READ: Prof. Fallou Ngom and Dr. Daivi Rodima-Taylor co-edited a special issue in Islamic Africa, titled “Ajami Literacies of Africa: The Wolof, Mandinka, Hausa, and Fula Traditions”
Prof. Fallou Ngom and Dr. Daivi Rodima-Taylor co-edited a special issue in Islamic Africa (vols. 14.2 and 15.1), titled “Ajami Literacies of Africa: The Wolof, Mandinka, Hausa, and Fula Traditions” (with David Robinson and Rebecca Shereikis). The double special issue situates African Ajami studies within participatory multimedia and digital archiving approaches, and centers around the knowledge generated through the African Ajami [n]research project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The articles of the special issue establish important historical dimensions of the role of Ajami literacy in mediating grassroots communities that have not yet been systematically studied. They enable unique comparative perspectives on Ajami use in four major West African languages, contributing to the interpretive and contextual analysis of Ajami literacies and their social role. The special issue articles draw on the materials in our African Ajami collections, analyzing various manuscripts and topics and situating them socially and temporally in their communities of origin. It also explores the role of digital technologies and archival methods in studying and preserving African Ajami texts. You can read more about the special issue here: https://sites.bu.edu/nehajami/blog/