Timbuktu and the Mobility of the Book in West Africa (and Beyond)
Friday, 21 June 2019, 9:30 – 11am 
A lecture by Prof Shamil Jeppie (University of Cape Town) as part of the 'Out of the Ashes' lecture series.
In the political crisis in northern Mali in late 2012 through to early 2013 Timbuktu was occupied by rebels who more-or-less ran the town for a number of months until French-led forces compelled their withdrawal. It was reported that during their last days the insurgents destroyed thousands of manuscripts from the town’s main archive-library. This act of vandalism drew a huge outcry of revulsion and condemnation. However, the extent of the damage and destruction was exaggerated; or, at least, we are uncertain of the extent of the loss of manuscripts. Furthermore, a number of family collections with thousands of items in hundreds of metal crates had been moved unnoticed from the town to the capital, Bamako, some 800 km away. A large part of an historic town’s archive had been relocated piece-meal over a number of weeks; sent by donkey-cart to river-boats on the Niger River and then by local taxis on the narrow national road under cover of night or other camouflage.
The crisis and the apparently secret transfer of the manuscripts have been sensationally covered in the media and recent journalistic works. But it led me to think of the longer-term history of the movement of books in the region (from at least the 1400s) which, after all is part of an ecological zone that has a long history of nomadism. It also led me to reflect on other examples of book destruction, other examples of the transplant of books under various types of stressful conditions; whether due to war or natural disasters. The events and narratives around Timbuktu were thus a useful way to begin to think of a not unfamiliar case of mobility in relation to books and archives, although it appears it is or has seldom provided an opportunity for reflection. This brings to mind March Bloch’s words to the effect that “for the historian there is nothing like a good catastrophe”
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About Shamil Jeppie
Shamil Jeppie is Associate Professor of History at the University of Cape Town and Director of the Institute of Humanities in Africa (HUMA). His research and publications focus on social and cultural history in South Africa and West Africa, and he is founder of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project, which explores the formation of a culture of collecting in Timbuktu. His books include Language, Identity, Modernity: The Arabic Study Circle of Durban (2007), and the co-edited volumes The Meanings of Timbuktu (2008), Muslim Family Law in Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonial Legacies and Post-Colonial Challenges (2010), and Toward New Histories for South Africa: On the Place of the Past in Our Present (2004).
About the the series
Creating, destroying and recovering human knowledge and cultural heritage—these are themes with enormous contemporary resonance. They are also processes with a deep history, both in an Irish context and across the globe.
This three-year lecture series explores the theme of cultural loss and recovery across the centuries, from the Library of Alexandria in antiquity to the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland at the outset of the Irish Civil War in 1922. Lectures will reflect on how societies deal with cultural trauma through reconstruction and commemoration, and on how the international community should respond to contemporary acts of cultural atrocity.
The series is global in scope, pan-historical and multi-disciplinary in approach, and features a panel of international scholars and practitioners of the highest calibre
The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.
Find out more about the series here
Campus Location: Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Accessibility: Yes
Research Theme: Identities in Transformation
Event Category: Alumni, Arts and Culture, Lectures and Seminars, Library, Public
Type of Event: One-time event
Audience: Undergrad, Postgrad, Alumni, Faculty & Staff, Public
Cost: Free (but registration is essential and will open in May 2019)
Contact Name: Trinity Long Room Hub
More info: www.eventbrite.ie…
