Panel 1, First Session: Historical Traditions of Arabic-Script Manuscripts in Africa

This panel concerns the study of historical Arabic-script manuscript cultures and traditions—both Arabic and non-Arabic language—in North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, manuscripts and intellectual and social networks; the trade of manuscripts; the history of specific texts or genres in the manuscript medium; paratexts; the materiality and making of manuscripts; and the relationship between manuscript and print culture.

Moderator: Seyni Moumouni, Director of the Institute of Research in the Human Sciences (I.R.S.H.) – Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey, Niger

Keynote Paper: The Heritage of African Languages in Arabic-Script Manuscripts (al-Ajami) by Helmi Sharawy, President of the Arab and African Research Center (AARC) – Cairo, Egypt
(Presentation Recording – Original)    (Presentation Recording – English Interpretation)

Selected Paper: Creation and Spread of Arabic-Script Manuscripts Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa by Bahija al-Chadili, Professor of African History at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, University of Hassan II – Casablanca, Morocco
(Presentation Recording – Original)    (Presentation Recording – English Interpretation)

Selected Paper: Islamic Manuscripts and Scholarly Networks in the Senegambia and Mali by Darya Ogorodnikova, Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), University of Hamburg – Hamburg, Germany
(Presentation Recording – Original)    (Presentation Recording – English Interpretation)