Islam in the academic sphere in senegal: the case of Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar (UCAD)

Abstract

This paper discusses the changing socio-cultural landscape at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD), Senegal. It shows how the growing influence of the religious phenomenon since the late 1970s has encouraged young students to develop an Islamic activism that tends to replace the revolutionary and secular traditions that had dominated the space since the founding of this Senegalese university in 1957. These transformations, which take the form of a "decomplexification" of religion and of a communitarisation of the academic sphere, are also a reflection of the ongoing transformations in Senegalese society marked by a citizenship in transition. This transition translates itself into a duality between a "national citizenship," with a francophone and secular character, and a "cultural citizenship," inspired by Islam and initially driven by an Arab-Islamic elite as it negotiates its place in the public and administrative spheres that have historically been dominated by francophone elites.

Francophone Muslim intellectuals, Islamic associational life and religious authority in Burkina Faso

“…This category, which has wide acceptance among these actors, usually excludes Arabic speakers trained in Arab universities. Several studies have highlighted the importance of these francophone Muslims, who intervene more frequently in Burkina Faso's public sphere to take a stand on social issues and prescribe moral standards (Saint-Lary 2011; Ouédraogo 2019; Madore 2016a: 151–61; 2016b) and elsewhere in West Africa (Miran-Guyon and Oyewolé 2015; Sounaye 2015; Camara and Bodian 2016).…”