CANCELLED Public seminar and celebration of Professor R.S. O'Fahey

CANCELLED


The University of Bergen (UiB) has a long tradition of cooperation and exchange with Sudan in many disciplines, dating back to the 1970s. Several Sudanese students have over the years earned their master- and PhD degrees in history in Bergen. The foundation for this was largely laid by Professor Rex Sean O'Fahey, who throughout his career has worked with Sudanese history.

When Professor O'Fahey reached retirement age in June this year, he decided to donate his entire collection of historical material on Sudan to the University of Bergen. This treasure-trove contains more than three thousand photographed or photocopied manuscripts. The texts are partly in Arabic and partly in other Sudanese languages in Arabic script. The collection contains many unique documents, as the originals in many cases have been destroyed by war, natural disasters or lack of maintenance.

Bergen is already an important repository for documents on Sudanese history, especially after the Mahmoud Saleh collection was placed at Bergen Resource Centre for International Development at UiB. Professor O'Fahey donation further adds to Bergen’s prominence as steward of unique historical documents of Sudanese history.

The Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies / AHKR has invited O’Fahey’s former student, Dr. Ali Saleh Karrar from Khartoum, to hold a seminar in his honor:

Bergen and Khartoum: Long-term collaboration on sources to Sudanese history

Dr. Karrar is the former director of the Sudanese National Archives and currently professor at al-Nilayn University in Khartoum.

Time: Thursday, September 5 at 11:15 to 13:00

Venue: Seminar room 240, Jekteviksbakken 31 (2nd floor)