Description

Islam has been present for more than a millennium in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of Muslims is greater than in Indonesia or Pakistan.  Muslims are the overwhelming majority in at least ten sub-Saharan countries and the majority or a substantial minority in more than twenty others.  Although attention in the past two decades has been paid to Islam in light of political instability and the rise of jihadi movements, sub-Saharan Africa remains marginal in broader academic and policy discussions about Islam in the world.  Social science research on Islam tends to ignore the region, and in comparative reflection about Islam and Muslim societies, Africa rarely features prominently.
The University of Florida (UF) has one of the largest concentrations of academic researchers on various aspects of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa.  The UF’s Center for Global Islamic Studies (CGIS), along with the Center for African Studies and other groups on campus, proposes to build on the university’s strengths while widening the focus and analytical perspectives.  The goal is not only to fill serious gaps in knowledge, but also to move Africa to the mainstream in the study of Islam.  Scholars of Islam in Africa will learn more about Islam in other world areas, and they will challenge scholars working on other areas to engage more fully with scholarship on African Islam.
The project will explore African Islam each year through different thematic lens.   Themes under consideration include:  Islam and politics, past and present; contemporary Islam and ways of being Muslim; Muslims and media, “old” and “new;” and Muslim-Christian encounters, past and present.  While the focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, the participation of scholars of Islam working on other geographic areas will foster comparative perspectives, while challenging those scholars to engage more fully with scholarship on Africa.
Activities will be guided each year by a different faculty leader, and will include public lectures, a fall workshop, and a three-week summer institute culminating in a summer symposium.  The institute will bring participants from Africa, and will feature a reading group, supervision by senior scholars, and the workshopping of papers.  UF faculty will mentor visiting fellows and graduate students.  Each year a postdoctoral fellow will be selected to help organize activities and teach one course.    All of these activities will lead to curriculum development and a variety of print and online publications.
The project will be led by anthropologist Benjamin Soares, Professor of Islamic Studies and African Studies and director of CGIS.  Soares held positions in Europe, Africa and Asia prior to joining UF in January 2017, and has published widely on these topics.  A Steering Committee will advise the project.
Luce Foundation funds would cover modest faculty and administrative support, almost two-thirds of the costs of the postdoctoral fellows, workshops and symposia, and three years of a graduate assistantship.   Soares intends to seek additional funds as the project develops, to add new thematic areas, to enable more interaction with colleagues in the region, and to organize an exhibition on contemporary Islam in Africa at UF’s Harn Museum.
Recommendation:                                      That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a three-year grant of $375,000 to the University of Florida Foundation for a project on Islam and Africa in Global Context.