Anne Haour

Anne Haour is an Africanist, with expertise in West Africa and the Indian Ocean. An anthropologically trained archaeologist, she also uses historical sources to shed light on the period 500-1500 CE.

Her early work was in the West African Sahel; she led projects across Niger and directed a five-year ERC Starter Grant in northern Bénin. Large medieval polities are described by historical sources from the 12th century onwards, but little was known archaeologically. Haour’s international teams documented hundreds of previously unknown sites and their material culture. Sites of history and memory-making were identified through interviews, improving our understanding of Africa’s role in our global past.

When local historians showed Haour a site in the Niger River they identified as the source of imperial wealth in the form of cowrie shells, she began thinking about the processes through which value is created. That led to her next project (Leverhulme Trust), exploring the medieval routes and actors by which cowries came into Africa. Her team undertook archaeological and ethnographic work in the Maldives, environmental and ethnographic surveys in East Africa, and the study of museum collections in the UK and West Africa. Engagement with partners in the Maldives and capacity-strengthening work continue, supported by UEA.

Haour expands her scope through comparative work, examining themes such as migration and technological transfers, liminality, trade diasporas, and notions of incoming kings and blacksmiths. Together with her extensive regional reach (parts of Africa, Indian Ocean, Europe, China, and south-east Asia), her interdisciplinary approach ensures a wide audience for her work. She has written three books and edited three more, and has published close to 90 chapters and articles.