Professor Philip Jaggar’s final AHRC research report graded 'outstanding’
Dr Dmitry Bondarev, Ahmad Achtar, Professor Philip Jaggar and Dr Abba Tijani
29 May 2012
A final research report submitted by Professor Philip Jaggar of the Africa Department has received the highest grading of ‘outstanding’, following assessment by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) peer review panel. The project team included researcher Dr Dmitry Bondarev and project assistants Dr Abba Isa Tijani and Ahmed Achtar.
The initial project, Early Nigerian Qur'anic Manuscripts: an Interdisciplinary Study of the Kanuri Glosses and Arabic Commentaries, began in 2005 with an award of £287,000. In 2009 a further £381,730 was awarded as part of a joint framework agreement between the German Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the AHRC.
Jaggar said: “The history of this project demonstrates that the AHRC and DFG are prepared to support the kind of specialist research we engage in at SOAS. The ability to deliver a high standard product on time and within budget helps to enhance SOAS' international reputation and is also of potential value to future research applicants.”
The project has substantially advanced the understanding of the Saharan language family, in addition to Islamic studies, palaeography and codicology. The most significant outcome was the discovery of a largely undocumented sacred language ‘Tarjumo’, used by Borno Muslim scholars to deliver religious recitations and commentaries, mainly on religious texts in Arabic.
Professor Jaggar said the success of the project was down to the help and support of his SOAS colleagues.
The research team has published a number of articles in prestigious outlets, and as a result of the widespread academic interest generated, Bondarev and Jaggar have been appointed area editors on the DFG-funded Encyclopedia of Manuscript Cultures in Asia and Africa, based at Hamburg University, Germany. The project director is Professor Michael Friedrich.
