Wednesday, November 6th: Lecture by Amir Syed of The University of Pittsburgh: "The Realm of the Written: Textual Practice, Knowledge Transmission, and Scholarly Authority in 19th Century Islamic West Africa"

November 6 | 4:30 pm | Swift Common Room (1st floor)

Abstract: This talk focuses on al-ḥājj ʿUmar Fūtī Tāl, one of the foremost Muslim intellectuals of nineteenth century West Africa. It draws on material from al-ḥājj ʿUmar’s understudied library of 4100 Arabic manuscripts—the Bibliothèque ‘Umarienne de Ségou, which French colonialists seized in 1890. The Bibliothèque ‘Umarienne de Ségou offers a unique window on the rich and vibrant textual traditions of West Africa. Scholars working in the disciplines of both African studies and Islamic studies have yet to fully exploit such crucial internal sources in the study of Islam in Africa. This talk demonstrates how an engagement with Arabic sources provides new methodological and interpretive insights for the study of Islamic West Africa. It highlights the links between West Africa and other parts of the Islamicate world, Islamic knowledge practices, and the construction of different forms of authority during a critical period in this region’s history.

Amir Syed is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the history department at the University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches courses in African and Islamic history. His research focuses on the transnational and intellectual histories of Muslim communities in Africa, the transmission of Islamic knowledge, the circulation of ideas, the construction of various forms of religious authority, and the relationship between orality and textuality. He has conducted ethnographic research in Gambia and Egypt, as well as archival and oral historical research in Senegal, Gambia and France. His current book project investigates the political and intellectual histories of nineteenth century West Africa through an analysis of the scholarly production and life of the significant West African Muslim scholar, al-ḥājj ʿUmar Tāl (d. 1864). He is the co-author of Jihad of the Pen: The Sufi Literature of West Africa (2018). He received his PhD from the Interdisciplinary Program in Anthropology and History at the University of Michigan (2017).

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