‘Collecting and Communication: Episodes from Timbuktu in Times of Distress’ 

by Dr. Shamil Jeppie (Institute for Humanities in Africa (Huma), University of Cape Town, S.A.

The northern Malian town of Timbuktu was occupied by rebels in the middle of 2012, and the rebels were driven out early 2013. During this period thousands of the town’s inhabitants fled; and we learned recently that at some point it was decided to move thousands of its manuscripts as well. These manuscripts are among the famous cultural property of the town, likes its mosques and sufi tombs. How did these manuscripts travel from the heart of Timbuktu out of it and to the capital, Bamako, about 800 km away? What were the mechanisms of communication that enabled the library owners and local participants in the manuscript enterprises to talk and organize to move these materials under such conditions? In trying to answer this question one encounters the contemporary scene of land and mobile telephony, but also the older worlds of the pinasse, the bush taxi, and other forms of transport and communication. We also have to think historically about earlier episodes of distress and conflict in the region and the fate of manuscripts collections in those times. This lecture explores the intersection of manuscript collecting and communicating at various levels, between different distances, and with diverse forms of technology.

The full video and a video summary of this seminar is now online for the public.