Cynthia Becker, a professor of African art at Boston University, lived in Morocco for several years. She has served as a consultant on North African art and culture for numerous media projects and museums, including a National Geographic Television series on the Tuaregs and an article about Morocco’s Berbers for the July 2005 issues of National Geographic magazine. A recipient of several Fulbright grants and numerous other fellowships, Cynthia writes and speaks widely about the artistic and historical connections between northern and western Africa, contemporary Moroccan art, and the ceremonial practices of the Gnaoua. Cynthia is the author of Amazing Arts in Morocco: Women Shaping Berber Identity and Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection, as well as numerous articles.