History of African Muslims: Timbuktu and

This seminar uses the celebrated city of Timbuktu as a starting point from which to explore the history of West African Muslims and their scholarship from the age of the Sudanic empires (10th-17th centuries) through the troubled present in the Republic of Mali. Key questions include the relationship between scholars and rulers, the boundaries of the Muslim community, the entanglements of race, slavery, and religious practice, and the impact of secular governance on the Muslim scholarly tradition.