23 June 2017
In the Kuba Kingdom, men and women work side by side to create highly symbolic cloth known simply worldwide as Kuba cloth. The cloth is fabricated from the leaf of the raffia palm tree, the plant with the longest leaves in the world. The transformation from leaf to textile is easy to understand, but difficult to execute. Discarded leaves are gathered, dried, softened, dye...
24 March 2017
Many of humankind’s earliest civilizations began on the banks of rivers, but it wasn't long before people learned to build dams to stem the threat of floods and droughts. The oldest known dam is located in Jordan and dates back to 3000 BCE. It’s evidence of humankind’s ability to harness and control the flow of rivers, which allowed villages to become cities; and ultimat...
04 November 2016
What comes to mind when you think of traditional Chinese art? Is it porcelain, calligraphy, scholar's rocks or jade carvings? A category of artwork all too often overlooked is Chinese rugs. Surprisingly, there has been little historical documentation of wool weaving traditions in China. Despite the international trade that flourished for centuries, rugs and carpets were rarely exported. T...
13 October 2016
Globalization – the term describing free trade, cultural integration, vanishing borders and accessible communication throughout the world – is surprisingly modern. Coined in 1983 by Theodore Levitt, a marketing professor at the Harvard Business School, it considers the exponential influence of advancements in technology and the expansion of the internet. It’s hard to belie...
07 October 2016
Our earliest ancestors lived much like wild beasts, scavenging and hunting when they were hungry. They also walked for miles in search of food and water and then left when either ran out. Revolutionary changes in human behavior came about when bright souls across the world realized settled life was possible through farming and domesticating animals. They also realized pottery vessels could...
23 September 2016
The U.S. presidential election is heading toward a finale and two faces are on newspapers and television screens all over the world. Will Donald Trump become the most unconventional and unpredictable U.S. president the world has ever known? Or will Hillary Clinton make history as the first woman President of the United States? The concept of men exclusively holding positions of power has r...
15 July 2016
In the early 1900s, a couple embarked from their home in London to travel south into the heart of Africa. Their friends and relatives called them crazy and eccentric, even deranged, but they always had pity and sympathy in their voices. It was understandable. The couple had just suffered the tremendous loss of twins during child birth. Laura, the mother, had barely survived; and even after...
01 July 2016
Will you marry me? For some people it’s the biggest question they will ever ask; for others, it’s a question to be repeated multiple times during their lives. Yet, no matter how many times it is asked, this proposal is almost always accompanied by a ring. The tradition of giving and receiving rings has had fashionable, spiritual, and romantic significance for thousands of years...
24 June 2016
That night, Miok and his brothers stole Yerema from her crib and headed across the turbulent strait toward the mainland with only a thin sliver of light from the moon to guide them. Miok tucked the swaddled baby in a large ceremonial bowl that he had carved, hoping the spirit figures etched on its side would give her strength. By the time dawn broke, they were trekking through dense mainla...
03 June 2016
As the Ashanti chiefs gathered for a strategic meeting the anticipation of certain victory was almost tangible. Several chiefs were already whispering among themselves about the plans they had for their states after the Denkyira were overthrown. Osei Tutu arrived with his trusted advisor and priest, Okomfo Anokye, and sat before the chiefs. Anokye was greatly respected as a wise prophet. M...