Islam has had a historical presence in Africa for at least a millennium, and the continent is today home to many millions of Muslims. Muslims are the majority in at least ten African countries and a significant minority in a range of other countries. While ostensibly sharing the same religious tradition, Muslims in Africa constitute highly diverse communities that in various contexts with historically specific trajectories and distinct particularities. Over the last few decades, the study of Islam in Africa has come of age, and scholarship in the field has increased in breadth by paying attention to the rich diversity of Islam in Africa, both historically and in the contemporary period. Moreover, multiple disciplines have contributed to the field, leading to fruitful theoretical and methodological crosspollinations. One particularly important outcome is that much of this literature clearly demonstrates that Islam in Africa is not peripheral Islam as many assumed in the past.
Research on and the teaching of Islam in Africa is an important part of the Center for African Studies’ activities. The purpose of the Islam in Africa Working Group (IAWG) is to generate interest and to facilitate enhanced understanding of Islam in African contexts. IAWG pays attention to the inherent complexity of Islam in Africa, its multifaceted historical trajectories, its geographical differences, its ideological variations, and contemporary dynamics. More specifically, IAWG’s purpose is to contribute to critical thinking around Islam in Africa, and similarly, to engage faculty and students at UF on ongoing scholarly developments within the field. IAWG is focusing on Islam in Africa from a historical perspective as well as a contemporary religion, seeking to create awareness about the diversity of Islam in Africa. This includes, among others, investigating topics such as the dynamics of religious reform, Islam and the state, Islam and social, political and economic developments, and questions related to complex identities. While the main focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, including areas such as West Africa, the Horn of Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa, it also tries to relate discourses in these areas to those in North Africa as well as to areas beyond the continent.
IAWG is cooperating closely with other units beyond CAS, in particular the Center for Global Islamic Studies (CGIS) and the Department of Religion. CGIS is currently running its Luce Foundation funded project Islam in Africa and Beyond, and the IAWG’s activities have to a certain extent been tailored to meet that project’s goals.
Through regular meetings, conferences, and other arrangements – IAWG is an important meeting-place for faculty and students interested in Islam in Africa, and aims to be a venue for sharing ideas and findings, for discussions and generating ideas, as well as for encouraging further research. IAWG has, since it was revitalized in 2010, been very active in achieving these goals. It has from 2010 organized 26 talks which has included external invited speakers, UF faculty, and graduate students. We have in particular emphasized giving graduate students the opportunity to present their research, and have (since 2010) facilitated more than 8 talks by graduate students. The yearly highlights have, however, been our yearly symposiums. Since 2010, we have organized 8 symposiums, with topics ranging from Slavery, Social Justice and Islam in West Africa, Militant Islam in Africa, Islamic NGOs and Development Aid, Africa Sufism in Africa, to Negotiating Gender and Sexualities in Muslim Africa.
Coordinator: Terje Østebø (ostebo@ufl.edu)
Steering Committee: Ikram Getachew, Zheyuan Deng, and Macodou Fall.