Back to Search
Start Over
Education and Communities at the 'Margins': The Contradictions of Western Education for Islamic Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Source :
-
Bulgarian Comparative Education Society . 2017Paper prepared for the Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES) (15th) and the International Partner Conference of the International Research Centre (IRC) "Scientific Cooperation" (5th) (Borovets, Bulgaria, Jun 2017). - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- This paper employs postcolonial framework to discuss the contradictions of promoting western education in Islamic communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Prior to colonization, Islamic education was an important socializing process that instilled strong Islamic identity in Islamic communities in SSA. European encounters in SSA and the introduction of western education shifted the socializing process and reconfigured SSA societies and dislocated Islamic communities in the region. I argue that Islamic communities' marginalization educationally since the colonial era is partly the result of their resistance to western colonization and all its forms. In the first part of the paper I discuss postcolonial discourse and education. The second part discusses education and religion nexus in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses recent Pew Research for example as evidence to delineate the Muslim-Christian gaps in education by age categories and gender. The third part outlines ways western education became a tool for reconfiguring Islamic communities and the rationales behind Islamic communities' resistance to this form of education. The concluding section discusses contemporary efforts to promote education in Islamic communities in SSA within the rubric of Education for All (EFA). [For the complete Volume 15 proceedings, see ED574185.]
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Bulgarian Comparative Education Society
- Publication Type :
- Conference
- Accession number :
- ED574227
- Document Type :
- Speeches/Meeting Papers<br />Reports - Evaluative