2008 Woodie Awards
From the Leader of Civilization to a Dusty "Lost City."
What happens when people give up books and scholars.
Dr. Kaukab Siddique
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Opinion
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She spoke to students at Lincoln University's Dickey Hall Auditorium at the invitation of the Lectures and Recitals Committee. Wearing an African-Islamic headcovering, Ms. English, a special education teacher and author of numerous books, indirectly gave a message: A TV generation which does not read books is looking to a bleak future.
With power point slides, Ms. English showed the stark contrasts of Timbuktu: It is a sleepy town in the desert with poor or no roads, low percentages of literacy, little education for girls and almost no connection to the outside world
Hidden in the libraries and mosques are the treasures of the past: invaluable collections of the Qur'an, Hadith and Tafsir, amazing works on astronomy, mathematics and medicine. They are in Arabic. The people of Timbuktu, largely illiterate, cannot benefit from these treasures. Gradually, through occasional theft by sophisticated smugglers, the priceless books and manuscripts are ending up in the museums of New York, London and Paris.
How did this happen to the people of Islamic West Africa who at one time had among the most advanced, the most highly educated, the wealthiest civilization in the world? Ms. English gave instances in which ordinary officials in Timbuktu had personal libraries of 1500 or more books. One Islamic ruler gave gifts of pure gold to thousands of people as he traveled in style from Africa all the way to Makkah for the pilgrimage.
The tragedy began when a dictator drove out the scholars from Timbuktu and neglected the emphasis on learning and books. The decline continued till the colonial takeover. Europeans had no interest in reviving learning among Africans.
Today, the descendants of Africans in America are being disconnected from the culture of books and being hooked to the world of TV and videos. Did the young people understand Ms. English' message?
We'll have to wait and see
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Dr. Siddique is an Associate Professor of English and Mass Communications.
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