African voices in the Islamic manuscripts from Mali: documenting and exploring African languages written in Arabic script (Ajami)

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African languages written in Arabic script (Ajami) are a neglected field of African studies. The role played by local languages in the Muslim literacy and the Islamic manuscript cultures that have existed for centuries in multilingual and multiethnic West Africa is still only poorly understood. In order to fill the gaps in our understanding of African languages and cultures, the project will carry out large-scale research on the Ajami manuscripts held in the Timbuktu collections transferred to Bamako, as well as in some other Malian libraries. The main objectives of the project are as follows. (1) In-depth cataloguing of a large and representative number of the Ajami manuscripts. (2) Historical and linguistic analysis of the material brought to light by the cataloguing process. (3) Establishment of a foundation for the interdisciplinary field of Ajami studies. These tasks will be performed by a team of scholars, one unit working in Germany and the other in Mali. The research, planned to span twelve years, will be conducted in collaboration with international specialists. The results of the project will be of importance for many fields of research, such as the history of sub-Saharan Africa, the history of Islamic thought, anthropology,literacy studies, sociolinguistics and comparative manuscript studies.