Contact information
Name:
Kate Pitts
Email:
pittsk@lafayette.edu
Categories:
When:
Thursday, October 23, 2025 (All day)
Where:
Gendebien Room, Skillman Library (206)
Presenter:
Lafayette College Libraries
Price:
Free
Africans are responsible for some of the most remarkable inventions that changed the world. Chief among these was the development of writing systems in Ancient Egypt. Yet, when considering its historical contributions, Africa's scriptural legacy tends to be forgotten or ignored. In this lecture, Ghislaine Lydon will trace the connected histories of writing systems, while highlighting the revolutionary nature of script.
Ghislaine Lydon specializes in the history of Africa with a focus on economic and cultural practices and institutions. She has written on a variety of subjects and is the author of the award-winning On Trans-Saharan Trails: Islamic Law, Trade Networks and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Nineteenth-Century Western Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Sponsored by:
Paul and June Schlueter Lecture on the Art and History of the Book