Religion Studies: Islam: West Africa

In northern Nigeria, high levels of ethnic diversity have coincided with acute polarization between Muslims and Christians, increasingly fuelling violent conflict. The climate of insecurity threatens northern Nigeria's development, accentuates the inequalities between it and the rest of the country, and undermines the attempt to stabilize democracy in the country. Externally, fears have also been expressed that Islamist movements in northern Nigeria form part of a wider network constituting a threat to global peace and security. Refuting a "clash of civilizations" between Muslims and Christians, the authors of this new study highlight the multiplicity of Muslim and Christian groups contending for influence and relevance, and the doctrinal, political and historical drivers of conflict and violence between and within them. They analyse three of the most contentious issues: the conflicts in Jos; the Boko Haram insurgency; and the challenges of legal pluralism posed by the declaration of full Sharia law in 12 Muslim majority states. Finally, they suggest appropriate and effective policy responses at local, national and international levels, discussing the importance of informal institutions as avenues for peace-building and the complementarities between local and national dynamics in the search for peace. Abdul Raufu Mustapha is Associate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford. David Ehrhardt is Assistant Professor of International Development at Leiden University College. Companion volume: Sects & Social Disorder: Muslim Identities & Conflict in Northern Nigeria edited by Abdul Raufu Mustapha (James Currey 2014)BR>Nigeria: Premium Times Books

This book is a major contribution to the social, political and intellectual history of the largest colonial state in Africa, the French West African Federation. By focusing on the specific subject of the development of French policy towards Islam, it sheds light on a wide range of issues, from the grand strategy of French imperialism to the psychology of individual administrators in isolated outposts of the empire. Christopher Harrison argues that in order to make sense of colonial rule, it is vitally important to understand the way in which the colonial power thought about the people it governed. He demonstrates how French understanding of Islam in West Africa evolved from the short-term, and often contradictory, policies associated with the period of military expansion, through a period of intense suspicion and fear of pan-Islamic movements, to a widely-held consensus that Islam in Africa was quite distinct from the Islam of the Arab world.

Explains the early and enduring influence of Islam, western imperialism, and French colonial rule that has made the West African, maritime and Sahelian country a crossroads of traditional African, Islamic, and European cultures. Also traces Senegal's political, economic, and social evolution since independence and its continuing role as a model for Francophone Africa despite its apparently endemic poverty and small population. The second edition analyzes events since 1983, particularly the 1993 multiparty elections, the 1994 devaluation, and the return of Abdoulaye Wade to the government in 1995. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In recent years violent attacks by Muslims in Nigeria have left thousands of Christians dead. This important study traces the origins of this crisis to the historical impact of Islam on Northern Nigeria. The author explores Islamic colonialism and slavery in West Africa and how their malign influence was entrenched by the British colonial administration. He explains how they have bequeathed a tainted legacy of discrimination and cruelty to the Christians of Northern Nigeria.