{"product_id":"textual-life-islam-africa-and-the-fate-of-the-humanities-paperback","title":"Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eWendell Marsh\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTextual Life\u003c\/i\u003e is a groundbreaking book that recasts the role of knowledge in the making of a colonial and postcolonial nation. It makes a case for a new literary and intellectual-historical approach to Islam in Africa. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Senegalese Muslim scholar Shaykh Musa Kamara (1864-1945) wrote \u003ci\u003eHistory of the Blacks\u003c\/i\u003e, a monumental history of West Africa, in a time when colonial discourses asserted that Africans lacked both writing and history. He sought to publish a bilingual Arabic and French edition of the book by working with humanists in colonial institutions, but the project was ultimately undermined by the disregard of the French state. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTextual Life\u003c\/i\u003e considers Kamara's story as a parable about the fate of the humanities amid epistemic and technological change. Wendell H. Marsh argues that Kamara's scholarship reflected what he calls the textual attitude, an orientation to the world mediated by reading. Colonial humanists shared this attitude even while upholding racial and religious hierarchies, and they took an interest in African texts and traditions. The bureaucrats and technocrats who succeeded them, however, disdained such dialogue--for reasons that bear a striking resemblance to the algorithmic antihumanism that is ascendant today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on Kamara's body of work, colonial archival documents, and postcolonial knowledge production within Senegal, \u003ci\u003eTextual Life\u003c\/i\u003e offers a decolonial vision of the humanities. By engaging with African and Muslim intellectual resources, Marsh shows how thinkers like Kamara who were subjected to colonialism can help us find a future after empire.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWendell H. Marsh is an associate professor of Africana studies at Rutgers University-Newark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.69 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 14, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46988587008175,"sku":"9780231210713","price":66.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/7314\/1679\/files\/P96Mpd73sJ9780231210713.webp?v=1780218774","url":"https:\/\/valuevaultclub.myshopify.com\/products\/textual-life-islam-africa-and-the-fate-of-the-humanities-paperback","provider":"Value Vault Club","version":"1.0","type":"link"}