Textual Life - Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities

The Senegalese Muslim scholar Shaykh Musa Kamara wrote a monumental history of West Africa in a time when colonial discourses asserted that Africans lacked both writing and history. Textual Life considers Kamara's story as a parable about the fate of the humanities amid epistemic and technological change.

About the author

Wendell H. Marsh is an associate professor of African literature and philosophy at Mohammad VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guérir, Morocco.

Product details

• Authors: Wendell Marsh
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 21.10.2025
• EAN: 9780231210713
• ISBN: 978-0-231-21071-3
• No. of pages: 304
• Series: Black Lives in the Diaspora: Past / Present / Future
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Ethnic Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Islamic Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Black Studies (Global), HISTORY / Africa / West, Islamic Studies, African History, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, West Africa, Relating to Islamic / Muslim people and groups, Social groups: religious groups and communities, history; social science