Mission Statement:

 

Timbuktu is a forum on Afrodiasporan culture, art and politics, informed and enlightened by Islamic editorial perspectives and grounded in Sunni, Shi’a and Sufi orientations. Progressive and non-sectarian, Timbuktu promotes intellectual inquiry, critical analysis, creative expression,  interfaith dialogue, open discussion and debate, and the free and tolerant exchange of ideas.

Significance and Symbolism

The ancient and fabled city of Timbuktu, lives on in the nursery rhyme/folkloric expression "from Timbuctoo to Kalamazoo," which conveys the idea of remote places at the far-flung ends of the globe.  However, the historic significance of Timbuktu, a city now shrouded in dust, has largely been forgotten, erased, as it were, from our collective memories. History reveals Timbuktu as a city that was at the center of civilization rather than at the far-flung remote periphery. As the site of the renowned and world-class University of Sankore, Timbuktu was a major seat of Islamic learning and scholarship in the Muslim world, rivaling Fez in Morocco and surpassing the schools in the Hejaz (western Arabia).  It was the intellectual center of two successive West African Islamic Empires, Mali (1230-1400 AD) and Songhai (1468-1591), and the heart of the cultural renaissance known as the Third Golden Age of Africa. An ancient West African proverb states that "Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu"

In the contemporary progressive public sphere or counter-public, where significant culture wars are waged, Afrocentric scholars and intellectuals have been engaged in the rescue and reconstruction of the classical Nile Valley Civilizations, sites of the First and Second Golden Ages, yet have paid scant attention to the Third Golden Age. Likewise, Islamist scholars and intellectuals seeking inspiration from the Islamic past have paid homage to the glories of Islamic Civilization in Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, yet ignored the Islamic legacy of Africa. In the pages of TIMBUKTU, we intend to correct these slights and oversights, bringing a new, significant and long-overdue voice to the center of the public discourse.