Explore the Wolof Ajami Reader: First of Three Ajami Readers Now Online

We are pleased to announce that the Wolof Ajami Reader, the first in a series of three planned Ajami Readers, is now available on the RIA website in the Wolof Resources section. Our specialized Ajami Readers—covering Wolof, Mandinka, and Hausa, three major African languages with rich Ajami traditions—are designed to equip students, teachers, scholars, and […]

Our project members presented at the International Research and Studies Program meeting

Our staff members attended the Project Directors Meeting of the International Research and Studies Program of the United States Department of Education that took place on April 12, 2024, in Washington, DC. Prof. Fallou Ngom and Dr. Daivi Rodima-Taylor presented on our ongoing project, Project RIA: Readers in Ajami and Companion Multimedia Website. The International […]

Our work was featured on the British Library Endangered Archives blog site

The British Library Endangered Archives blog posted our article about our new project, Digital Preservation of Fuuta Jalon Scholars’ Arabic and Ajami Materials in Senegal and Guinea. The project is funded by a grant from the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP1430). It seeks to digitally preserve 50,000 pages of endangered Arabic and Ajami manuscripts (texts written […]

Our African Ajami scholars publish special issue in Islamic Africa journal

Our new special issue in Islamic Africa examines Ajami literatures and literacies in West Africa and situates African Ajami studies in participatory multimedia and digital archiving approaches. The double special issue of nine articles is titled “Ajami Literacies of Africa: the Wolof, Mandinka, Hausa and Fula Traditions” and is co-edited by Fallou Ngom, Daivi Rodima-Taylor, […]

BU NEH Ajami Project Sharing New Resources

The Boston University NEH Ajami project is pleased to share the resources it has developed in the course of the three-year research engagement, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project, Ajami Literacy and the Expansion of Literacy and Islam: The Case of West Africa, has digitized a unique selection of manuscripts in […]

Collaborative Workshop: Three Years of the NEH Ajami Project

On July 7-9, 2022, the participants of the NEH-funded Ajami project gathered for a three-day workshop to share experience, best practices and lessons learned, and plans for the future. The three-year project explores the Ajami literatures of four main languages of West Africa, seeking to increase global access to primary sources in Ajami. In the […]

New Federal Grant Award: Readers in Ajami

The team of Ajami scholars at Boston University, led by Professor Fallou Ngom, has been awarded a three-year grant of $178,900 by the U.S. Department of Education to develop specialized Ajami readers in Hausa, Wolof, and Mandinka (three major African languages with rich written Ajami literatures) with a multimedia companion website. The project will provide […]