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Nubian studies needs a platform in which the old meets the new, in which archaeological, historical, and philological research into Meroitic, Old Nubian, Coptic, Greek, and Arabic sources confront current investigations in modern anthropology and ethnography, Nilo-Saharan linguistics, and critical and theoretical approaches present in postcolonial and African studies.

The journal Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies brings these disparate fields together within the same fold, opening a cross-cultural and diachronic field where divergent approaches meet on common soil. Dotawo gives a common home to the past, present, and future of one of the richest areas of research in African studies. It offers a crossroads where papyrus can meet internet, scribes meet critical thinkers, and the promises of growing nations meet the accomplishments of old kingdoms.

Issue cover
Place names in Nubia had only received limited attention until the publication of the fourth volume of Dotawo. The need for such studies guided the decision to dedicate this volume to Nubian toponyms and place naming in Nubia. The geographical framework of the volume encompasses both Nubia as the Middle Nile region, as well as the historical Nubia identified generally with the territory of North Sudan. The contents of this volume embrace a wide time frame (from Pharaonic times until today) and consist of contributions from scholars active in diverse fields of Nubian Studies (e.g., philology, linguistics, history, archaeology). Place Names and Place Naming in Nubia has the ambition of opening a series of toponymical surveys that may appear in the future through Dotawo or other venues under the title: Notes on Medieval Nubian Topography.

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