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Introduction: En-gendering Islamic Authority in West Africa

Introduction: En-gendering Islamic Authority in West Africa Britta Frede and Joseph Hill DOI: 10.5192/215409930502131 Women and gender have very often been marginal or absent in the academic literature on Islam in West Africa. Where the literature has not itself marginalized or completely ignored women, it has often defined women as essentially marginal in relation to Islam. Contributors to this special issue of Islamic Africa seek not merely to bring more attention to Muslim women in West Africa but to examine the mutually constitutive relationships between Islamic authority and gendered discourses and practices. This introduction begins by reviewing the emergence of literature on women and gender in Muslim West Africa, pointing out some of the assumptions that have often limited this literature as well as recent attempts to remedy these assumptions. These include the assumption that women are categorically defined as marginal in relation to Islam; that men are to women as the public is to the private; and that "women" and "Islam" can be approached as monolithic objects of analysis. Then we outline several themes that we consider key to an en- gendered study of Islamic authority in West Africa. First, we propose performativity as an organizing concept for understanding how authority is exercised, recognized, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Islamic Africa (continuation of Sudanic Africa) Brill

Introduction: En-gendering Islamic Authority in West Africa

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0803-0685
eISSN
2154-0993
DOI
10.5192/215409930502131
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Britta Frede and Joseph Hill DOI: 10.5192/215409930502131 Women and gender have very often been marginal or absent in the academic literature on Islam in West Africa. Where the literature has not itself marginalized or completely ignored women, it has often defined women as essentially marginal in relation to Islam. Contributors to this special issue of Islamic Africa seek not merely to bring more attention to Muslim women in West Africa but to examine the mutually constitutive relationships between Islamic authority and gendered discourses and practices. This introduction begins by reviewing the emergence of literature on women and gender in Muslim West Africa, pointing out some of the assumptions that have often limited this literature as well as recent attempts to remedy these assumptions. These include the assumption that women are categorically defined as marginal in relation to Islam; that men are to women as the public is to the private; and that "women" and "Islam" can be approached as monolithic objects of analysis. Then we outline several themes that we consider key to an en- gendered study of Islamic authority in West Africa. First, we propose performativity as an organizing concept for understanding how authority is exercised, recognized,

Journal

Islamic Africa (continuation of Sudanic Africa) – Brill

Published: Jun 3, 2014

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