Introduction / Alisa LaGamma --
Local perceptions of early times : odes to Sahelian empires / David C. Conrad --
On the shoreline of history : the state of archaeology in the Sahel / Roderick McIntosh and Mamadou Cissé --
Pre-Islamic artistic patronage / Alisa LaGamma --
Islam in the West African Sahel / Paulo F. de Moraes Farias --
Architecture in focus : four Sahelian landmarks / Giulia Paoletti --
Sahelian diasporas : migrations from ancient Ghana and Mali / Alisa LaGamma --
Collecting the Sahelian past : myth building and primary sources / Yaëlle Biro and Ibrahima Thiaw --
From the rise of Songhay to the fall of Segu / Alisa LaGamma --
Praying for life / Souleymane Bachir Diagne