Ghislaine lydon biography

&#;&#;do&#;@&#;&#;&#;tory.&#;c&#;a.&#;&#;&#;Phone: Office: Bunche Hall

Associate Professor

Fields of Interest: Global Economies and Networks, African Economies, Literacy and Paper Economies, Women&#;s Rights

Education

• PhD, History, Michigan State University
• BA, African Studies, McGill University

Research

I am currently finalizing a book manuscript entitled &#;Paper Economies of Africa and their Relevance to World History.&#; This work examines the place of literacy in the organization of African economies, from Antiquity to the mid-fifteenth century.

This is a broad synthesis that begins with a reflection on the place of paper in world history, and goes on to consider how commercial literacy and legal institutions shaped what I call ‘paper economies.’

My next projects include a study of the evolution of women&#;s rights in Muslim Africa, and the second volume of my first book on the organization of trans-Saharan caravan trade, focused o