Islam in West Africa Beyond Decolonization

This course will survey the history of Islam and Muslim societies in West Africa through the beliefs, practices, writings, stories and poems of Sufi scholarly sages. The course will focus on the Islamic intellectual and spiritual tradition of West African `ulama (scholars) with specific focus on the most widespread Sufi traditions in the region: the Qadiriyya, the Tijaniyya and the Muridiyya. We will explore the general themes of politics, mysticism, state formation, warfare and revolution, gender and ethnic dynamics, colonial constructions of religious identity, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and contemporary diasporic communities. This course will involve primary source readings of West African Muslim scholars and will center the question of decolonization.