The Production of Swahili-Islamic Manuscripts with Specific Reference to Swahili Ink Making

This article briefly examines the production of Swahili-Islamic manuscripts with specific reference to Swahili ink making in coastal Kenya. The Swahili scribes used organic, carbonic and carbonic-iron inks to write their manuscripts for centuries. Currently, the knowledge on what sort of ink ingredi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Islamic Africa Vol. 10; no. 1-2; pp. 204 - 209
Main Author:	Parkar, Ahmed
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Leiden Brill 01-06-2019
Subjects:	Sources and Commentary
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This article briefly examines the production of Swahili-Islamic manuscripts with specific reference to Swahili ink making in coastal Kenya. The Swahili scribes used organic, carbonic and carbonic-iron inks to write their manuscripts for centuries. Currently, the knowledge on what sort of ink ingredients were used and how to make the inks themselves is in the domain of a dwindling number of elderly individuals. This paper tries to explain the types of ingredients mentioned by these individuals during interviews carried by the researcher in the period of 2015-2017 in East Africa.
ISSN:	0803-0685 2333-262X 2154-0993
DOI:	10.1163/21540993-01001008