Islamic Education in Africa: Writing Boards and Blackboards - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0253022703 ISBN 13: 9780253022707

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Writing boards and blackboards are emblematic of two radically different styles of education in Islam. The essays in this lively volume address various aspects of the expanding and evolving range of educational choices available to Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa. Contributors from the United States, Europe, and Africa evaluate classical Islamic education in Africa from colonial times to the present, including changes in pedagogical methods--from sitting to standing, from individual to collective learning, from recitation to analysis. Also discussed are the differences between British, French, Belgian, and Portuguese education in Africa and between mission schools and Qur'anic schools; changes to the classical Islamic curriculum; the changing intent of Islamic education; the modernization of pedagogical styles and tools; hybrid forms of religious and secular education; the inclusion of women in Qur'anic schools; and the changing notion of what it means to be an educated person in Africa. A new view of the role of Islamic education, especially its politics and controversies in today's age of terrorism, emerges from this broadly comparative volume.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Launay is Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University. He is author of Beyond the Stream: Islam and Society in a West African Town, an Amaury Talbot Award winner.

Review

Highly recommended. (Choice)

Islamic Education in Africa makes a significant contribution not only to our understandings of Islam in Africa but also to the broader study of how Islam is learned and woven into the fabric of society. By showing in meticulous detail the enduring and unwavering commitments of African Muslims to Islamic education while providing persuasive explanations about how and why knowledge transmission has continued to be the central bone of contention that divides them, it is a landmark in the anthropology of education.

(American Ethnologist)

This edited volume is a welcome contribution to debates on Islamic schooling in Africa both past and present, and will be of interest to scholars working on ‘indigenous’ perspectives and ‘alternative’ types of education more broadly. It is relevant to anyone working on policy, educational decisionmaking and youth experiences of schooling in African countries with Muslim populations.

(Compare)

This is a very rich collection of articles that covers diverse perspectives on Islamic Education in Africa, written by some of the top-of-the-range experts in their respective fields.

(Muslim World Book Review)

Launay's edited volume is an excellent and timely contribution to the literature, likely to become a major reference on Islamic education on the African continent. Everyone with an interest in the topic should read it!

(Journal of Religion in Africa)

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0253022703
• ISBN 13: 9780253022707
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 326
• Editor: Launay Robert