AODL Curated Collections

Military Intelligence in Apartheid-Era South Africa

African Oral Narratives

20 audio interviews, transcripts, and translations of individuals involved in military intelligence operations in South Africa during the apartheid era. Collection includes related photographs by South African news photographer Doug Lee.

'Forgotten' Voices in the Present: alternative, post-1994 oral histories from South Africa

African Oral Narratives

18 photographs and 55 oral interviews with residents in three poor communities in South Africa, exploring experiences of the South African transition, and the realities of life for the oppressed and marginalized majority in post-1994 South Africa.

Farmers' Voices in Ethiopian Agriculture

African Oral Narratives

7 oral interviews primarily in Amharic and over 60 photographs explore the landscape, agriculture, and the livelihood practices of small-scale farmers in Ethiopia's Lake Region during the contemporary period.

Life Stories of Women Traders From Kumasi Central Market

African Oral Narratives

50 interviews in Twi focused on women traders in from Kumasi Central Market in Ghana.

The Kropp Dakubu Collection of Farefari Discourse

African Oral Narratives

Interviews in the Farefari language of northern Ghana, with English translations, on chieftaincy, migration and dispute resolution. There are also several samples of oral art in the language.

Everyday Islam in Kumasi

Diversity and Tolerance Collection

A growing collection of video interviews with Muslim men and women who live and work in Kumasi, Ghana

Northern Factors in Asante History

Diversity and Tolerance Collection

Audio interviews, transcripts, photographs, and 4 brief essays explicate the northern factor in Asante history and the importance of Islam and trade on this history.

Qadiri Community of Buh Kunta

Diversity and Tolerance Collection

Interviews, photos, documents and newspaper articles focusing on the Buh Kunta branch of the Qadiriya sufi order. Short essays in English and French outline the history and contemporary dynamics of this religious community.

Saint-Louis: Religious Pluralism in the Heart of Senegal

Diversity and Tolerance Collection

Handwritten texts, images and audio interviews dealing with the interactions of Saint Louis's French Catholic communities, Muslim majority, the French administration, and Freemasons in the late 19th and 20th centuries

Transformations in Islamic Education in Ghana

Diversity and Tolerance Collection

Images, audio interviews, and transcripts explore both contemporary and historical Muslim responses to secular education in Ghana.

Banjul Muslims and the Islamic Court

Islam & Modernity Collection

11 court cases created by the Bathurst (Banjul) Muslim court between 1927 and 1954.

Collaboration, Modernity and Colonial Rule: Sidiyya Baba and Mauritania

Islam & Modernity Collection

20 images, 6 documents, 4 maps, and 9 essays tell the story of Sidiyya Baba in French Mauritania at the turn of the 20th century

Contemporary Dynamics of the Buh Kunta Qadiri Community

Islam & Modernity Collection

This collection features the vibrant branch of the Qadiriyya founded by Cheikh Bou Kounta in Ndiassane, Senegal. Interviews, photos, videos of public events, and news articles document aspects of the order’s history; continuity and change; the engagement of Qadiri youth; and aspirations for education and development.

Public Face of Islam in Kumasi

Islam & Modernity Collection

Video footage, interviews, and slideshows of public events and street life in Kumasi's Muslim neighborhoods feature annual festivals, family celebrations, schools, and work life. Materials in this gallery show a wide variety of acceptable dress styles and occupations for men, women, and children.

Discourses of Muslim Scholars in Colonial Ghana

Pluralism and Adaptation Collection

13 poems of al-ḥājj 'Umar ibn Abī Bakri of Kete-Krachi, the leading Muslim scholar of his era. It includes annotated English translations of Arabic and Hausa documents written during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It reveals one Muslim's views about the era and offers assessments and advice that are relevant to Muslims in Ghana today. Al-ḥājj 'Umar's poems, written for recitation, are very sophisticated examples of classical Arabic literature.

Failed Islamic States in Senegambia

Pluralism and Adaptation Collection

In the 18th and 19th centuries, several determined reformers sought to extend the breadth and depth of Islamic practice in Senegambia and neighboring areas by using the 'jihad of the sword.' In each case their military efforts failed in the medium and long term, and sometimes more quickly, and did little to extend the faith. Their failure led Senegambian Muslims to think more of Sufi forms and practices of the faith, in which the political domain was much less important than the religious, social and economic realms, and to accept various forms of accommodation with the new political authorities, in this case the administrators of French West Africa.