The Islamic Archive and Intellectual History in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ousmane Kane) – GloPhi – Philosophizing in a Globalized World

For most of the twentieth century, the debate about the production of knowledge in Africa centered on the colonial library and writings in European languages. There was little acknowledgment that a whole world of debate has been going on vigorously and extensively in other languages in Africa. This lecture will bring the Islamic library into the debate about the production of knowledge in postcolonial Africa. It will argue that a substantial number of intellectuals have made significant intellectual contributions in Arabic and Ajami (African languages written in Arabic script). The formation of this library spans a period of 800 years. It consists of historical writings, devotional writings, pedagogical writings, polemical writings, and political writings that must be taken into account in reconstructing African intellectual history.