Tobias Warner, Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 63, no. 2, 2026. Roundtable on Sacred Language, Vernacular Difference: Global Arabic and Counter-Imperial Literatures by Annette Damayanti Lienau.
Abstract: This article examines the enigmatic afterlife of a widely circulating Wolofal verse—“bépp làkk rafet na” — commonly attributed to the early twentieth-century poet Muusaa Ka, and long mobilized by Senegalese writers and activists advocating for the value of writing in Wolof. Taking up Annette Damayanti Lienau’s invitation to consider ‘ajam as a ground of comparison, the essay uses this fragment to explore the relationship between Wolof’s two major scriptural traditions — Arabic-script and Latinate — and the forms of textual estrangement and unexpected affinity that arise between them.
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