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CPA Series | “What is the ’Autobiography’ of Omar ibn Said?” with Dr. Carl W. Ernst and Dr. Mbaye Lo, February 23, 2023 5:30 PM
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February 21, 2023 5:00 PM
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February 26, 2023 7:00 PM
CPA Series | Omar
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Date
February 23, 2023 5:30 PM
Name
CPA Series | “What is the ’Autobiography’ of Omar ibn Said?” with Dr. Carl W. Ernst and Dr. Mbaye Lo
Description
FedEx Global Education Center, Nelson Mandela Auditorium | General Admission
Omar Ibn Said (1770-1863), a West African Muslim scholar, was sold into slavery in America, where he spent over half a century enslaved to a prominent North Carolina family. He left behind a small collection of documents in Arabic that remain poorly understood. This presentation is based on Dr. Ernst and Dr. Lo’s book, I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar ibn Said’s America, forthcoming from UNC Press in August 2023. Why, at the beginning of his 1831 “Autobiography,” did Ibn Said announce "I cannot write my life"? What is the significance of his quotations from Islamic theological and mystical texts, which have escaped notice until now? Ernst and Lo will address these questions and more. Join us to learn more about their major reassessment of this important witness to the presence of Islam and Arabic at the beginning of America’s history. Free; registration required.
Runtime: 90 minutes
Intermission: n/a
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