Annissa Malvoisin

Annissa’s research specializes in Egyptology, Nubian archaeology, and Museum Studies. Her doctoral thesis investigates the ceramic production and trade industry during Meroitic Nubia and its potential far-reaching networks linking the Nile Valley to Iron Age West African cultures. She also investigates and highlights provenance for object-based research in museum collections. She has worked with collections at the Royal Ontario Museum in the Department of Arts and Culture: Global Africa and in Ancient Egypt and Nubia, the Arts of Africa collection at the Brooklyn Museum, as well as with the Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition at Arizona State University and the International El-Kurru Archaeological Project. Annissa's academic and curatorial work has been supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Association of Art Museum Curators, the Council for Museum Anthropology, the American Alliance of Museums, and the American Society of Overseas Research.

Education

• MMSt, Master of Museum Studies, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
• B.A., Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, Anthropology, History (Caribbean), University of Toronto

Current Supervisor(s)

• Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner

Dissertation Title

Through the Sahara, Across the Red Sea: Trade Networks of Meroitic Fineware and their Impact on Modern Museum Collections

Publications

• "Exhibiting Africa: State of the Field in African Art and the Diaspora: Symposium Proceedings”. A. Malvoisin and D. Thompson (Eds.). Chicago: Chicago University Press [Forthcoming].
• “The Unwavering Divide: Collection and Display Practices of Ancient African Collections,” In C. Gardner and S. Higgins (Eds.), Ancient Pasts for Modern Audiences. Routledge [Forthcoming].
• “Meroe, Rome, and West African Kingdoms: Trade and Connection during the Meroitic, Graeco-Roman, and African Iron Age Periods”. The Medieval Globe [Forthcoming].
• “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Edgefield, South Carolina, Metropolitan Museum of Art”. West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture [Forthcoming].
• “Between Meroe and Rome: Late Antique Nubia,” In A. M. Achi (Ed.), Africa and Byzantium. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications. [In Print].
• “The Way She Looks: A History of Female Gazes in African Portraiture – Photographs from the Walther Collection, Ryerson Image Centre, Ryerson University”. Archivaria 89 (May), 197-204.
• “The Definition of a Museum in Response to the ICOM September Conference”. Museological Review 24 (June), 90.
• “Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation at the Aga Khan Museum”. Exhibitionist (April), 12.

Presentations

• "Scales, Daisies, Diamonds: Ceramic Distinctions from Meroitic Nubia," in Society for Africanist Archaeologists 26th Biennial (Rice University, Houston, June 1-6 2023).
• "Between the Nile and the Niger: Trans-Saharan Decoration from Meroitic Nubia," in 7th Sudan Studies Research Conference (University of Naples "l'Orientale", Naples, Italy, May 4-5, 2023).
• "Collective Histories: Display Practices of Ancient African Collections," public lecture for Tyler School for Art and Architecture, Temple University (Philadelphia, April 17, 2023).
• "The Unwavering Divide: Display Practices of Ancient African Collections," in Presenting the Past: Responsible Engagement and Ancient Mediterranean History Colloquium (Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia, British Columbia, March 23-25, 2023).
• "The Unwavering Divide: Display Practices of Ancient African Collections," in Between Critique and Practice: Unsettling Collections Management through Anthropology panel, American Anthropological Association (Seattle, November 9-13, 2022).
• "At the Edge of the Sahara: Decorative Style between Egypt, Nubia, and West African Regions," on Reintegrating Africa in the Ancient World AmSARC Panel in American Society for Overseas Research Annual Meeting (Boston, November 16-19, 2022).
• "Facing Display Practices in Ancient African Collections," on Museum and Social Justice Panel in American Society for Overseas Research Annual Meeting (Boston, November 16-19, 2022).
• "Limitless Lines: Meroitic Painted Ceramics" public lecture for Alfred University (New York, September 2022).
• "At the Edge of the Sahara: Decorative Style between Egypt, Nubia, and West African Regions," on Positioning Egyptian Art in Museums Panel in College Art Association Annual Meeting (Chicago, 2022).
• "At the Edge of the Sahara," in West Africa and Beyond Conference (University of Amen, Dakar, 2022).
• "Daisies at the Hinterland: Trans-Saharan Decoration from Meroitic Nubia," David F. Grose Memorial Lecture for UMass Amherst Department of Classics (Amherst, 2022).
• "'The Site of Memory': Nubian Collections in North American Museums," poster in American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting (2021).
• "Anxieties about Race in Egyptology and Egyptomania, 1890-1960," panelist for American Research Center in Egypt (January 2021).
• "Geometry and Giraffes: The Cultural and Geographical Landscape of Meroitic Pottery," in American Research Center in Egypt Annual Meeting (2020).
• "Meroe: The Capital of Kush," public lecture for Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (2017).
• "Potters of the Nile," in Royal Ontario Museum Panel, Archaeological Institute of America Colloquium (Toronto, 2017).

Teaching Experience

• Professor - At the Edge of the Sahara: Materials and Trade in Ancient Africa (Bard Graduate Center, New York)
• Professor - Global Materials along the Nile: 3400 BCE - 500 CE (Bard Graduate Center, New York)
• Professor - Terracotta to Glaze: Ceramic Art in Africa from Antiquity to the Islamic Period (Bard Graduate Center, New York)
• Teaching Assistant - NMC101 - Land of the Pharaohs (University of Toronto, Toronto)