Islamic Education in Africa

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.

• Preface 1. IntroductionRobert Launay The Classical Paradigm2. Styles of Islamic Education: Perspectives from Mali, Guinea, and The GambiaTal Tamari 3 Orality and the Transmission of Qur'anic knowledge in MauritaniaCorinne Fortier 4. Islamic Education and the Intellectual Pedigree of Al-Hajj Umar FalkeMuhammad Sani Umar Institutional Transformations5. Divergent Patterns of Islamic Education in Northern Mozambique: Qur'anic Schools in AngocheLiazzate Bonate 6. Colonial Control, Nigerian Agency, Arab Outreach, and Islamic Education in Northern Nigeria, 1900-1966Alex Thurston 7. Muslim scholars, Organic Intellectuals and the Development of Islamic Education in Zanzibar in the 20th Century Roman Loimeier8. The New Muslim Public School in the Democratic Republic of CongoAshley Leinweber Innovations and Experiments 9. The al-Azhar School Network: A Murid Experiment in Islamic ModernismCheikh Anta Babou 10. Mwalim Bi Swafiya Muhashamy-Said: A Pioneer of the Integrated (Madrasa) Curriculum in Kenya and BeyondOusseina D. Alidou 11. Changes in Islamic Knowledge Practices in 20th-Century KenyaRüdiger Seesemann 12. Walking to the Makaranta: Production, Circulation, and Transmission of Islamic Learning in Urban NigerAbdoulaye Sounaye Plural Possibilities? 13. How (Not) to Read the Quran? Logics of Islamic Education in Senegal and Côte d'IvoireRobert Launay and Rudolph T. Ware III 14. New Muslim Public Figures in West AfricaBenjamin F. Soares 15. Collapsed Pluralities: Islamic Education, Learning, and Creativity in NigerNoah Butler

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) 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 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) Highly recommended.(Choice) Islamic Education in Africa is a thoughtful reection that challenges Eurocentric knowledge on Islamic educational systems, harnessing a debate on alternative future landscapes for education and schooling in Africa.- Marta Scaglioni (AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW) As the debate on the decolonization of education in Africa gains increasing importance in academia, Islamic Education in Africa is a thoughtful reflection that challenges Eurocentric knowledge on Islamic educational systems, harnessing a debate on alternative future landscapes for education and schooling in Africa.- Marta Scaglioni (African Studies Review)