Ajami Manuscripts: New Sources of Knowledge for African and African Diaspora Studies

Please join CSAAD for our annual Distinguished Scholar Event, featuring Dr. Fallou Ngom’s lecture presentation on Ajami Manuscript. Sub-Saharan Africa is often portrayed as being illiterate due to the Eurocentric tradition that equates literacy with the ability to read and write only in European languages and the Roman alphabet. However, millions of Africans have been reading and writing various types of religious and non-religious texts in local languages, using enriched forms of the Arabic script known as Ajami. In this lecture, Dr. Ngom will explore what scholars and students in African and African diaspora studies can gain by studying African Ajami manuscripts.