Description

This project deals with contemporary female Islamic scholars in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Traditionalist Islamic education with its institutions called maḥdara constitute today an important part of the national cultural heritage. Since the Eighteenth Century numbers of female Islamic scholars conducted their formation in these institutions and sometimes founded their own. Since the 1990s such female guided traditionalist educational institutions are moving from the countryside into the capital educating foremost children and adult women. While the populace of the countryside remains ethnically and socially quite homogenous, the social composition of Nouakchott is quite the opposite. Based on biographical interviews and visits to lessons, conducted during several field visits between 2012 and 2014, the life trajectories, teaching activities and their role as authorities within their communities will be examined answering questions about the contemporary situation of female teachers and the maḥdara in urban settlements and the place of female Islamic scholars in the production of Mauritania’s national cultural heritage.

Project Details

Project Type

Post-Doc Project

Subject Group

Humanities

Subject Classification

Islamic Studies

Start

2015

End

2017

Funding

Research Fellow Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies

Organization

Institute/Seminar

Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Socities

Project Team

Director

Dr. Britta Frede (Post-Doc)

Contact

Email

britta.frede@gmx.net

Homepage 2

zmo.de

Researchers

• Dr. Britta Frede (Post-Doc)

  Former