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 is currently leading the project Where the sea meets the land: Coastal heritage, community resilience and inclusion in a changing landscape (CoHeRe), with funding from Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE), the UK’s £110 million flagship research programme on climate adaptation and resilience. Working with university and NGO partners in Bénin (West Africa) and at Durham University, the project will run until late 2026. Collaborating with coastal communities, governments, and NGOs in Bénin, the team aims to help improve resilience to evolving climate and environmental hazards through a focus on the engagement with, and management of, heritage. The underpinning thread is the role of places in people’s constructions of identity, decision-making and ability to act. The team, who have collaborated for close to a decade, will combine their multidisciplinary expertise with that of the communities concerned, aiming to build resilience towards increasing environmental hazards and in turn cultivate individual and community agency over change. In line with the CLARE ethos, CoHeRe is aiming to bridge critical gaps between science and action by championing Southern leadership of research, and for research to benefit local communities and legislators in Bénin, as well as on the wider Western African coast and beyond.