Recorded June 21, 2019.

A lecture by Prof Shamil Jeppie (University of Cape Town) as part of the 'Out of the Ashes' lecture series.

In the political crisis in northern Mali in late 2012 through to early 2013 Timbuktu was occupied by rebels who more-or-less ran the town for a number of months until French-led forces compelled their withdrawal. It was reported that during their last days the insurgents destroyed thousands of manuscripts from the town’s main archive-library. This act of vandalism drew a huge outcry of revulsion and condemnation. However, the extent of the damage and destruction was exaggerated; or, at least, we are uncertain of the extent of the loss of manuscripts. Furthermore, a number of family collections with thousands of items in hundreds of metal crates had been moved unnoticed from the town to the capital, Bamako, some 800 km away. A large part of an historic town’s archive had been relocated piece-meal over a number of weeks; sent by donkey-cart to river-boats on the Niger River and then by local taxis on the narrow national road under cover of night or other camouflage.

The crisis and the apparently secret transfer of the manuscripts have been sensationally covered in the media and recent journalistic works. But it led me to think of the longer-term history of the movement of books in the region (from at least the 1400s) which, after all is part of an ecological zone that has a long history of nomadism. It also led me to reflect on other examples of book destruction, other examples of the transplant of books under various types of stressful conditions; whether due to war or natural disasters. The events and narratives around Timbuktu were thus a useful way to begin to think of a not unfamiliar case of mobility in relation to books and archives, although it appears it is or has seldom provided an opportunity for reflection. This brings to mind March Bloch’s words to the effect that “for the historian there is nothing like a good catastrophe”

The Out of the Ashes lecture series is generously supported by Sean and Sarah Reynolds.

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