The dysfunctional copy: “Mali Magic,” loss and the digital remake of the Timbuktu archive

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2012, the manuscript collections of Timbuktu were feared to be at risk of destruction after rebel groups overtook the city. Rumours of the burning of the library and the destruction of thousands of manuscripts catapulted this archive into a discourse of “heritage in peril.” While the rumours were greatly exaggerated, they propelled the archives into new digitisation initiatives led by international organisations to preserve the archive from future loss. What this recent episode obscures, however, is the long history of loss, destruction and remaking that is constitutive of the nature of this archive. This contribution reflects on the integral makeup of this loss for the archive, underscoring its different modes – from the physical anatomy of the manuscripts themselves to colonial plunder, and independence-era archival reconstitution. At the same time, it highlights the generative aspects of loss in the Timbuktu archive, through an exploration of copying as a long-preferred mode of preservation and knowledge production, as well as the problematics of digitisation as the current chosen mode of preservation.