Letters in Mandinka 4 (Mandinkakaŋ Leetaroolu 4)
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| Title | Letters in Mandinka 4 (Mandinkakaŋ Leetaroolu 4) |
| Author or Owner | Arfang Karamba Drame (Owner) |
| Subject | Condolences, Updating Relatives, Request for Debt Payment, Request for Childcare Assistance |
| Content | This set of letters represents connections between communities far apart. Most of the letters discuss personal concerns. For example, the first letter asks for assistance with childcare by sending a nanny to live with the letter writer. The letters also uniformly feature greetings being passed along from several people to several others, and either send prayers to the recipient and their community or ask to receive prayers from the recipients. Many of the letters additionally feature apologies for delayed replies. In many of these cases, the letter writers were either waiting for more information as to the whereabouts of the recipient, dealing with personal difficulties, or hoping to collect some money to send back home. Broadly, these letters show the continued importance of Ajami writing in Mandinka communities for everyday tasks. |
| Genre | Prose |
| Language | Mandinka |
| Script | Mandinka Ajami |
| Manuscript condition | The manuscript is in good condition |
| Type | Handwritten |
| Publisher | Unpublished |
| Provenance | Sedhiou, Senegal |
| Source Reference | British Library: https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP1042-35-1; Ngom, Fallou, Castro, Eleni, & Diakité, Ablaye. 2018. African Ajami Library: EAP 1042. Digital Preservation of Mandinka Ajami Materials of Casamance, Senegal: https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/37524 |
| Access condition and copyright | These materials are subject to copyright and are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For use, distribution or reproduction beyond these terms, contact Professor Fallou Ngom (fngom@bu.edu). |
| Contributors | Fallou Ngom, Ablaye Diakite, Bala Saho, Ousmane Cisse, Daivi Rodima-Taylor, David Glovsky, Alison Parker, Shawn Provencal, Eric Schmidt, and Mark Lewis. |
| Required citation information | Fallou Ngom (PI), Ablaye Diakite, Bala Saho, Ousmane Cisse, Daivi Rodima-Taylor, David Glovsky, and other contributors. 2022. “Letters in Mandinka 4.” https://sites.bu.edu/nehajami/the-four-languages/mandinka/mandinka-manuscripts/mandinkakan-leetaroolu-4/ |
Manuscript
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Transcription and Translations
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