I Tatti will offer two residential Fellowships during the 2023-2024 academic year for scholars from African nations whose work examines exchanges within and between the African continent and the wider Mediterranean world during the early modern period (14th - 17th centuries). Designed for scholars working on African artistic and architectural material (including those working in archaeology and anthropology) and made possible by a generous grant from the Getty Foundation, the fellowships seek to create and promote collaboration between scholars working in African institutions and those working in European and North American institutions. Projects will explore the reception of antiquity in the modern era (a major topic for the African countries that had been part of the Roman empire) and the reception and impact of artworks, crafts and practices of the early modern period created within the Eurafrica space on the modern and contemporary world. We are particularly interested in projects that connect the visual and material histories of Sub-Saharan Africa with those of Italy, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, broadly conceived.

As part of the larger Black Mediterranean/Mediterraneo Nero project, the Fellows will become automatic participants in a series of multi-day events  to take place at I Tatti and, if possible, at one or more African institutions during the 2023-2024 Academic Year. (The eventual schedule of the programming will ideally be tailored with special consideration given to the projects of the Appointees; details about this programming to follow.) Based at I Tatti, the two Fellows will be embedded in a stimulating interdisciplinary milieu of scholars whose work is centered on the Mediterranean and Mediterranean cultures.

Applicants for the Fellowships must be nationals of African countries, with preference given to scholars based or connected to African universities, museums, and cultural institutions. Applicants must be fluent in either English, Italian, or French and have a PhD certificate in hand by the time they apply (and will be asked to upload a scan of it when submitting their application). Successful applicants will have a solid background in premodern Africa and its global exchanges. Candidates offered the Fellowships will spend a four-month or six-moth term in Florence at I Tatti with access to local and regional resources (libraries, photographic collections, archives, museums, collections). The Fellows will be expected to carry out original research on the topic for which they have been awarded their fellowship. Term Fellowships at I Tatti can be held only once and cannot be deferred. Term Fellowships are intended for scholars who have not previously held appointments at I Tatti (with the exception of Graduate Fellows).