- Timbuktu Manuscripts Project
Timbuktu Manuscripts Project is a cultural project which aims to preserve around 700,000 scholarly
manuscript s in the city ofTimbuktu ,Mali . Some of the manuscripts date back to the13th century and are currently held in 24 private libraries in and around Timbuktu [ [http://www.southafrica.info/what_happening/news/african_union/timbuktumanuscripts.htm Saving the Timbuktu Manuscripts] ] .It also aims to make access to public and private libraries around Timbuktu more widely available and easier for those in Malian society and to show that the conventional historical view of
Africa as a purely "oral continent" is not correct. The project was begun in2000 and is scheduled to end in2007 [ [http://www.sum.uio.no/research/mali/timbuktu/project/gannt2006.pdf Timetable] ] .Operations
The project operates on 4 main areas [ [http://www.sum.uio.no/research/mali/timbuktu/project/timanus.pdf Timbuktu Manuscripts Project Description] ] :
*
Research andHigher Education ,
* Physical conservation,
*Electronic document management ,
*Tourism andDissemination .Funding and partnership
It is funded by the government of
Luxembourg [ [http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17480&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO.org - "Timbuktu Manuscripts Project Continues with Preservation Study Tours"] ] alongside with theNorwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), theFord Foundation , theNorwegian Council for Higher Education's Programme for Development Research and Education (NUFU), and theUnited States Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation .In a partnership with the government of South Africa, this project is the first official cultural project of the
New Partnership for Africa's Development .ee also
*
Sankore University References and notes
External links
* [http://www.timbuktufoundation.org/ Timbuktu Educational Foundation]
* [http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=14224&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO.org - "The Timbuktu Manuscripts"]
* [http://www.sum.uio.no/research/mali/timbuktu/videos/bookday/bookdayvideos.html Video of Exhibition of the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project at the American Cultural Centre in Bamako]
* [http://www.sum.uio.no/research/mali/timbuktu/videos/cedrab/maghroaoui_avr_2005.html Presentation at the "Ahmed Baba Institute" of Timbuktu on cataloging of arabic manuscripts] - by Mohamed Maghraoui, History Dept, Mohamed V University - Rabat, Morocco ar icon
* [http://www.sum.uio.no/research/mali/timbuktu/videos/cedrab/index.html "Timbuktu:A Refuge for Scholarly and Righteous Folk"] - an essay by John O. Hunwick ar icon
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