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INVITATION TO WEDNESDAY SEMINAR: America and the Production of Islamic Truth in Uganda
July 26, 2023
From the Communications Officer, Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR)
The seminar will be held on Wednesday 26th July 2023 at 2.00 pm at the MISR Seminar Room 1 and virtually on Zoom.
The seminar will focus on Dr.Yahya Sseremba’s new book, America and the Production of Islamic Truth in Uganda, with Dr. Joseph Kasule, Adventino Banjwa, and Jacob Katumusiime as the discussants.
This book investigates the ways in which the war on terror has transformed the postcolonial state in Africa. Taking American intervention in Islamic education in Uganda as the entry point, the book demonstrates how state control over Islamic truth production and everyday Muslim life has increased.
During the colonial period, the Muslims in Uganda were governed in two ways: partly as lesser citizens within the Christian-dominated civil sphere and partly as members of a distinct Muslim domain. In this domain, a local system of Islamic education developed with a degree of autonomy that reflected the limits of the colonial state in shaping the Muslim subject. In the subsequent postcolonial period, systems of patronage and clientelistic networks dominated, and Muslim leaders were co-opted by the state, but without much real interference in the day-to-day lives of ordinary Muslims. However, as part of the war on terror, the US State Department seeks to bring the mechanisms of Islamic truth production, especially the madrasa, under direct state control and civil society scrutiny. This book argues that the “Muslim domain as a separate entity is coming to an end as it is being absorbed into the civil sphere, unifying the state’s domination of society.” The book also analyzes local Ugandan Muslim initiatives to modernize and contextualize their own education and religion and how these initiatives are shaped by and transcend the dominant power.
A thorough exploration of US foreign policy and Islamic education, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Political Studies, African Studies, and Religious Studies.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.