Dr Anne Bang, Chr. Michelsen Institute 
2011 award - Major projectThis project will salvage the manuscript collection held at the Riyadha mosque in Lamu, Kenya. The collection of approximately 130 manuscripts holds several unique copies and represents Islamic education in East Africa for the past few hundred years, with the manuscripts dating from 1837 to 1920. The collection is in a state of rapid deterioration, being stored in a broken cupboard exposing the material to the harmful climatic conditions prevalent in Lamu, of humidity causing fungus and mildew.

University of Cape Town CCI Conference: “The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa” September 5th-6th, 2013 
8 April 2013

Click on the image to listen to this Roundtable discussion on "Reconceptualizing African Islam and the Global Community of Believers" from the 55th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association held on November 30, 2012. Moderated by Scott Reece (Northern Arizona University and the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa Northwestern University), the pa

 APSA is accepting applications for participation through March 15 and would appreciate your help in sharing news of this opportunity throughout the Islamic Africa community. Please also feel free to share this throughout your own networks, with any scholars or researchers in Africa (and US graduate students) who may be interested in taking part. We are especially interested in increasing the ratio of applications submitted by women.

An interesting two week workshop on "Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective," will be held in July. The event is jointly sponsored by the American Political Science Association and the Institut pour la Gouvernance et le Développement. The workshop will be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 1-12 July 2013. The workshop is intended for scholars based in African Universities anywhere on the continent.

Since the start of this week there are reports about the destruction of library buildings and book collections in Timbuktu. It sounds as if the written heritage of the town went up in flames. According to our information this is not the case at all. The custodians of the libraries worked quietly throughout the rebel occupation of Timbuktu to ensure the safety of their materials. A limited number of items have been damaged or stolen...

A Report prepared by Muhammed Haron (University of Botswana) The report covers the following topics:  1. Africa’s Manuscripts: Earlier Academic Efforts  2. Fontes Historiae Africanae: Its Aims and Projects  3. The Conference Presentations  4. Towards a conclusion   Click here to download full report:

Mali’s political crisis threatens Timbuktu manuscripts

The Program of African Studies and the University Press of Northwestern University invite applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship supported generously by the Mellon Foundation. Applications are invited from Africa-based scholars who have completed their PhDs in African universities within the past five years.

“Traces of Light” is an exhibit of photographs and manuscripts related to the Tariqa Tijaniyya  or Tijaniyya Sufi order.  Established in Algeria in 1782 by Shaykh Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani, the Tariqa Tijaniyya has since spread throughout the world, with large Tijani communities today found in Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Egypt, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan, South Africa, Indonesia, and elsewhere.  Since the nineteenth century, the Tijaniyya has been the most prominent Sufi order on the African continent.