Jama Musse Jama

At Pisa University, Jama began researching traditional Somali games as well as the history of mathematics in the Horn of Africa, a topic which he has written about in several journals. His interests include Education in Somalia, and as an activist, Jama is deeply involved in the affairs of the Somali diaspora 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 2019 Dr. Jama Musse joined as Research Associate the Centre of African Studies at SOAS, University of London.

Jama Musse Jama (Somali: Jaamac Muuse Jaamac, Arabic: جامع موسى جامع ‎) (b. 1967) is a prominent Somali ethnomathematician and author. He is notable for his research on traditional Somali boardgames such as Shax.

Jama was born in 1967 in Hargeysa, Somalia where he had his primary and secondary education. He then left for Mogadishu and attended the Somali National University, where he studied mathematics for four and half years. Fluent in Italian, Jama left Hargeysa to study as a mathematician at Pisa University in Italy and he finally got a PhD in Computational linguistics at Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale” in Italy. He has particular interest in civil liberties and he is the author (or co-author) of six books, two of them on Somali traditional games.