Between 2022 and 2025, four workshops were held as part of the Mediterraneo Nero / Black Mediterranean project, exploring cultural, artistic, and historical connections between Africa and the Mediterranean. Held in Tunis, Florence, and Nairobi, each convened international scholars to investigate understudied terrains of exchange, visual culture, and historical interaction.
“Habsburgs in Tunis (1535‑1574): The Conquest (Fatḥ) of Tunis and New Mediterranean Order”
Workshop in Tunis, October 2022
The workshop “Habsburgs in Tunis (1535‑1574): The Conquest (Fatḥ) of Tunis and New Mediterranean Order” took place in June 2022 and was hosted at Columbia Global Centers in Tunis. The workshop investigated north–south interactions in the Mediterranean during the Hafsid, Habsburg, and Ottoman struggles for control of its waters. This under-explored area was examined through papers on looted Hafsid Qur’ans and other treasures in early modern Europe, portraits of Moulay Hasan and Moulay Ahmad by artists like Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen and Peter Paul Rubens, fez production and Ottoman trade, and more. Participants also visited Ksar Saïd, Carthage, and the medina of Tunis.
Habsburgs in Tunis
Workshop at I Tatti, June 2023
A second workshop was held at Villa I Tatti in June 2023, further developing the themes discussed in Tunis. Participants also included I Tatti Fellows working on Africa-related projects, Visiting Professors from Africa, artists in residence, and guest scholars.
The Red Corridor and the Wider Mediterranean: Histories of Global Commercial Desires and Image Making
Workshop in Kenya, May 2024
In May 2024, Avinoam Shalem and Columbia University, in collaboration with Eva‑Maria Troelenberg (Professor of Transcultural Studies/Art History at Heinrich‑Heine‑Universität Düsseldorf) and her ERC‑sponsored project Machinery Rooms of the Mediterranean, organized a workshop on the Red Corridor in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya. During a week in Kenya, scholars participated in two days of workshops in Nairobi, visited the national museum of Nairobi, toured the city with Wangui Kimari from the American University in Nairobi, traveled to Mombasa to visit architectural legacies of the slave trade and toured the Shimoni Caves with Kabage Karanja from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture. The group of scholars were joined by former and current Getty fellows from I Tatti, including Cheikh Sene, Mengistu Worku and Alebachew Belay Birru, along with Lori De Lucia.
The Red Corridor
Workshop at I Tatti, May 2025
In May 2025, I Tatti hosted the fourth workshop on the Red Corridor that was open to the wider public. This two-day workshop allowed for an enrichment of themes that arose in Kenya – with 18 international scholars and Getty fellows revealing the global reach of Africa through the Red Sea; topics ranged from Swahili architecture, Fatimid monuments, Ethiopian churches and global Coptic networks, to the circulation of ivory and incense in the Indian Ocean.