The art of memory and the chancery of sinnar

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Abstract

The controversial relationship between “literacy” and “orality” may fruitfully be studied within the long historical experience of the Sudan, where diverse examples of both may be found. This chapter uses arguments based on the oral perspective to refine a critique of the extant written Arabic charter literature from the Funj kingdom of Sinnar (c.1500-1821). The genre is found to be an original creation of the later seventeenth century, rooted in older court bureaucratic institutions and a local understanding of Islam that valued both literacy and the oral transmission of important matters.

Publication Title

A Companion to African History

First Page Number

421

Last Page Number

429

DOI

10.1002/9781119063551.ch22

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