By Xena Amro
A May 2022 workshop organized by ISITA and the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures at the University of Hamburg brought together scholars, librarians, and archivists to discuss methodologies and challenges of teaching with Arabic-script manuscripts from Africa. During this workshop, “Teaching with West African Manuscript Collections,” intellectuals from Northwestern University and the University of Hamburg teamed up to brainstorm ways in which faculty can encourage students to engage with the special collection of manuscripts from West Africa found in the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies.
Zekeria Ahmed Salem, the director of ISITA, and Rebecca Shereikis, the associate director of ISITA, led the multilayered discussions to design practical initiatives relevant to various stakeholders. Of course, the crux of the meeting was not only to stimulate the usage of the existing collections but also to emphasize issues of cataloging and lack of resources. These collections, which I was fortunate to peruse for a short time, can excite any spectator, even scholars whose primary research is not exclusive to West Africa. They cover many topics, such as sorcery, medicine, theology, and grammar.
Invited scholars, such as Dahlia Gubara (Koç University), Mauro Nobili (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Ali Diakite (Hill Museum and Manuscript Library), shared insights and personal experiences as they embark on new pedagogical projects. For instance, Nobili, in collaboration with ISITA, is working on a translation project called Maktaba (see the article on page 8 of the Spring 2022 issue of PAS News and Events) that will prove to be of extreme significance in classrooms. The special collections room on the fifth floor of the main library that we entered with Esmeralda Kale, the curator at the Herskovits Library, revealed the exceptional ongoing project to organize and digitize the collections. Kale, genuinely worried about the limited physical space and finding an Arabic-speaking assistant, did not hesitate to voice her concerns about the project’s urgency.
A final lecture by Charles Stewart, professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a renowned scholar of West African history, revisited an article he had coauthored over ten years ago on the historic “core curriculum” in Islamic West Africa. Using the larger sample of manuscripts from West African libraries that is now available in the West African Arabic Manuscripts Database (WAAMD), Stewart reassessed the earlier article’s findings and examined the concept of literary authority in Islamic West Africa. Ultimately, this workshop marks only the beginning of a conversation that will emerge again and again. ISITA’s diligence in investing in the unique and valuable collection of Arabic manuscripts from West Africa will
undoubtedly attract international professors and graduate students.