Event details

The history of the Ethiopic (or Ge’ez) script spans over two thousand years. Originating in the Red Sea world of the first millennium B.C.E., the script is still used by millions of people in the Horn of Africa and in the Ethiopian and Eritrean diasporas. Princeton University houses a significant collection of manuscripts and artifacts with the Ethiopic script, from ancient coins to early modern psalters. Dr. Zafer will provide a historical overview of the script, from its epigraphic origins to its adaptations for the digital age. He will present the Ethiopic Script Learning Tool, an online resource developed with the Princeton Ethiopic collection that supports the learning of the script by GEZ 101-102 students. The session will include a conversation on the ethics and methods of African language pedagogy.