Student Activism and Religious Movements in Sahelian Universities
Abstract
Research problem: An initial Minerva project examined the socio-political factors affecting the potential for (in)stability in six African countriesÑSenegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and ChadÑstretching across the arid Sahelian region. Among the least developed on earth, these predominately Muslim countries have raised significant concern in recent years, primarily due to the activities of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other jihadi groups. Political instability, notably the collapse of MaliÕs political system in 2012, has underlined the salience of questions about the resilience of Sahelian states and their capacity to ensure the social order and effective governance that serves as a bulwark against radical movements. The region has been especially marked by dynamic religious change in the past two decades, visible in the proliferation of new religious movements of varying ideologies, and these have emerged as key actors shaping politics in these countries. Although not initially a specific focus of our research, over the course of fieldwork in the region we were struck with the importance of religiously-based student movements on university campuses, a phenomenon that has yet to receive any serious scholarly or analytic attention. These movements, we believe, merit particular attention given their omnipresence in campus life, their fluidity, their impact on shaping the attitudes of emerging elites, and their reflection of broader regional dynamics. This add-on project will follow up and build on the research carried out on our intial Minerva grant with an in-depth comparative examination of religious student movements on the campuses of national universities in all six countries. Proposed methods: The project builds on our extensive Minerva fieldwork as well as on other work by the team. P.I. Villal—n will coordinate the project along with Dr. Mamadou Bodian, core member of the initial Minerva research team who has particular expertise on religion and education. Drawing on the strong network of scholars and collaborators we have built across the region, we have assembled a research team including a university-based consulting scholar from each country. An initial workshop bringing together the entire team will serve to elaborate a research protocol and a template for in-depth analytic research reports on the dynamics of religious student movements in each country. These reports will be then presented at a conference and workshop to be held at the University of Florida, and revised for publication following feedback and discussion at the workshop. Anticipated outcome of the research: In addition to a book on the topic, we anticipate other journal articles and academic presentations. Importantly, our initial Minerva grant has been instrumental in allowing us to institutionalize the University of FloridaÕs Sahel Research Group, and we are increasingly called upon to make presentations and consult with government and policy actors. We anticipate significant interest in this specific topicÑindeed we have already discussed it with the USIP-based RESOLVE Network focused on understanding violent extremismÑand we fully anticipate being called on by other policy groups to discuss the importance of religion on university campuses in other settings. Broader implications for security: While omnipresent, university-based religious groups are highly diverse in terms of ideology, and indeed they are frequently at odds with each other. While representing only a small minority, there are disturbing indications that student organizations may be feeding some of the most radicalized religious groups in the Sahel, with clear implications for the affected countries, and beyond.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 25, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1710470
Entities
People
- Leonardo A. Villalón
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of Florida