Jama Musse Jama ( so, Jaamac Muuse Jaamac, ar, جامع موسى جامع) (b. 1967) is a prominent Somali ethnomathematician and author. He is notable for his research on traditional Somali

boardgame Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

s such as Shax.

Biography

Jama was born in 1967 in

Hargeisa Hargeisa (; so, Hargeysa, ar, هرجيسا) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland. It is located in the Maroodi Jeex region of the Horn of Africa. It succeeded Burco as the capital of the British Somaliland Protector ...

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

where he had his primary and secondary education. He then left for

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

and attended the

Somali National University Somali National University (SNU) ( so, Jaamacadda Ummadda Soomaaliyeed, ar, الجامعة الوطنية الصومالية, it, Università Nazionale Somala) is a national university in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Its campus grounds w ...

, where he studied

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

for four and half years. Fluent in Italian, Jama left

Hargeysa Hargeisa (; so, Hargeysa, ar, هرجيسا) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland. It is located in the Maroodi Jeex region of the Horn of Africa. It succeeded Burco as the capital of the British Somaliland Protectorat ...

to study as a mathematician at

Pisa University The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

in Italy and he finally got a PhD in

Computational linguistics Computational linguistics is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modelling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions. In general, comput ...

Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" University of Naples "L'Orientale" ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale") is a university located in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1732 by Matteo Ripa, it is organized in four Faculty (division), Faculties. The oldest school of Sinolo ...

in Italy. He has a particular interest in civil liberties and he is the author (or co-author) of six books, two of them on Somali traditional games. At Pisa University, Jama began researching traditional Somali games as well as the history of mathematics in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

, a topic which he has written about in several journals. His interests include

Education in Somaliland Education in Somaliland is provided in public and private schools. Education is Somaliland is managed by Ministry of Education and Science which controls the development and administration of state schools, it's also has an advisory and superv ...

, and as an activist, Jama is deeply involved in the affairs of the

Somali diaspora The Somali diaspora or Qurbajoogta refers to Somalis who were born in Greater Somalia and reside in areas of the world that they were not born in. The civil war in Somalia greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many Somalis moved fr ...

during festivals and conferences which he chairs or is present as a key contributor. A specific interest of Jama's is to promote Somali language, literature, and promoting reading, he is the founder and the organiser of Hargeysa International Book Fair. In 2014 he founded the Hargeysa Cultural Centre and become its Director. In 2019 Dr. Jama Musse joined as Research Associate the Centre of African Studies at

SOAS, University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

and in 2020 as a senior research associate The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Work

Articles (selected)

*''Where Politics Fails, Cultural Diplomacy is an Alternative Option'
Corno d’Africa: prospettive e relazioni, Africa e Mediterraneo n. 92-93 (1-2/20)
*''Can a Computer compose a Somali poem after 40 years of Somali Language written experience?'

*''Transitioning from Oral to a Written Culture: The Impact of Hargeysa International Book Fair''
Africa e Mediterraneo n. 89 (2/18)
*''Tidcan: Multiple Alliteration of Somali Songs – New Insights'', International Journal of Literature and Arts,Volume 9, Issue 3, May 2021, Pages: 124-142 *''The role of mathematics in ethnomathematics Education: Cases from the Horn of Africa'' *''Creating a Mathematical Terminology: The Somalia Case'' with F Favilli *''Linguistic and Cultural Aspects in Teaching Mathematics'' with F Favilli *''Mathematics under an African acacia tree'' with F Favilli

Books

*''Cittadinanza è partecipazione'', Bianca&Volta Edizioni, Trieste, 2013, (ePub ) *''SUPER KEEY: La leucemia non è un gioco'', Edizione ETS, Pisa, 2010, (CDROM game ) *''Gobannimo Bilaash Maaha'' / ''Freedom is not free'', 2007. . *''A NOTE ON MY TEACHER'S GROUP – News Report of an Injustice'', 2003. . *''Shax: the preferred game of our camel-herders and other traditional African entertainments'', 2002. . *''Layli Goobalay: Variante Somala del Gioco Nazionale Africano'', 2002, .

Awards

* ''Cultura della Solidarietà'', Pistoia, 29 June 2014. The organising committee commended him for his 'exemplary work promoting cultural knowledge and inquiry in Somaliland.'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jama, Jama Musse Somalian writers Somalian scientists Somali National University alumni 1967 births Living people University of Pisa alumni People from Hargeisa