# In the Footsteps of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim Slave from Fuuta Tooro

On July 19 and 20, 2022, the African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) hosted a symposium, "Religious Practices, Transmission, and Literacies in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia." The symposium featured the presentations of seven scholars who conducted two-week research residencies in the AMED Reading Room between June 1 and July 15, 2022. The residencies and symposium are part of the Exploring Challenging Conversations project generously funded by a planning grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The purpose of the initiative was to enhance public awareness of cross-regional and intercultural religious understanding in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and their global diaspora. ; ; Dr. Mamarame Seck is researcher in the Département de Langues et Civilisation, IFAN (Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire) at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. He is also the curator of The Historical Museum of Senegal in Gorée. ; ; This presentation explores the origins of Muslim slave Omar ibn Said from in the Fuuta Toro as described in his autobiography, dated 1831, and in his other writings. It also discusses the question of the sharing of Omar's heritage with the populations of Fuuta. The autobiography of the Muslim slave Omar ibn Said was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2017. The rediscovery of this fifteen-page manuscript has attracted the interest of very different actors on both sides of the Atlantic. It would be the only manuscript, preserved in the…

- Kind: Film
- Year: 2022
- By: Library Of Congress. African And Middle Eastern Division
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2024698115/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2024698115?play=1)