The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2017

The Arts and Crafts of Literacy

Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa

Edited by: Andrea Brigaglia and Mauro Nobili

Volume 12 in the series Studies in Manuscript Cultures

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110541441

Overview
Contents

About this book

During the last two decades, the (re-)discovery of thousands of manuscripts in different regions of sub-Saharan Africa has questioned the long-standing approach of Africa as a continent only characterized by orality and legitimately assigned to the continent the status of a civilization of written literacy.

However, most of the existing studies mainly aim at serving literary and historical purposes, and focus only on the textual dimension of the manuscripts. This book advances on the contrary a holistic approach to the study of these manuscripts and gather contributions on the different dimensions of the manuscript, i.e. the materials, the technologies, the practices and the communities involved in the production, commercialization, circulation, preservation and consumption.

The originality of this book is found in its methodological approach as well as its comparative geographic focus, presenting studies on a continental scale, including regions formerly neglected by existing scholarship, provides a unique opportunity to expand our still scanty knowledge of the different manuscript cultures that the African continent has developed and that often can still be considered as living traditions.

Author / Editor information

Andrea Brigaglia, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Mauro Nobili, Univeristy of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign IL, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction: African History and Islamic Manuscript Cultures Mauro Nobili Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Section 1: Writing Supports
New Strategies in Using Watermarks to Date Sub-Saharan Islamic Manuscripts Michaelle Biddle Publicly Available Download PDF	27
Fī Lawḥin Maḥfūẓ: Towards a Phenomenological Analysis of the Quranic Tablet Andrea Brigaglia Publicly Available Download PDF	69
Section 2: Around the Texts
Islamic Education and Ample Space Layout in West African Islamic Manuscripts Dmitry Bondarev Publicly Available Download PDF	105
A Preliminary Appraisal of Marginalia in West African Manuscripts from the Mamma Haïdara Memorial Library Collection (Timbuktu) Susana Molins Lliteras Publicly Available Download PDF	143
Section 3: Writing Practices and Authorship around the Continents
Writing in Africa: The Kilwa Chronicle and other Sixteenth-Century Portuguese Testimonies Adrien Delmas Publicly Available Download PDF	181
Bamana Texts in Arabic Characters: Some Leaves from Mali Tal Tamari Publicly Available Download PDF	207
Arabic and Swahili Documents from the Pre-Colonial Congo and the EIC (Congo Free State, 1885–1908): Who were the Scribes? Xavier Luffin Publicly Available Download PDF	279
Section 4: Notes
Moodibbo Bello Aamadu Mohammadu and the Daada Maaje, a Handbook in an Indigenous Fulfulde Script Mohamadou Halirou Publicly Available Download PDF	299
Elements of a ‘Timbuktu Manual of Style’ Mahmoud Mohamed Dédéou and Shamil Jeppie Publicly Available Download PDF	309
Seven Gravestones at the Muslim Tana Baru Cemetery in Cape Town: A Descriptive Note Alessandro Gori Publicly Available Download PDF	313
Kaʾana Umar’s ‘CCI Quran’: The Making of a Bornuan Manuscript in the Twenty-First Century Maimadu Barma Mutai and Andrea Brigaglia Publicly Available Download PDF	331
Index of Place Names Publicly Available Download PDF	353
List of Contributors Publicly Available Download PDF	365

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars, insitutes, libraries (epistemology, history of knowledge, media history, Islam studies)
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 367
Keywords: Subsahara; Islam culture; manuscript

eBook

Published: September 11, 2017
ISBN: 9783110541441

Hardcover

Published: September 11, 2017
ISBN: 9783110541403