Educational Choices in Senegal

A Case Study among Fulbe in a Tijani Sufi Village

Authors

  • Gina Gertrud Smith University of Copenhagen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/fiel.v9i1.8

Keywords:

Daara, Senegal, shaykh, Sufi-village, education, francophone school, Franco-Arabic, “Education-for-All”

Abstract

The case study is rooted in an old interest in the Qur’anic education. It examines the values attached to education in a village where a state school challenges the established educational culture of the Sufi shaykh and of the parents. West African Senegal has a history of educational conflicts, partly as a result of being a mosaic of ethnic groups, Christian and Muslim religions and cultures, French colonization and Western cultural input. Relating all this to the narratives, information and observations presented to the author in the village, the article looks into the position of the classical Islamic Education in the village and reflects on the position of Islamic education in Senegalese educational politics.

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Author Biography

  • Gina Gertrud Smith, University of Copenhagen

    Gina Gertrud Smith is a MA from the University of Copenhagen, where she studied ethnography, history and religious studies. While a senior master in upper secondary school, she did field-studies in Senegal. She was the head of the association of Danish RS teachers and the European Forum for teachers of Religious Education. Her research centres on Islamic education in Senegal and on the Gounassianke branch of the Sufi movement, Tijaniyya, in Senegal and in France.

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Published

2015-03-20

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Smith, G. (2015). Educational Choices in Senegal: A Case Study among Fulbe in a Tijani Sufi Village. Fieldwork in Religion, 9(1), 8-29. https://doi.org/10.1558/fiel.v9i1.8