Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies / Academy / • Archiv / 2015 / Round-Table Discussion: Beyond Jihad in Africa

Round Table Discussion: Beyond Jihad in Africa - Muslim Youths, Violence, and Visions of the Future

Roundtable_Jihad_21.5.15

Den Flyer für die Veranstaltung finden Sie hier

21.5.2015
18.15 Uhr
NEUER ORT: Campus, GW2, S6

Round Table Discussion mit:

Khalid Ayong BIGSAS – PhD Project: Traditional Islamic Scholarly Culture in Northern Cameroon in the 20th Century


Georg Klute (Professor Anthropology of Africa, University of Bayreuth)

Achim von Oppen (Professor African History, University of Bayreuth)

Rüdiger Seesemann (Professor Islamic Studies, University of Bayreuth)

Abdifatah Shafat (Anthropology, University of Kansas)
(and others)

Abstract:

The current expansion of jihadist movements in different parts of Africa - in the southern Sahara, around Lake Chad, and in Somalia - is a source of concern and amazement for many of us. This roundtable, bringing together scholars from Africa and Germany in different Africa-related disciplines, seeks to go beyond horrifying news and suspicious connections. It aims at exploring some less attended issues that may help to reach a better understanding of  such violent movements of Muslim youths in Africa: What is their social and historical background - does it go beyond usual patterns of mobilization ? To what extent do these movements actually represent a new departure from established models of society and knowledge, with more radical visions of future (and past) than others ? Can they be associated with particular, "local" lines of conflict and aspiration in Africa and the African diaspora, or rather with more "global" tendencies in Islam, as they claim themselves ?  These and other questions will be discussed among the panelists and with the audience.

The roundtable is hosted by the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies.
Everybody is warmly welcome.