Pluralism and Adaptation in the Islamic Practice of Senegal and Ghana: Collaborative Research and Scholarship on West Africa

FAIN: RZ-51053-09

Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI 48824-3407)
David W. Robinson (Project Director: November 2008 to May 2016)

Creation of a website incorporating translations and annotations of documents written by and about West African Muslims; and syntheses about the history of particular West African Islamic communities.

Scholars in African Studies at Michigan State University and Indiana University will research West African Islamic practice and produce new interpretations to be made available to researchers, teachers, students and the general public. They will explore this practice through four case studies set in Senegambia and Mauritania, on the one hand, and Ghana, on the other. The case studies will provide new scholarship and syntheses on particular Muslim communities as well as transcriptions, translations and annotations of documents and interviews by members of these communities as they cope with division, non-Muslim rule, and changing global environments. This research will bring a critical African dimension to scholarly debates about Muslim faith and practice.