I Cannot Write My Life
Language: English
Published by The University of North Carolina Press, US, 2023
- Softcover
- New

Seller: Rarewaves.com USA, London, London, United KingdomRarewaves.com USA
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
Condition: New
£ 25.41
Quantity: 6 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Omar ibn Said (1770-1863) was a Muslim scholar from West Africa who spent more than fifty years enslaved in the North Carolina household of James Owen, brother of Governor John Owen. In 1831 Omar composed a brief autobiography, the only known narrative written in Arabic by an enslaved person in North America, and he became famous for his Arabic writings. His enslavers also provided him with an Arabic Bible and claimed Omar as a convert to Christianity, prompting wonder and speculation among amateur scholars of Islam, white slave owners, and missionaries. But these self-proclaimed experts were unable or unwilling to understand Omar's writings, and his voice was suppressed for two centuries. Mbaye Lo and Carl W. Ernst here weave fresh and accurate translations of Omar's eighteen surviving writings, for the first time identifying his quotations from Islamic theological texts, correcting many distortions, and providing the fullest possible account of his life and significance. Placing Omar at the center of a broader network of the era's literary and religious thought, Lo and Ernst restore Omar's voice, his sophisticated engagement with Islamic and Christian theologies, his Arabic skills, and his extraordinary efforts to express himself and exert agency despite his enslavement.…
Seller Inventory # LU-9781469674674
- Title
- I Cannot Write My Life
- Author
- Mbaye Lo, Carl W. Ernst
- Publisher
- The University of North Carolina Press, US
- Publication year
- 2023
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 146967467X
- ISBN 13
- 9781469674674
- Item weight
- 272 grams
- Dimensions
- 15.54 x 2.54 x 23.5 cm
Mbaye Lo and Carl W. Ernst here weave fresh and accurate translations of Omar's eighteen surviving writings, for the first time identifying his quotations from Islamic theological texts, correcting many distortions, and providing the fullest possible account of his life and significance. Placing Omar at the center of a broader network of the era's literary and religious thought, Lo and Ernst restore Omar's voice, his sophisticated engagement with Islamic and Christian theologies, his Arabic skills, and his extraordinary efforts to express himself and exert agency despite his enslavement.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Carl W. Ernst is William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Rarewaves.com USA
London, London, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
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