Africa Resource Guide

This illuminating program examines the symbolism, aesthetics, and functionality of African art through the vast region’s sculpture, masks, architecture, ornaments, clothing, and utensils.

Use the subject filter to find African Studies.

What is Africa like? In an effort to answer that short but extremely complex question, this 13-part series travels sub-Saharan Africa to speak with artists and aid workers, rappers and religious leaders, single mothers and mentors of at-risk youth, and many others about sociocultural, geopolitical, environmental, and health-related issues.

A collection of extraordinary plaques, seized as loot during the colonial aggression that ended the powerful Benin Empire in 1897, depict life in the African kingdom's royal court at its height. In this program art historian Gus Casely-Hayford travels to legendary Timbuktu, the Great Mosque of Djenn, the Oba Royal Palace, and Dogon country to learn more about how the plaques were made and what they reveal about the continent's sophisticated pre-colonial civilizations.

In this four-part series, art historian Gus Casely-Hayford guides viewers on a tour of discovery through Africa and speaks with elders, artisans, and archaeologists to learn what made these kingdoms great.

The Benin Empire, which reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries, was one of the kingdoms in the forest belt of West Africa in what is now Nigeria. Much of the old kingdom survives today: the Oba still lives in his palace performing many of the traditional ceremonies; the Benin bronzes are renowned for their beauty, as well as their historical significance, and the traditional methods of casting are still used today; oral tradition has kept the history of Benin alive to this day. This series uses modern documentary material, archival film, dance, drama, and storytelling to bring alive the history, culture, and contemporary life of one of the great cultures of West Africa—an area of particular significance for those of African or West Indian background.