These can be partly credited to itinerant and resident Jews under the aegis of Islam, European expansion, nomadism, and indigenous rule. Combining scholarship and artisanship with the trades over which they exercised a virtual world monopoly (precious metals, gold and silk embroidery, silk and indigo cloth) they contributed to a pan-Saharan design network by integrating Judaic traditions and Islamic proscriptions into indigenous African cultures