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I don't understand how such a widespread writing system (as asserted in the article) could have been overlooked by the colonial rulers, let alone by anyone unti
by schnable 4y ago
I don't understand how such a widespread writing system (as asserted in the article) could have been overlooked by the colonial rulers, let alone by anyone until 2004. I'm not saying it's not true, but if it is, the explanation is surely more layered that what can be explained simply by asserting colonialism/Euro-centrism, even if that is the root reason. It would be fascinating, and I'd like to hear it!
- coliveira 4y agoIt is quite simple to understand: Europeans had a vested interest in saying that Africans were all illiterate to justify its oppression. They just disregarded the written script as non-official and continued on this fantasy until very recently.
- mytailorisrich 4y agoIt wasn't overlooked and isn't overlooked. It is well-known. For instance, the story of this article is in Senegal where there is an official norm and effort to normalise ajami scripts for specific local languages [1] (many of the Wikipedia pages on the topic seem to be only in French). Overall, the article feels very misleading and politically orientated. There's no 'discovery' apart from the fact that that guy didn't known about it, which is actually strange from a Senegalese person, whose father could write it, and who teaches linguistics. Maybe his father wanted him to be 'modern' and to get a good career and to study in French only (the Senegalese elite tends to speak better French and to know more about French literature than most French...) [1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caract%C3%A8res_coraniques_harmonis%C3%A9s https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caract%C3%A8res_coraniques_har...
- Terretta 4y agoThis narrative is how you get new grant money.