I Totôry 7 A
OA Version
Citation
Fallou Ngom & Phillippe Beaujard. 2017. African Ajami Library: Digital Preservation of Antemoro Malagasy Ajami Manuscripts.
Abstract
The material is the first part of the seventh of eleven texts (the fourth text and the second and third parts of the eleventh were not digitized) owned by Iaban’i Totôry, a diviner-healer (called ombiasy in Malagasy). Iaban’i Totôry belonged to the Anakara Clan and lived in a village called Vatomasina in the Antemoro region (in the valley of the Matatàña River). He was known to be the grandson of a famous religious chief in his village, and was close with the French colonial administration in his region, with whom he also shared the material. The original author of the material is unknown. The material was photographed between 1983 and 1990. The pages were made out of a local plant called harandrànto in Malagasy, likely of the genus Afzelia. The material was bound in zebu skin and sinew. While the exact content of material is unknown, it is believed to contain guidance for charms, divination, and healing through prayers, geomancy, and astrology.
Description
The entire manuscript is available for download as a single PDF file. Higher-resolution images are unavailable. For assistance, please contact open-help@bu.edu. Fieldwork Team: Philippe Beaujard (Director of Research, French National Centre for Scientific Research). Technical Team: Dr. Vika Zafrin (Digital Scholarship Librarian, BU Libraries), Eleni Castro (OpenBU and Electronic Theses & Dissertations Librarian, BU Libraries), Dr. Fallou Ngom (Director of the African Studies Center), Dr. Peter Quella (Assistant Director, African Studies Center), Mustapha Hashim Kurfi (PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science), and Zachary Gersten (Research Assistant, African Studies Center). This collection of Malagasy Ajami materials is copied as part of the African Studies Center’s African Ajami Library. This project is partly funded by the BU African Studies Center. We thank Dr. Tim Longman, past Director of the African Studies Center, and the entire African Studies team for their support. For Inquiries: Please contact Professor Fallou Ngom (fngom@bu.edu).
License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Access is for research and educational purposes only.