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The Collector(s) / Donor(s) Robert Glew recently received his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at Michigan State University. He is currently working in the Office of International Studies in Education at MSU. Having spent several years in the West African country of Niger as a Peace Corps Volunteer, he returned to the city of Zinder (Niger) in 1995 to study issues of Muslim identity for his dissertation. While living in Zinder in 1995 he examined the use of writing by Muslim clerics and made a fine collection of over 65 objects related to this subject for Michigan State University Museum. Collector(s) / Donor(s) Statement The Object(s) Wood slates, called allo in the Hausa language, are used to teach reading and writing in schools in Muslim communities throughout West Africa. The surface of these boards are inscribed with a water-based black ink so they can be easily cleaned and used again--in much the same way a slate blackboard is used with chalk. In addition to its educational function, such boards can also be used in magico-religious practices that involve inscribing a spiritually charged passage from an Islamic holy text on the allo, and then carefully washing the inscription from the board and collecting the "writing water" in a container. A person may absorb the spiritual power of the written word, the "word of God," by either drinking or bathing in the water. Further Information Books and Articles René Bravmann. African Islam. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983. Internet Resourcesnone
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