This book examines perceptions and experiences of Qur’anic schools in West Africa, outlining a much-needed postcolonial approach which considers the place of Islamic education within African decolonial debates about educational pluralism.
To overcome the challenges of problematic Eurocentric and colonialist stereotypes about religious actors and faith-based schools (which persist within Comparative and International Education scholarship and global policy agendas), Anneke Newman harnesses decolonial theory and uncovers through fine-grained ethnography how parents and young people today engage with classical Qur’anic schools, Islamic schools and French-medium secular education in Senegal. Chapters thereby expose the fault lines around gender, descent-based or caste identities, and socioeconomic inequality and their influence on individuals’ pursuit of knowledge. Drawing on an impressive body of supporting literature from history, anthropology, linguistics, African studies and Islamic studies, the book unpacks the characteristics of this Islamic West African context, rendering its population’s Sufi Muslim worldview accessible to researchers concerned about achieving the Education for All agenda.
Advocating for a need to embrace greater plurality of African and Islamic perspectives, the book will be of significant interest to academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of development and African studies, the sociology of education, international education, anthropology and religious education. Policy-makers and practitioners involved in postcolonial and decolonial debates more broadly will also benefit from this volume.