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Drinking the Word    of God Introduction The Towns of Zinder and Bondoukou • Zinder • Bondoukou The Production of Writing Water Education and Scholarship in Zinder and Bondoukou • Education • Scholarship Health, Well-Being and the Talismanic Tradition • Erasure: Writing Water • Talismans • Special Prayers Resources for Further Study Acknowledgements Comments

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Zinder (Niger)


Initially founded in the early nineteenth century, the town of Zinder grew in size and power until the arrival of French colonial officials, just before the turn of the twentieth century. Zinder benefited economically from being a stopping point on the trans-Saharan trade routes that linked North Africa and savannah regions to the south. Zinder's population includes Hausa, Kanuri, Tuareg and Fulbe peoples. Modern-day Zinder is Niger's second largest city with a population of over 150,000 and serves as a state capital. The people of Zinder take great pride in its reputation as a center of Islamic culture.

View of Zinder from hill on outskirts of town.

Neighborhood in Zinder, ca. 1915.

Domestic residence built in the first half of the twentieth century.

Birni mosque, originally built in the mid-nineteenth century.

Lawali Balla Mosque, built in the early 1990s.

Grandfather with granddaughter.

Zinder . Bondoukou

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