African ʿAjamī in the Digital Environment: Typographic and Technological Challenges

Abstract

Abstract With Africa poised at the threshold of a typographic renaissance, its writing systems often face unique challenges when entering the digital environment. This chapter offers an overview of the current state of technical support for the digitization and creation of African ʿAjamī texts, the fonts and input methods currently available for that task, and the technical challenges remaining to be resolved to fully accommodate scholars and creators of textual content in African languages written with the Arabic script. The considerations that went into the design and production of the typeface family Kigelia Arabic are also briefly outlined, showing the challenges in creating fonts that address traditional sub-Saharan, Sahelian forms in all their variations and alternatives. This will be accompanied by an overview of the development of ʿAjamī-specific keyboards and methods for expanding features and key layouts for different language communities.