ABOUT THIS BOOK

Engaging Modernity is Ousseina Alidou’s rich and compelling portrait of Muslim women in Niger as they confront the challenges and opportunities of the twentieth century. Contrary to Western stereotypes of passive subordination, these women are taking control of their own lives and resisting domination from indigenous traditions, westernization, and Islam alike.
Based on thorough scholarly research and extensive fieldwork—including a wealth of interviews—Alidou’s work offers insights into the meaning of modernity for Muslim women in Niger. Mixing biography with sociological data, social theory and linguistic analysis, this is a multilayered vision of political Islam, education, popular culture, and war and its aftermath. A gripping look at one of the Muslim world’s most powerful untold stories.

Runner-up for the Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize, Women’s Caucus of the African Studies Association

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ousseina Alidou is assistant professor of African studies at Rutgers University. She is coeditor of A Thousand Flowers: The Struggle for Education in African Universities and author of many articles in African literature and folklore, linguistics, and women’s studies.

REVIEWS

“This will change how you think about contemporary Muslim women.”—Barbara Cooper, Rutgers University

“Written in a clear, readable style, Alidou’s work is compelling and rich . . . a significant contribution.”—Beverly Mack, University of Kansas

“Illustrates the complex interplay of gender, Islam, and modernity in Niger and the way that women manage to negotiate their way in a society with a strong patriarchal tradition. . . . Highly Recommended.”—Choice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Illustrations

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Background to the Study

Beyond Ethnicity: Brassage Sahélien

Niger: Postcolonial Developments

The Period of the 1990s

Enactment of Identity in the Urban Landscape

From Makaranta/Madarasa Literacy to the Quest for Material Basis of Empowerment

The Place of Biography

Outline of the Book

Part 1: Women, Education, and Epistemological Traditions

Chapter 1: When Kuble (Seclusion) Literacy Invades the Electronic Space: Malama A’ishatu Hamani Azrmakoy Dancandu and the Politics of Knowledge

Introduction

Gendered Spaces: Between Indigenous Tradition and French Colonialism

Poetry, Piety, and Identity

Transitional “Digraphia”: From Hausa Ajami to Arabic Script

Malama A’ishatu: Between Womanhood and Motherhood

Conclusion

Chapter 2: Women and the Political Economy of Education

Introduction

Women, Orality, and Literacies in Precolonial Niger

Women’s Other Educational Skills in the Precolonial Era

Education and the French “Civilizing” Mission: Gender Implications

Women in Education in the Aftermath of Independence

Constraints on Women’s Education in Postcolonial Niger

Women in lslamic Schools

Grassroots Women’s Responses to the Educational Crisis

Part 2: Women, Folklore, and Performative Identities

Chapter 3: Politics, Popular Culture, and Women Performing Artists: A Biographical Inquiry in a Francophone-Islamic Context

Introduction

Habsu Garba and Hybridity: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Habsu Garba and Educational Brassage

Habsu Garba: Between Modern Education and Indigenous Traditions

Brassage and the Urban Landscape

In Search of Professional Fulfillment

The Becoming of a Performing Artist and Its Cultural Problematics

Griotte(s) of Tradition and Modernity: The Struggle for Space

Functional Art: Between Orality and Literacy

The Tension between Performance and Politics

Between Politicla Patronage and Political Representation

When Fieldwork Connects the Present with the Past

Conclusion

Chapter 4: Cinderella Goes to the Sahel

Introduction

Islam, Folklore, Gender, and Modernity

The Story of the Orphan Girl Who Married the Prince of Masar

Analysis of the Tale

Conclusion

Part 3: Women and Overt Political Contestation

Chapter 5: Islamisms, the Media, and Women’s Public Discursive Practices

Introduction

Democratization and the Rise of Political Islam in Niger

Democracy, Islam, the Media, and Women’s Activism

Plural Islamisms and the Hijab Discourse

Women’s Islamic Literacy and the Public Display of Knowledge

Women, Islamisms, the Family Code, and the Media in Niger

UN Family Planning Campaign and Muslim Women’s Activism in the Media

Chapter 6: Through the Eyes of Agaisha: Womanhood, Gender Politics, and the Tuareg Armed Rebellion

Historical Background

The Political Context of the Uprising

Brassage Sahélien: Women Dispel the Myth of Ethnic Purity

Tuareg Women Entrapped by Identity Ties

Sisterhood during War

Conclusion

Appendix A: Abdoul Salam’s Dance Song Tigyedima: Transregional and Transethnic Sahelian Brassage

Appendix B: Biographical Sketch of Dr. Malama Zeinab Sidi Baba Haidara

Notes

References

Index

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