The archives of Africa hold “nothing but translations” they say. In Mali is “nothing but” translations of texts originally in Arabic. In Ethiopia is “nothing but” translations of Greek or French etc. texts. Just such a dismissal happened today on Twitter. 2/
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The terrific scholar
@DerilloEyob posted images from a really important early African collection of texts, the Täˀammərä Maryam, stories written in Ethiopia about the miracles that Saint Mary has performed for the faithful. He was promptly corrected. 3/2 replies 1 retweet 5 likesShow this thread -
He was told that the source of this *entire* collection was Greek, and moreover that the entire collection was written by one Greek author. This correction was made by someone with no knowledge of Ethiopian literature, based on misreading an entry in the British Library. 4/
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When I told everyone involved to stop spreading this misinformation about Ethiopian literature, however inadvertently, they wouldn’t. They were just correcting an entry, they said. Why are you getting upset, they said? They couldn't care about the misinformation. 5/
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Unfortunately, people feel free to assert things about African literature in ways they wouldn’t about other bodies of literature they know nothing about. And then not to care about the consequences of such. So, here I am to explain the facts about this Ethiopian collection. 6/
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Stories about Mary first began in Jerusalem and then were told in Syria and other parts of the Levant. And then were told and written down in Europe. Pace this fact, people often say that these stories began in Europe, specifically in France. Typical Eurocentrism. 7/
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Stories continued to circulate, and one European collection of these Levant and European stories was translated into Arabic in Egypt in the 1200s. Perhaps thirty to forty of those stories were translated into Ge’ez (Ethiopic) in Ethiopia in the late 1300s. 8/
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In the centuries after, Ethiopians added hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of their own stories, with their own unique themes and inflections. It is a vast and vital body of African literature which most people know nothing about. 9/
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If you are interested in knowing more, you can read about one such extraordinary story, the Cannibal of Qemer, which includes our translation of it. 10/ https://muse.jhu.edu/article/729804
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So, please stop saying that early African literature is derivative. It isn’t. And please stop acting like ignorance, and refusing to stop and do some research, is any defense for spreading misinformation. It isn't.
#Africanarchive 11/114 replies 2 retweets 19 likesShow this thread
You have not only misrepresented what I said heavily, when I was a citing what the BL said (and feel free to clarify their entry, because it says John Chrysostom on a certain folios and within that folio spread, the Miracles of Mary). I never said they were all greek texts.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @WendyLBelcher
The fact that you threatened me, and then lied about me, is unconscionable. Ma'am, I understand you feel very passionately about your field. But to attack me because I cited the BL entry which, if it is ambiguous and wrong okay, is really quite awful.
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