State Library of Pennsylvania STEMlab Adult Programs - 2024 Monthly Series

This Libguide is to accompany the virtual STEMlab Adult Programs for 2024

Ajama Event Details

Science Programs for Adults: Ajami - July 18, 2024

July 18, Noon – 1 pm

What does Arabic have to do with writing systems in Africa? Where can we find these sources, and how can we preserve them?

Cultural Legacy of West Africa
A look at the cultures of West Africa through colonialism

How Griots Tell Legendary Epics through Stories and Songs in West Africa
The storytelling and oral tradition of West Africa
Ajami script
The Wikipedia introduction
Precolonial Africa had written traditions
Bursting the myth of illiteracy in precolonial Africa

Introducing Ajami - A Lesson for Students
A lesson for students on the Ajami script
Ajami script for the Mande languages
A specific example of the use of the script for an African language
Introducing the Ajami Literatures of Islamic Africa
A quick scholarly look at Ajami and surviving Ajami texts

Ajami The Old African Script
An introductory article, including script examples
Arabic
A quick look at how the Arabic script came to Africa, from the exhibit at the National Museum of African Art
EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE: AJAMI WRITING
A look at the countries which used the Ajami script
Sulemaana Kantè and a Map of Selected Traditions of Ajami Literacy in West Africa
The inventor of the related N'ko script
UNEARTHED AJAMI SCRIPT DISPELS COLONIAL MYTH
The discovery of the first studied example of the Ajami script

Connecting Threads: Islam, Arabic and Ajami
Issue 2 of the Boctou magazine published by the Howard University Center for African Studies. This issue focuses on Ajami

Ajami Manuscripts
An article on the digitization of the manuscripts of Timbuktu, many in Ajami
From Africa in Ajami
The Aramco World article on Ajami
Use of Arabic script in early Swahili literature
An exhibit at the University of Kansas
The Role of the Ajami Script in African Literacy By Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman
The history of Ajami in Nigeria
Digitizing Ajami, a Centuries-Old African Script
An article about the Boston University project in Senegal
Learning about West African Ajami
The Digital Orientalist article on digitizing Ajami, including the development of the tool for inputting the script
Digital preservation of Wolof Ajami manuscripts of Senegal (EAP334)
Another article on the digitization of Ajami in Senegal
The Timbuktu Manuscripts
The results of Google's ongoing project to preserve the manuscripts of Timbuktu's libraries and universities
The Timbuktu Manuscripts
Access to the individual Timbuktu manuscripts, in Google Arts and Culture
Meet Mali - home of manuscripts, music and magic
More on the manuscripts of Timbuktu
University of al-Qarawiyyin
The world's oldest university, founded in 857 AD by Fatima al-Fihri in Fez, Morocco