Summary of the Journal’s Contents
This special issue of Amzroy Nnegh/Our History is devoted to the sources for the history of Jebel Nafusa. It seeks to broaden the concept of the historical source and move beyond exclusive reliance on conventional works of history and geography. The issue adopts a methodological approach that views the reconstruction of the region’s history as requiring the combined use of legal texts, manuscripts, documents, archaeological evidence, oral accounts, and modern population data, while subjecting each category of evidence to the critical methods appropriate to its nature and limitations.
The issue opens with a study of Masāʾil Nafūsa as a source for Islamic legal cases and for the economic and social history of the region, including agriculture, pastoralism, trade, property ownership, water rights, clothing, marriage, social customs, and judicial practices. It also examines the potential of DNA research to illuminate population history, migrations, and demographic transformations. Another study explores the history of the “forgotten Nafusan library,” tracing its surviving manuscript heritage and the materials dispersed among local and foreign collections. Particular attention is also given to archaeological sites and artefacts and their role in filling gaps in the written record, accompanied by an extensive bibliography of archaeological research relating to Jebel Nafusa and its towns and villages.
The issue further traces representations of Jebel Nafusa in medieval Islamic sources, analysing how accounts were transmitted among geographers and historians and distinguishing independent testimony from information borrowed from earlier works. It also discusses the historical relationship between the Amazigh language and Ibadi Islam and its influence on religious, cultural, and social life. The issue concludes with a critical review of The Djerban Endowment in Egypt, highlighting the role of Wikalat al-Jamus in accommodating Maghrebi students and scholars—including several individuals from Jebel Nafusa—and in preserving manuscripts and facilitating the circulation of knowledge. Taken together, the contributions call for a renewed history of Jebel Nafusa built through the integration of texts, archaeological evidence, documents, collective memory, and modern scientific data.
