ISLAM IN AFRICA

CONFERENCE
ISLAM IN AFRICA
Historical and Contemporary Processes
of Islamisation and Re-Islamisations
in Africa
23 – 25 April 2015
Berne (Switzerland)
Uni Tobler (Lerchenweg 36, 3012 Berne, Room F-123)
Joint conference of the Swiss Society Middle East and Islamic Cultures
and the Swiss Society of African Studies
in collaboration with the Institute for Islamic Studies
and Modern Oriental Philology, University of Berne
An estimated 500 million Africans, or roughly 45% of the total population on the African
­continent, are Muslim and many countries are predominantly Muslim or have significant Muslim
populations. However, there is a huge diversity within Islam. The conference aims to explore the
dynamics behind this diversity. It is interested in both historical and contemporary processes of
islamisation and re-islamisations in Africa and their consequences.
Earlier examples include economic and cultural exchanges in Northern and Eastern Africa and
the Horn that were triggered by trade and frequently pre-dated contact with Europeans. These
exchanges had significant impacts, among others, on the political sphere, education, science,
and everyday practices.
Beyond these earlier examples and their transformations, there are both transnational and
­domestic contemporary processes. They include adapted trade flows, investment and banking
relations or development aid. Among the consequences are reform movements, but also
­(violent) political change. These forms of change have different social effects depending on
gender, age, social class and other markers of difference. Other processes of islamisation and
re-islamisations are based on migration and cultural flows based on the internet, media or
­popular culture, again having distinct effects on the micro, the meso and the macro level.
Five panels will explore different themes through selected papers presented by renowned
­professors or newcomers, and from researchers of different disciplines coming from diverse
countries of Africa, Europe, and America.
PROGRAMME
THURSDAY 23 APRIL – AFTERNOON
13.00 – 14.00
14.00 – 14.15
Subscription and welcome
Opening by representatives of the University of Berne and the organizers
ISLAM AND CHANGE OF MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL CULTURES
Chair: Dr. Anne MAYOR (SSEA & University of Geneva, Switzerland)
14.15 – 15.00 Keynote: Prof. Timothy INSOLL (University of Manchester, Great Britain)
Archaeological Perspectives on Islamisation and Material Culture Change
in Sub-Saharan Africa
15.00 – 15.30 Prof. Detlef GRONENBORN (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany)
Materialisation of Islam in Medieval Northern Nigeria
15.30 – 16.00 Dr. Abubakar Sule SANI (Ahmadou Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria)
Mosques and Monoliths: Reconsideration of the Changes in Hausa Cultural Landscape
and Systems, Northern Nigeria
16.00 – 16.30 Coffee break
16.30 – 17.00 Dr. Denis GENEQUAND (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Gonja and the Islamisation of Northern Ghana
17.00 – 17.30 Dr. Habtamu TESFAYE (Haromaya University, Ethiopia)
The Expansion of New Islamic Religious Teaching and its Challenge on Preserving
Ethiopian Islamic Heritage
17.30 – 18.00 Abu Baker Abdel RAHMAN (University of Bayreuth, Germany)
The Spirituality of the Space: Rituals of Healing Female Infertility
in Muslims Saints’ Shrines in Tamboul Town, Sudan
18.00 – 18.30 Prof. Fernanda do Nascimento THOMAZ (Federal University Ruiz de Fora, Brazil)
Islamisation and Sexuality in the Northern Mozambique (First Half of the Twentieth
Century)
18.30 – 18.45 Final discussion
FRIDAY
24 APRIL – MORNING
ISLAM AND POWER
Chair: Dr. Daniel KÜNZLER (SSEA & University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
09.00 – 09.45 Keynote: Prof. Muriel GOMEZ-PEREZ (University of Laval, Canada)
Political Islam in West Francophone Africa: An Historical, Gender and Generational
Overview between 1950 to now
09.45 – 10.15 Dr. Adama OUSMANOU (University of Basel, Switzerland)
Boko Haram’s e-Jihad: Interpretative of Videoanalysis of a Sociopolitical Situation
in Northern Cameroon and Nigeria
10.15 – 10.45 Adrienne VANVYVE (Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Le rejet de la collusion entre les autorités musulmanes et politiques
par l’Association des Elèves et Etudiants Musulmans du Burkina Faso
10.45 – 11.15 Coffee break
11.15 – 11.45 Dr. Marisa FOIS (Université des études de Cagliari, Italy)
Identité et nation : le cas algérien
11.45 – 12.15 Dr. Hines MABIKA (University of Berne, Switzerland)
Islam et enjeux de pouvoirs au Gabon
12.15 – 12.45Dr. Issouf BINATE (Université Alassane Ouattara, Bouaké, Ivory Coast)
Célébrations du Mawlid en Côte d’Ivoire : nouvelle dynamique religieuse et enjeux
de pouvoirs
12.45 – 13.00 Final discussion
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
PROGRAMME
FRIDAY
24 APRIL – AFTERNOON
IMAGINED IDENTITIES
14.00 – 14.45
14.45 – 15.15
15.15 – 15.45
15.45 – 16.15
16.15 – 16.45
16.45 – 17.15
17.15 – 17.45
17.45 – 18.15
18.15 – 18.30
Chair: Dr. Thomas HERZOG (SSMOCI & University of Berne, Switzerland)
Keynote: Prof. Brian J. PETERSON (Union College, New York, USA)
Grassroots Islamisation and Rural Religious Imaginaries in Colonial Southern Mali
Dr. Abdoulaye SOUNAYE (Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany)
Re-Islamisation in Urban Africa: The Sunnance Community in Niamey, Niger
Dr. André CHAPATTE (Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany)
Exploring the Noble Muslim in Contemporary Rural Mali
Hanna NIEBER (Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany)
Being Zanzibari – Being Muslim?
Coffee break
Prof. Jean-Pierre JACOB (Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland)
L’islam à la frontière : le rôle des marabouts dans l’installation et la protection
des villages winye (centre-ouest du Burkina Faso) entre le XVIIème et le XIXème siècle
Prof. Egodi UCHENDU (University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria)
Women Converts to Islam in Eastern Nigeria
Yakubu Sani ADAM (Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria)
The Shia and its Factions in Nigeria: The Case-study of Kano, 1980 – 2011
Final discussion
SATURDAY 25 APRIL – MORNING
ISLAM AND ECONOMICS
09.00 – 09.45
09.45 – 10.15
10.15 – 10.45
10.45 – 11.15
11.15 – 11.45
11.45 – 12.15
12.15 – 12.45
12.45 – 13.15
13.15 – 13.30
13.30 – 14.30
Chair: Dr. Thomas WÜRTZ (SSMOCI & University of Aarhus, Denmark)
Keynote: Prof. Steffen WIPPEL (University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark)
«Cap sur l‘Afrique» – Economic Contacts in and across the Western Sahara
through the Ages
Prof. Sofiane BOUHDIBA (Université de Tunis, Tunisie)
When a Fly Stops the Expansion of Islam. Muslim Merchants Facing Tsetse Fly
in Eastern Africa
Prof. Elke STOCKREITER (American University, Washington, USA)
Moral Obligations and Pecuniary Contestation in the Zanzibar Protectorate
Coffee break
Dr. Mohamed Baba Moustapha ELEMINE (Université de Nouakchott, Mauritanie)
Le label islamiste en Mauritanie : stratégie de marketing ou réislamisation?
Prof. Eric LOB (Florida International University, Miami, USA)
The Overseas Operations of the Iranian Construction and Agricultural Jihad
in Sub-Saharan Africa (1984 – 2009)
Yacouba OUEDRAOGO (Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)
Montée des ONG musulmanes internationales et renouveau islamique
au Burkina Faso
Andreas ZEMAN (University of Berne, Switzerland)
«First came the Anglicans, then the Muslims»: The spread of Islam
in the Lake Malawi Region from a Microhistorical Perspective
Final discussion
Lunch
PROGRAMME
SATURDAY 25 APRIL – AFTERNOON
EDUCATION AND LAW
SUBSCRIPTION
INFORMATION FOR SUBSCRIPTION
14.30 – 15.00
15.00 – 15.30
15.30 – 16.00
16.00 – 16.30
16.30 – 17.00
17.00 – 17.30
17.30 – 18.00
Chair: Dr. Daniel KÜNZLER (SSEA & University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Mohamed Nur Mohamed BAKHEIT (University of Bayreuth, Germany)
The Impact of Darfur’s Conflict on the Quranic Schools
Sarah FUCHS (University of Constance, Germany)
From Child Trafficking to Modernisation? The Ongoing Crisis of Senegal’s
Quranic Schools
Ini DELE-ADEDEJI (School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Great Britain)
The Educational Sector in Northern Nigeria as a Sphere of Contestation
between the Nigerian State and Boko Haram
Coffee break
Marta ALONSO CABRÉ (University of Barcelona, Spain)
La diya dans le Code Pénal mauritanien en vigueur
Giulio DI DOMENICANTONIO (University of Salento, Italy)
The Limits of Somalia’s Union of Islamic Courts between Xeer and Sharia
Final discussion
Subscriptions have to be sent BEFORE 2 APRIL 2015 to:
[email protected]
Phone +41 77 416 04 48
Please, indicate as a title of the message «subscription Islam in Africa»,
and in your message your name, professional affiliation and nationality.
Attendance fee (including coffee break and lunch during the whole
conference) payable on site in cash.
Regular price: CHF 75.–
Special price for students and members
of the organising societies (SSEA & SSMOCI): CHF 50.–
Reduced one-day entry is available at the registration desk.