2022 Paul Mellon Lecture

Date and Time

Monday, May 23, 2022

6:30–7:30 pm

Location

The Met Fifth Avenue

The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Register now

Details

Cultural Heritage and Identities in Africa: Examples from the Kushite Kingdom of Sudan to the House of W. E. B. Du Bois in Ghana

Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law, New York University

Join philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah as he reflects on the cultural heritage of Africa, from the Nubian pyramids of Sudan to the Koutammakou Cultural Landscape in Benin and Togo, and the redesign of the W. E. B. Du Bois Museum Complex in Ghana. Appiah addresses the complex and varied interactions between cultural heritage and questions of identity, memory, and community in various African nations and considers how new spaces like the Du Bois Museum highlight the relationship between place, memorialization, and time.

Appiah, who serves on the board of trustees at the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and on the visiting committee for the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met, also discusses WMF’s preservation partnerships across Africa at historical sites in Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Benin, and Togo.

Free with Museum admission, though advance registration is required. Please note: Space is limited; first come, first served. Registration does not guarantee admission once the auditorium reaches capacity.

Please use the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium entrance on Fifth Avenue at 83rd Street.

Watch the livestream on YouTube and Facebook. Note: No login required.

Face coverings are required for all visitors age 2 and older, even if you are vaccinated. In keeping with public health recommendations, we strongly recommend vaccinations for our visitors. 

Read visitor guidelines

Assistive listening devices are provided in the auditorium.

Autogenerated captioning is provided for the livestream.

This program is presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and World Monuments Fund.

World Monuments Fund's annual Paul Mellon Lecture is made possible by the Paul Mellon Education Fund.

Nuri Naptan Aspelta Pyramid. Image courtesy of World Monuments Fund.

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