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The walking Qurʼan : Islamic education, embodied knowledge, and history in West Africa / Rudolph T. Ware III.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Islamic civilization & Muslim networksPublisher: North Carolina : The University of North Carolina Press, [2014]Copyright date: ©2014Description: 1 online resourceContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781469614328
  • 1469614324
  • 9781469614335
  • 1469614332
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Print version:: Walking QurʼanDDC classification:
  • 297.7/70966 23
LOC classification:
  • BP43.A358 W37 2014eb
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
  • REL041000 | HIS001050
Online resources:
Contents:
Introduction : Islam, the Qur'an school, and the Africans -- Education, embodiment, and epistemology -- Embodying Islam in West Africa : the making of a clerisy, ca. 1000-1770 -- The book in chains : slavery and revolution in Senegambia, 1770-1890 -- Bodies of knowledge : schooling, Sufism, and social change in colonial Senegal, 1890-1945 -- Disembodied knowledge? : "reform" and epistemology in Senegal, 1945-present -- Conclusion : The Qur'an school, the body, and the health of the Umma.
Summary: "Typesetter: code used below Spanning a thousand years of history--and bringing the story to the present through ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania--Rudolph Ware documents the profound significance of Quran schools for West African Muslim communities. Such schools peacefully brought Islam to much of the region, becoming striking symbols of Muslim identity. Ware shows how in Senegambia the schools became powerful channels for African resistance during the eras of the slave trade and colonization. While illuminating the past, Ware also makes signal contributions to understanding contemporary Islam by demonstrating how the schools' epistemology of embodiment gives expression to classical Islamic frameworks of learning and knowledge. Today, many Muslims and non-Muslims find West African methods of Quran schooling puzzling and controversial. In fascinating detail, Ware introduces these practices from the viewpoint of the practitioners, explicating their emphasis on educating the whole human being as if to remake it as a living replica of the Quran. From this perspective, the transference of knowledge in core texts and rituals is literally embodied in people, helping shape them--like the Prophet of Islam--into vital bearers of the word of God."-- Provided by publisherSummary: "Spanning a thousand years of history--and bringing the story to the present through ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania--Ware documents the profound significance of Qurʼan schools for West African Muslim communities. Such schools peacefully brought Islam to much of the region, becoming striking symbols of Muslim identity. Ware shows how in Senegambia the schools became powerful channels for African resistance during the eras of the slave trade and colonization. While illuminating the past, Ware also makes signal contributions to understanding contemporary Islam by demonstrating how the schools' epistemology of embodiment gives expression to classical Islamic frameworks of learning and knowledge"-- Provided by publisher.

"Typesetter: code used below Spanning a thousand years of history--and bringing the story to the present through ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania--Rudolph Ware documents the profound significance of Quran schools for West African Muslim communities. Such schools peacefully brought Islam to much of the region, becoming striking symbols of Muslim identity. Ware shows how in Senegambia the schools became powerful channels for African resistance during the eras of the slave trade and colonization. While illuminating the past, Ware also makes signal contributions to understanding contemporary Islam by demonstrating how the schools' epistemology of embodiment gives expression to classical Islamic frameworks of learning and knowledge. Today, many Muslims and non-Muslims find West African methods of Quran schooling puzzling and controversial. In fascinating detail, Ware introduces these practices from the viewpoint of the practitioners, explicating their emphasis on educating the whole human being as if to remake it as a living replica of the Quran. From this perspective, the transference of knowledge in core texts and rituals is literally embodied in people, helping shape them--like the Prophet of Islam--into vital bearers of the word of God."-- Provided by publisher

"Spanning a thousand years of history--and bringing the story to the present through ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania--Ware documents the profound significance of Qurʼan schools for West African Muslim communities. Such schools peacefully brought Islam to much of the region, becoming striking symbols of Muslim identity. Ware shows how in Senegambia the schools became powerful channels for African resistance during the eras of the slave trade and colonization. While illuminating the past, Ware also makes signal contributions to understanding contemporary Islam by demonstrating how the schools' epistemology of embodiment gives expression to classical Islamic frameworks of learning and knowledge"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

Introduction : Islam, the Qur'an school, and the Africans -- Education, embodiment, and epistemology -- Embodying Islam in West Africa : the making of a clerisy, ca. 1000-1770 -- The book in chains : slavery and revolution in Senegambia, 1770-1890 -- Bodies of knowledge : schooling, Sufism, and social change in colonial Senegal, 1890-1945 -- Disembodied knowledge? : "reform" and epistemology in Senegal, 1945-present -- Conclusion : The Qur'an school, the body, and the health of the Umma.