Program subject to minor changes.
Thursday, April 21st
Program of African Studies, 620 Library Place, Evanston IL
8:30-9:00 am: Breakfast
9:00-9:15 am: Welcome & Introductory Remarks
9:15-11:15 am: Panel 1A. Manuscript Aesthetics: The Arts of Scribes & Calligraphers
Chair: Sandy Prita Meier, School of Art & Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Discussant: Bilha Moor, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow of Islamic Art & Architecture, Northwestern University
Sara Fani & Adday Hernandez, Cross-Cultural & Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen
Scribal Practices in Arabic Manuscripts from Ethiopia: The Visual Expression of Fuṣḥā, ʻAǧamī and Esoteric Textual Manifestations
Kenneth Inyani Simala, East African Swahili Commission
Islamic Calligraphy and Classical Swahili Poetry: A Phenomenological Exegesis
Mustapha Hashim Kurfi, Sociology & African Studies, Boston University
The Hausa Calligraphic and Decorative Tradition
Mamadou Diallo, Independent Scholar, Abidjan & Bernard Salvaing, History, University of Nantes
Beyond the Script: An Introduction to Futa Toro and Futa Jalo Textual Cultures
11:15-11:30 am: Break
11:30 am-1:30 pm: Panel 1B. Manuscript Aesthetics: The Significance of Ajami
Chair: Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Block Museum of Art & Department of Art History, Northwestern University
Discussant: Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Philosophy & French, Columbia University
Dmitry Bondarev & Darya Ogorodnikova, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg
Visual and Linguistic Patterns of Ajami Paratexts in Islamic Manuscripts from Central and Western Sudan
Fallou Ngom, Anthropology & African Languages, Boston University
Visual Aesthetics of the Word in the Muridiyya
Nikolai Dobronravin, African Studies, St. Petersburg State University & Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg
Design Elements and Illuminations in the Arabic and Ajami “Market Literature” in Nigeria
Amidu Sanni, Arabic Studies, Lagos State University
Does a Yoruba Ajami Text Carry a Special Status? Yoruba ‘Waka’ between Spirituality and Profanity
1:30-2:30 pm: Lunch at the Program of African Studies
2:30-4:00 pm: Panel 2. Homage to John Owen Hunwick
Chair: Anne Bang, History, University of Bergen
Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Emeritus, Anthropology, University of Lorraine
Revisiting a Hunwick Translation
Scott Reese, History, Northern Arizona University
Underappreciated Print: Textual Production and Globalized Contexts in 20th Century African Islam
Mauro Nobili, History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
From the “Primitive City of Timbuctoo” to the “Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu”: Manuscript Culture in the Niger Bend and the Legacy of John Hunwick
Sali Shahsivari, Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, London
John O. Hunwick’s Contribution to the Preservation and Documentation of Manuscripts in West Africa
5:30-8:00 pm: Reception: Remembering John Owen Hunwick
John Evans Alumni Center, 1800 Sheridan Road, Evanston IL (NOTE LOCATION CHANGE)
Welcome Remarks: Jay Walsh, Vice President for Research, Northwestern University
Moderator: Charles C. Stewart, Emeritus, History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign & Director of Programming, ISITA
Please join friends, colleagues, and members of the Hunwick family in a time for remembering Professor John Hunwick and his many contributions. Refreshments will be served.
Friday, April 22nd
Program of African Studies, 620 Library Place, Evanston IL
8:30-9:00 am: Breakfast
9:00-10:30 am: Panel 3. Engaging with Texts: the Page and Beyond
Chair: Babacar Mbengue, Islamic World Studies, DePaul University
Discussant: Sean Hanretta, History & ISITA, Northwestern University
Amir Syed, Anthropology & History, University of Michigan
“I Am an Inheritor of the Prophet”: Love and Authority in al-Hajj ‘Umar Tal’s safinat al-sa’ada li-ahl du’uf wa najada
Stephanie Zehnle, Modern History, University of Kassel
Geographical Representation and Textuality in Sokoto
Paul Naylor, History, University of Birmingham
Abdullahi dan Fodio and the Arabic-Islamic Literary Imagination
10:30-11:00 am: Break
11:00 am-12:30 pm: Panel 4A. Transmitting Knowledge, Finding Meanings: From Sufism to Salafism
Chair: Robert Launay, Anthropology, Northwestern University
Discussant: Brannon Ingram, Religious Studies, Northwestern University
Abdalla Uba Adamu, Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria
Blasphemy from Below: Hausa Poetics and the Sacred-Profane Dichotomy in Sufi Performances in Northern Nigeria
Zachary Wright, History & Religious Studies, Northwestern University in Qatar
Hidden Words: Private Manuscripts as Historical Sources for the Origins of the Tijaniyya
Noah Salomon, Religious Studies, Carleton College
Rethinking Scripturalism: Ethics, Knowledge and Textual Practice in Contemporary Sudanese Salafism
12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch at the Program of African Studies
1:30-2:30 pm: Free time
Participants may choose to visit the Herskovits Library collection of Arabic Manuscripts from West Africa.
For those who wish to attend Jumah Prayer, it is held at on campus at 1:15 pm in Parkes Hall, Rm. 122, 1870 Sheridan Road.
2:30 pm: Transport to the American Islamic College leaves from the Program of African Studies.
American Islamic College, 620 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL (NOTE LOCATION CHANGE)
3:15-4:45 pm: Panel 4B. Transmitting Knowledge, Finding Meanings: The Holy Qur’an
Chair: Maimouna Barro, Center for African Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Discussant: Jawad Qureshi, American Islamic College & Islamic Studies, University of Chicago Divinity School
Corinne Fortier, Anthropology, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique
Power and Embodiment of Qur’anic Sacred Words
Afis Ayinde Oladosu, Arabic & Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan
“Sacred Just Like the Qur'ān?”! Dalāil al-Khayrāt of S.M. al-Jazoulī
Jeremy Dell, History, University of Pennsylvania
Reading the Qur'an in Wolof: The Tafsir of Muhammadu Dem
5:00-6:00 pm: Dinner at the American Islamic College
