Islamic Education in Africa: Writing Boards and Blackboards
Robert Launay
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.
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Reviews for Islamic Education in Africa: Writing Boards and Blackboards
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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
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
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
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.
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