Jama Musse Jama (, ) (born 1967) is a prominent
Somali ethnomathematician and author. He is notable for his research on traditional
Somali boardgames such as
Shax.
Biography
Jama was born in 1967 in
Hargeisa
Hargeisa ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a ''List of states with limited recognition, de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also th ...
,
Somaliland
Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...
, where he had his primary and secondary education. He then left for
Mogadishu
Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
and attended the
Somali National University, where he studied mathematics for four and half years. Fluent in Italian, Jama left Hargeisa to study as a mathematician at
Pisa University, in Italy and he went on to obtain a PhD in
Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modelling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions. In general, computational linguistics ...
at
Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale". He has a particular interest in civil liberties and he is the author (or co-author) of six books, two of them on Somali traditional games.
At Pisa University, Jama began researching traditional Somali games as well as the history of mathematics in the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
, a topic which he has written about in several journals. His interests include
Education in Somaliland
Education in Somaliland is provided in public and private schools. Education in Somaliland is managed by Ministry of Education and Science which controls the development and administration of state schools; it also has an advisory and supervisor ...
, and as an activist, Jama is deeply involved in the affairs of the
Somali diaspora during festivals and conferences which he chairs or is present as a key contributor. A specific interest of Jama's is to promote Somali language, literature, and literacy. He is the founder and the organiser of
Hargeysa International Book Fair. He created the
Somali Corpus of digital texts for linguistic analysis. In 2014 he founded the
Hargeysa Cultural Centre and become its director. In 2019 Dr. Jama Musse joined as Research Associate the Centre of African Studies at
SOAS, University of London
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, ...
and in 2020 as a senior research associate
The Bartlett Development Planning Unit,
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, United Kingdom.
Work
Articles (selected)
*''Where Politics Fails, Cultural Diplomacy is an Alternative Option'
Corno d’Africa: prospettive e relazioni, Africa e Mediterraneo n. 92-93 (1-2/20)*''Can a Computer compose a Somali poem after 40 years of Somali Language written experience?'
*''Transitioning from Oral to a Written Culture: The Impact of Hargeysa International Book Fair''
Africa e Mediterraneo n. 89 (2/18)*''Tidcan: Multiple Alliteration of Somali Songs – New Insights'', International Journal of Literature and Arts,Volume 9, Issue 3, May 2021, Pages: 124-142
*''The role of mathematics in ethnomathematics Education: Cases from the Horn of Africa''
*''Creating a Mathematical Terminology: The Somalia Case'' with F Favilli
*''Linguistic and Cultural Aspects in Teaching Mathematics'' with F Favilli
*''Mathematics under an African acacia tree'' with F Favilli
Books
*''Cittadinanza è partecipazione'', Bianca&Volta Edizioni, Trieste, 2013, (ePub )
*''SUPER KEEY: La leucemia non è un gioco'', Edizione ETS, Pisa, 2010, (CDROM game )
*''Gobannimo Bilaash Maaha'' / ''Freedom is not free'', 2007. .
*''A NOTE ON MY TEACHER'S GROUP – News Report of an Injustice'', 2003. .
*''Shax: the preferred game of our camel-herders and other traditional African entertainments'', 2002. .
*''Layli Goobalay: Variante Somala del Gioco Nazionale Africano'', 2002, .
Awards
* ''Cultura della Solidarietà'', Pistoia, 29 June 2014. The organising committee commended him for his 'exemplary work promoting cultural knowledge and inquiry in Somaliland.'
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jama, Jama Musse
1967 births
Living people
People from Hargeisa
Somali National University alumni
University of Pisa alumni