Ethiopian Manuscript Heritage Problems and Preservation Strategies

I recently lectured to both the first- and second-year classes of Heritage Preservation and Paleoenvironment students at Mekele University on the problems facing manuscript (and more general) conservation and preservation in Ethiopia. While not a full workshop (which I hope to conduct in November, if I can find funding to get back to Ethiopia), it was nevertheless an introduction to my work, the field, and the preservation/conservation challenges facing those tasked with preserving the knowledge and physical objects associated with the Ethiopian manuscript tradition.

While I have not the time to reprise the whole presentation, I will link here to the powerpoint portion, which outlines the talk, even as it only represents a small amount of what I said (I loathe talks where the presenter reads out his own slides, and will not do it myself). If this is of interest, I can go on at greater length, and if anyone finds this kind of material absolutely essential to their program, I am available to give this talk anywhere you care to pay my travel expenses to. . . 

http://www.larkvi.com/misc/MekeleMssPresPres01.ppt