dynamicafrica:

Afrikan Alphabets Book by Saki Mafundikwa

Afrikan Alphabets – The story of writing in Afrika is a book written by Zimbabwe designer Saki Mafundikwa.

Afrikan alphabets have a rich cultural and artistic history. Many continue to be in current use today. Their story, however, is little known due largely to their past suppression by colonial powers. This book sets the record straight. Both entertaining and anecdotal, African Alphabets presents a wealth of highly graphical and attractive illustrations.

Writing systems across the Afrikan continent and the Diaspora are included, analyzed and illustrated: the scripts of the West Africans – Mende, Vai, Nsibidi, Bamum and the Somali, and Ethiopian scripts. Other alphabets, syllabaries, paintings, pictographs, ideographs, and symbols are compared and contrasted.”