Postgraduate Course: Islamic Africa (Online) (PGHC11502)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Although home to a quarter of the world's Muslim population, Africa is often overlooked in conventional histories of the Islamic world. Yet African figures were critical to the emergence of Islam at its inception and have continued to play a pivotal role over the course of its growth into a "world religion." This course will explore the place of Islam in Africa and the place of Africa in Islam, introducing students to key figures, movements and moments in the more than 1,000 years of Islamic history in Africa. |
| Course description |
This course will explore the history of Islam on the African continent via a set of connected themes and case studies. Topics may include the history of schooling, trade, urbanisation and architecture, as well as transformations in labour, gender relations, Sufism and the law. We will also consider the place of Islam under colonialism, the relation of Muslim intellectuals to the postcolonial state in the age of the so-called War on Terror, and the broader relevance of Islam to the study of the African Diaspora. Course materials will range from 17th-century Arabic historical chronicles and legal texts in translation to examples drawn from of 20th-century Afro-Muslim visual and sonic cultures. While tilting geographically towards West Africa, the course will also cover South Africa and the Swahili Coast. Familiarity with Arabic and other African languages is welcome but not required, and it is hoped that this course will appeal to a range of students in History, African Studies, and Islamic Studies.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | Students MUST NOT also be taking
Islamic Africa (PGHC11509)
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Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the place of Islam in African history and the place of Africa in the history of Islam
- Analyse the intellectual, economic, religious, and political linkages among Muslim communities across various regions of the continent.
- Synthesise different methodological approaches to the study of Islam in Africa employed by not only historians, but anthropologists, political scientists, and religious and legal scholars as well.
- Identify historical and contemporary questions that are not adequately addressed in the extant scholarship on Islam in Africa.
- Gain a base knowledge of African history and the study of Islam apart from the specific intersection of "Islam and Africa."
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Reading List
Rudolph T. Ware, The Walking Qur'an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa
Michael A. Gomez, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa
John O. Hunwick, Shari'a in Songhay: The Replies of Al-Maghili to the Questions of Askia Al-Hajj Muhammad
Bruce S. Hall, A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600-1960
Fahad Ahmad Bishara, A Sea of Debt: Law and Economic Life in the Western Indian Ocean, 1780-1950
Cheikh Anta Babou, Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913
Muhammad Sani Umar, Islam and Colonialism: Intellectual Responses of Muslims of Northern Nigeria to British Colonial Rule
Ousmane Kane, Muslim Modernity in Postcolonial Nigeria
Adeline Masquelier, Women and Islamic Revival in a West African Town
Gabeba Baderoon, Regarding Muslims: From Slavery to Post-Apartheid
Sylviane A. Diouf, Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jeremy Dell
Tel: (0131 6)50 4476
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
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