I wonder if I am the only one that gets seriously disturbed when
I see claims that ancient Africans (excluding the Egyptians of
course) were not using any writing systems before Arabs came
into the continent bringing Arabic script. I believe such an
assumption taken as fact is not only erroneous but is also one
in several attempts to paint Africans as “lesser” in that
everyone else in the world had writing systems except ancient
Africans. The truth of the matter is that ancient Africans were
writing and there are several African writing systems even
though most of them may be forgotten now. I have been following
with keen interest Naijablog’s posts on the Nsibidi script yet
the Nsibidi is not the only script that I’ve come across, there
is also Tifinagh or Shifinagh, the written form of Tamasheq
which is the language spoken by the Tuareg a nomadic people
scattered through West and North Africa. Tamasheq is a southern
Berber language and apparently bears significant resemblance to
Pharaonic Egyptian. The roots