Courtnay Micots
Associate Professor, Art History
Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Center West, Room 104
(850) 561-2844
courtnay.micots@famu.edu
INTRODUCTION
I completed my graduate work in African Art History at the University of Florida. My research interests center upon the Modern and Contemporary periods with particular focus on colonialism from the perspective of the disenfranchised, especially those from African and other Black Atlantic cultures.
Over the past decade, I have conducted research in Ghana, the Republic of Benin, England and South Africa, and have also traveled to Burkina Faso, Togo and Zimbabwe. My research projects and publications focus on cross-cultural issues and visual studies within Africa and the Black Diaspora from the Modern period to present-day, examining assimilation and resistance in the colonial and postcolonial eras as well as connections to heritage and modernity as a means to establish identity. My publications have analyzed African colonial architecture, Akan leadership chairs, Fante asafo flags, Fancy Dress Carnival in southern Ghana, and carnival arts in Johannesburg, South Africa.
I was the recipient of an NEH Award for Faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities for the completion of my book Kakaamatobe: Fancy Dress Carnival in Ghana in 2019. The book was published in 2021.
In my teaching I apply creative, experimental approaches to engage students. Since my research projects and publications focus upon cross-cultural issues and visual studies within global Africa and the Diaspora, I bring a unique perspective to courses on African, American, Black Diaspora and European art.
In the spring of 2016, I initiated the ARTalks series. This program brings arts professionals to FAMU to further engage and educate our students.
I spearheaded and manage the Fine Arts Collection of African and Diaspora Art, comprised of 156 objects of African art. In late 2017, I curated two exhibitions “Fancy Dress Masquerade” at Gallery 1957 in Accra, Ghana, from August 10-September 2, and “A Single Bracelet Does Not Jingle: Recent Donations of African Art to the Visual Arts Collection” in FAMU’s Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Gallery from October 10-December 8. I curated the fall 2019 exhibition, “Perceptions: Encounters with African Art” in the FAMU Architecture Gallery, which combined artwork from the collection with student work in the Visual Arts program studio courses. Students in my African Art History course have assisted with both of these exhibitions by writing labels, designing the exhibition space and participating in the installation and deinstallation.
In 2022, I was appointed to the Steering Committee of the Working Group on Best Practices in Collaboration, Collecting, and Restitution for North American Museums Holding African Objects: an ad hoc committee of the Arts Council of African Studies Association (ACASA). With more than 18 years of curatorial experience with museums and collections in the United States and abroad, my goal is to bring my research to life in gallery and other public spaces.
EDUCATION
University of Florida, African Art History, Ph.D., 2010
Cleveland State University, Art History and History, M.A., 1992
Georgia State University, Art History, B.A., 1990
COURSES TAUGHT AT FAMU
Art Appreciation, Art History I, Art History II, Modern Art History, American Art History, African Art History, African-American Art History
SELECTED AWARDS
NEH Award for Faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 2019
Faculty Travel Award, Florida A & M University, Summer 2017
Triennial Symposium Travel Award, Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), 2014
Two Teaching and Learning Grants, Center for Advanced Teaching and Learning, Elon University, 2013
Center for African Studies Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Summer Intensive
Language Study, University of Florida/University of Cape Coast (Ghana), 2009
Graduate Teaching Assistantship, University of Florida, 2006-2010
Dr. Linton E. Grinter Fellowship, University of Florida, 2006-2009
RECENT EXHIBITIONS
"Perceptions: Encounters with African Art." FAMU Architecture Gallery, Tallahassee, FL, October 7 - November 8, 2019
“A Single Bracelet Does Not Jingle: Recent Donations of African Art to the Visual Arts Collection.” FAMU Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Gallery, Tallahassee, FL, October 10 – December 8, 2017
“Fancy Dress Masquerade.” Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana, August 10 – September 2, 2017
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“A Palace to Rival British Rule: The Amonoo Residence in Ghana.” Critical Interventions 11, no. 2 (2017): 132-154. pdf
“Joburg Carnival and the Potential for Social Cohesion and Therapeutic Activism.” South African Journal of Art History 32, no. 1 (2017): 89-109. pdf
“Kente Cloth.” Smarthistory. (2017) website
Review of Paul Schauert, Staging Ghana: Artistry and Nationalism in State Dance Ensembles for African Studies Quarterly 17, no. 1 (March 2017): 148-149. pdf
"Age of Elegance: An Italianate Sobrado on the Gold Coast." African Studies Quarterly 16, no. 1 (December 2015): 39-71. pdf
“Status and Mimicry: African Colonial Period Architecture in Coastal Ghana.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 74, no. 1 (March 2015): 42-63. pdf
“Carnival in Ghana: Fancy Dress Street Parades and Competition.” African Arts 47, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 30-41. pdf1 pdf2
“Fancy Dress: African Masquerade in Coastal Ghana” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion online, Berg Fashion Library, ed. Joanne Eicher and Doran Ross. Africa volume, November 2012. pdf
“Masquefest 2012.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion online, Berg Fashion Library, ed. Joanne Eicher and Doran Ross. Africa volume, November 2012. pdf
“Performing Ferocity: Fancy Dress, Asafo and Red Indians in Ghana.” African Arts 45, no. 2 (Summer 2012): 24-35. pdf
“Griffins, Crocodiles and the British Ensign: Kweku Kakanu's Asafo Flags and Followers.” In Africa Interweave, ed. Susan Cooksey, 142-145. Gainesville: Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, 2011. pdf
Review of Charles Gore, Art, Performance and Ritual in Benin City, for Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 81, no. 3 (August 2011): 512-514. Pdf