"Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu." 15th-century Malian proverb
In a joint project between South Africa and Mali, a library to preserve more than 200 000 Arabic and West African manuscripts dating from the 13th to the 19th centuries is currently under construction. It is the first official cultural project of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), the socio-economic development plan of the African Union, and when the library is built, the cultural role of Timbuktu will be revived, as it becomes the safehaven for the treasured manuscripts. The manuscripts prove that Africa had a rich legacy of written history, long before western colonisers set foot on the continent.
This volume, authored by leading international scholars, begins to sketch the 'meaning' of Timbuktu within the context of the intellectual history of West Africa, in particular, and of the African continent, in general. The book covers four broad areas: Part I provides an introduction to the region; outlines what archaeology can tell us of its history, examines the paper and various calligraphic styles used in the manuscripts; and explains how ancient institutions of scholarship functioned. Part II begins to analyse what the manuscripts can tell us of African history. Part III offers insight into the lives and works of just a few of the many scholars who achieved renown in the region and beyond. Part IV provides a glimpse into Timbuktu's libraries and private collections. Part V looks at the written legacy of the eastern half of Africa, which like that of the western region, is often ignored.
A fascinating read for anyone who wishes to gain an understanding of the aura of mystique and legend that surrounds Timbuktu. The Meanings of Timbuktu strives to contextualize and clarify the importance of efforts to preserve Timbuktu's manuscripts for Mali, for Africa and for the intellectual world.
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Contents Include
Preface
Acknowledgements
Timeline of important dates in Timbuktu history
Map of North and West Africa
Prolegomena
- Re/discovering Timbuktu
Shamil Jeppie - Toward an intellectual history of West Africa: the meaning of Timbuktu
Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Part I: An introduction to the Timbuktu region
- Before Timbuktu: cities of the elder world
Roderick J McIntosh - Paper in Soudanic Africa
Jonathan M Bloom - Arabic calligraphy in West Africa
Sheila S Blair - Timbuktu and Walata: lineages and higher education
Timothy Cleaveland
Part II: Arabic literature as a source of African history
- Intellectual innovation and reinvention of the Sahel: the seventeenth-century Timbuktu chronicles
Paulo F de Moraes Farias - Ajami in Africa: the use of Arabic script in the transcription of African languages
Moulaye Hassane - Ajami literature and the study of the Sokoto Caliphate
Hamid Boboyyi - The book in the Sokoto Caliphate
Murray Last - Muslim women scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Morocco to Nigeria
Beverly B Mack - The Tombouctou Manuscript Project: social history approaches
Aslam Farouk-Alli & Shaheed Mathee
Part III: Scholars of Timbuktu
- The life of Shaykh Sidi al-Mukhtar al-Kunti
Yahya Ould el-Bara - The works of Shaykh Sidi al-Mukhtar al-Kunti
Mahamane Mahamoudou - A man of letters in Timbuktu: al-Shaykh Sdi Muhammad al-Kunti
Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh - Abul Khayr al-Arawani, great scholar and pious saint
Mohamed Diagayet
Part IV: The Timbuktu Libraries
- The state of manuscripts in Mali and efforts to preserve them
Abdelkader Mamma Haidara - The private libraries of Timbuktu
Ismal Diadi Haidara & Haoua Taore - Shaykh Baghayogho al-Wangari and the Wangari Library in Timbuktu
Mukhtar bin Yahya al-Wangari - The Ahmed Baba Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies and Research
Sidi Mohammed Ould Youbba - The Arabic Literature of Africa Project
John Hunwick - The West African Arabic manuscript database
Charles C Stewart
Part V: Beyond Timbuktu
- Arabic literature in the eastern half of Africa
Sean OFahey - Textual sources on an Islamic African past: Arabic material in Zanzibars National Archive
Anne K Bang
