The Meanings of Timbuktu

Abstract

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki took a proactive stand in recognizing the significance and importance of Timbuktu’s rich African Muslim scholarly legacy after he visited the city during his official visit to Mali in November 2001. As a consequence of this trip, he initiated the South Africa-Mali Timbuktu project, which was subsequently declared a special “South African President” project. Apart from deepening the relations between these two nation-states, one extremely important outcome was the South African Department of Arts and Culture-supported conference held in Cape Town in August 2005. The book under review, which consists of the papers presented, was produced by Shamil Jeppie (advisor to South Africa’s inter-ministerial committee, which is also responsible for this special project, and a historian based at the University of Cape Town) and Souleymane Bachir Diagne (professor of philosophy, Northwestern University [Illinois]). This invaluable text makes African scholarship proud and has injected new life into Timbuktu and its manuscript tradition. The mere fact that it was aesthetically produced and accompanied by appropriate eye-catching illustrations is evidence that the editors took pride in compiling and editing material that would, upon first glance, attract the public eye. That said, the book itself is divided into five distinct sections consisting of twenty-four chapters, including the editors’ two introductory chapters ...