My research interest is in the Islamic history of the Western Indian Ocean in the 19^thand 20^thcenturies, including Yemen, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. My work has mainly focused on various forms of religious change (text/book circulation, reforms of ritual- and teaching practices), but also social, legal and political change. My work has been mainly been based on Arabic sources, combined with field work. I have also conducted projects for the digitizing and conservation of manuscripts and texts which are in private ownership and in danger of environmental degradation. 

THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE RIYADHA MOSQUE IN LAMU, KENYA

This project digitised the manuscript collection held at the Riyadha mosque in Lamu, Kenya. The Riyadha mosque college was founded in the late 19th century and is one of the oldest continuously functioning Islamic teaching institutions in East Africa. The digitised collection consist of 145 items dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. 

 

THE MAALIM IDRIS COLLECTION, ZANZIBAR

https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP1114

 

This project digitised the early printed materials contained in the library of the late Zanzibari scholar, Maalim Muhammad Idris (d.2012). The collection is a "snapshot" of an intellectual tradition in transition and a cross-section of an emerging Islamic print tradition in East Africa.

An introduction to the collection and information about the project can be found here (in Norwegian): 

 

https://forskning.no/historie-humaniora-islam/verdifulle-islamske-tekster-er-na-tilgjengelig-pa-nett/1696709?fbclid=IwAR0z1tExZLIIV9Y1ymwtnHMUcRbxgn0wpPpU-HdiMXE7UUcgR9OfsB91rBM

 

https://www.uib.no/hf/136310/verdifull-samling-islamske-tekster-er-blitt-tilgjengelig-på-nett

 

 

 

 

 

Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). The “travelling scholar” in African Islamic traditions. Local, regional and global worlds. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2017). Islam in the Swahili World. Connected Authorities.. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2015). Business communication in Colonial Times: The Norway-East Africa Trading Company in Zanzibar, 1895-1925. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2015). Localizing Islamic Knowledge: Acquisition and Copying in the Riyadha Mosque Manuscript Collection in Lamu, Kenya. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2010). When there are no foreign lands and all lands are foreign. Two texts from the Indian Ocean. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2009). En norsk trelastagent pa Zanzibar, 1894-1920. Kolonien som arena for sosial mobilitet. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2007). Cosmpolitanism colonized? Three cases from Zanzibar 1890-1920. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2006). “Another scholar for all seasons? Tahir b. Abi Bakr al-Amawi (1877-1938). Qadi of Zanzibar”. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2006). ”My generation. Umar b. Ahmad b. Sumayt (1886-1973): Inter-generational Network transmission in a trans-oceanic Hadramı Alawı family, ca. 1925-1973”. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2006). Tause tingmenns tale. (external link)

Academic article

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). Arabic-language manuscript and print as a source for Indian Ocean Islamic history: The case of East Africa. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2019). Islamic incantations in a colonial notebook: A case from interwar Zanzibar. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2019). Hadramis in Africa . (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2016). From Middle Eastern to African to African Islamic history: An interview with R. Sean O'Fahey. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2015). Pondering the text as change maker. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2014). The Riyadha Mosque Manuscript Collection in Lamu: A {Hcombining dot below}a{dcombining dot below}rami¯ Tradition in Kenya. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2012). Zanzibari Islamic knowledge transmission revisited: loss, lament, legacy, transmission - and transformation. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2011). Authority and Piety, Writing and Print: A preliminary study of the circulation of Islamic texts in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Zanzibar. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2009). Reflections on the creation of history in the Indian Ocean. The sources and their relation to local practices and global connectivities. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2007). Teachers, scholars and educationalists. The impact of Hadrami-Alawi teachers and teachings on Islamic education in Zanzibar ca. 1870-1930. (external link)

Academic lecture

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). Mecca Imagined/Mecca Experienced. The Haramayn in Indian Ocean Travelogues c. 1900-1950. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). Double-sided print: The rise of Islamic Arabic print in East Africa, c. 1880-1940. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2021). Keynote speech: The East African Islamic Arabic manuscript tradition . (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2021). Transregional Languages in the Indian Ocean World: The Case of Arabic . (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2015). The (selective) silence of the Hajis. The East African hajj c. 1880-1950.. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2015). "Shooting Stars. Living connectivity in early 20th century coastal East Africa (and tracing it 100 years later). (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2004). Cosmopolitanism Colonized? Three cases from Zanzibar 1890-1925. (external link)

Interview

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). Interview with Kenyan media on field work finds for MprinT. With National Museum of Kenya . (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). The Ashraf Alawis of the sea. History of Yemen in the Indian Ocean. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2021). Podcast interview on Akbar's Chamber, by Nile Green, UCLA. (external link)

Programme management

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). Women. life, freedom. Activism in Iran.. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2021). Intervju m/ Cecilie Hellestveit om ny bok om krigen i Jemen. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2021). Interview with Marion Katz for CanCode . (external link)

Lecture

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2022). On mobility in the Indian Ocean . (external link)

Book review

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2021). Tore Linne Eriksen. Afrika, Fra de første mennesker til i dag. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2015). Pondering the text as changemaker. Review/discussion of Isabel Hofmeyr’s Ghandi’s Printing Press. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2011). Tradisjonelt og tilgjengelig om arabisk historie. Eugene Rogan, Araberne. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2010). Red Sea Citizens: Cosmopolitan Society and Cultural Change in Massawa. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2010). Book review. Abu Shouk and H. Ibrahim, The Hadrami diaspora in Southeast Asia. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2010). Anmeldelse av E. Goffeng, Doedelig Farvann. Oyenvitne til Israels angrep paa fredsflaaten. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2008). The graves of Tarim: Genealogy and mobility across the Indian ocean. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2003). Hadramawt and the Indian Ocean. Eight Years of Research on Diaspora and Homeland. (external link)

Database

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2020). EAP1114: Maalim Idris Collection https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP1114 British Library . (external link)

Popular scientific lecture

• Halsnes, Magnus; Vikør, Knut S.; Bang, Anne Katrine (2018). Panelsamtale: Kva er det med Saudi Arabia?. (external link)

Academic monograph

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2014). Islamic Sufi Networks in the Western Indian Ocean (c. 1880-1940). Ripples of Reform. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2008). Zanzibar-Olsen - Norsk trelasthandel i Øst-Afrika 1895-1925. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2003). Sufis and Scholars of the Sea. Family Networks in East Africa, 1860-1925. (external link)

Feature article

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2011). Tr;bbel i paradis. Oppror i Oman. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine; Hovden, Eirik (2011). Jemen. Regime for fall eller stat i opplosning. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2004). Presse og Pressefrihet i Gulfen. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2003). Intet nytt fra Ordfronten. Ondskapens akse og andre våpen. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2001). Når Historien innhenter historiefaget. (external link)

Popular scientific article

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2007). Zanzibar-omanere og oman-zanzibarere. Bindestreker over Det indiske hav - og videre. (external link)
• Bang, Anne Katrine (2004). Virkelighetens hold i virkeligheten. (external link)

Encyclopedia article

• Bang, Anne Katrine (2002). Ahmad b. Abi Bakr b. Sumayt. (external link)

Doctoral dissertation

• Bang, Anne Kathrine (2000). Dr. avhandling :Sufis and Scholars of the Sea. The Sufi and family networks of Ahmad ibn Sumayt and the tariqa cAlawiyya in East Africa c. 1860-1925. (external link)

Non-fiction book

• Bang, Anne Kathrine; Vikør, Knut S. (1996). The Idri state in Asir 1906-1934. Politics, religion and personal prestige as statebuilding factors in early twentieth-century Arabia. (external link)

Report

• Skogstad, Anders; Bang, Anne Kathrine (1991). Kvalitetssikring av psykososialt arbeidsmiljø. Norsk Hydro - U&P drift. Evalueringsrapport for perioden mars 1990 til mars 1991. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

 

2022: Arabic‐language manuscript and print as a source for Indian Ocean Islamic history: The case of East Africa. History Compass. https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12713

 

2021: “The “travelling scholar” in African Islamic traditions. Local, regional and global worlds”, in: T. Østebø (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Islamic Africa, London: Routledge, 2021. 

 

2019: “Islamic Incantations in a Colonial Notebook. A case from Interwar Zanzibar”, Cahiers d’Études Africaines, LIX (4), 236, 2019, 1025-1046. 

 

2019: “Hadramis in Africa.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. Oxford University Press. Article published March 2019. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.324.

2017: “Islam in the Swahili World”. In: La Violette & S. Wynn-Jones, The Swahili World, London: Routledge, 2017, 557-565. 

 2015: “Localizing Islamic Knowledge: Acquisition and Copying in the Riyadha Mosque Manuscript Collection in Lamu, Kenya”, in: Maja Kominko (ed.), From Dust to Digital. Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme, London, 55-88.

2014: Islamic Sufi Networks in the Southwestern Indian Ocean (c. 1880-1940). Ripples of Reform. Monograph, 227 pages, Leiden (Brill).

 2014: “The Ḥaḍramaut in Lamu. The manuscript collection of the Riyadha mosque of Lamu, Kenya”, Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, special issue (ed. A. Regourd), Manuscripts of Yemen, circulation of ideas and models, Vol 5:2-3, 125-153.

2014: “The Norway-East Africa Trading Company in Zanzibar, 1895-1925. Business communication in colonial times”, In: K. A. Kjerland & B. Bertelsen (eds.), Navigating colonial orders. Norwegian Entrepreneurship in Africa and Oceania, Berghahn Books.

2013: “Danish and Norwegian travel accounts of Oman, 1765-1995: Changing views across land and sea”. In: M. Hoffmann-Ruf & A.R. al-Salimi (eds.), The Ibadism of Oman. Its overseas Development and its Perception Overseas, Tübingen (Georg Olms Verlag), Germany, 403-410.

2012: “Zanzibari Islamic knowledge transmission revisited: Loss, lament, legacy, transmission – and transformation”, Journal of Social Dynamics, 38:3, 419-434.

2012: “Remembrance of Maalim Muhammad Idris Muhammad Saleh”, Islamic Africa, 3:2.

2012: “Cultural Heritage and Social Context. Research and Management in Post-Colonial Mozambique,” In: T. Halvorsen & P. Vale (eds.), One world, many knowledges. Regional experiences and cross-regional links in higher education, Sanord, 249-264. With Tore Sætersdal.

2011: “Authority and Piety, Writing and Print. A preliminary study of Islamic texts in late 19^th and early 20^th century Zanzibar”, Africa, 81, 63-81.

 

2021-2025

MPrinT@EAST_AFRICA. Islamic Manuscript, Print and Practice: Textual adaptations in coastal East Africa, c. 1880-2020

Project funding: Norwegian Research Council, ground-breaking research.

 

https://www.uib.no/en/ahkr/143764/mprinteastafrica

This project will examine the use of text on the East African (Swahili) coast during the manuscript-to-print transition (c. 1880-1950) and the onwards lives of these texts from c. 1950 until the present.We will examine editorial choices and investigate the ways in which manuscripts and print texts continued their social lives as recited words. By combining bibliographical studies of “street texts” (smaller texts, often prayers and litanies) and mapping the continuous re-interpretation of these texts in the form of communal recitation, this project will illuminate the heretofore overlooked continuity between manuscript and print. In so doing, the project will challenge the existing understanding of “traditional” Islam and “global” Islam as fundamentally opposite.

 

2021-2024

The Invisible Ceiling. Muslim entrepeneurs navigate the Norwegian financial environment. 

Project funding: Norwegian Research Council. Project located at Chr. Michelsen Institute

https://www.cmi.no/projects/2579-the-invisible-ceiling#home

 

2021-2024 

Cabo Delgado. Conflict, Resilience and Reconstruction. 

Project Funding: Norwegian Research Council. Project located at Chr. Michelsen Institute

https://www.cmi.no/projects/2615-cabo-delgado-conflict-resilience-and-reconstruction