35.037 - Contesting and Embodying Modernity/Islam: Education and Development Paradigms in Nigeria, Pakistan, Mali, and the United States

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Education is increasingly presented as the solution to all ills ranging from poverty to religious extremism for Muslim majority and minority societies. In this panel, the presenters examine the construction of global/local educational discourses for Muslim communities, and show how Muslim subjects from different sociocultural contexts negotiate, contest, and embody these global projects. The case studies include advocacy campaigns focusing on Malala Yusufzai; “modern” Islamic medresas in Mali; Pakistani Muslim women (re)producing gendered educated subjectivities in educational and familial contexts; and examination of sense of belonging among Pakistani American youth. This collection of paper calls on us to reconceptualize education as a local endeavor shaped by the complex gender, ethnic, religious, and colonial histories.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 5: Social Context of Research on Schools and Communities

Chair

• Karen Monkman, DePaul University

Papers

• "Intimate Publics": Promises of Campaigns for Girls' Empowerment - Shenila Khoja-Moolji, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Becoming Educated, Becoming Self-Disciplined: Women's Education and the Production of "Virtuous Agents" in Pakistan - Ayesha Khurshid, Florida State University

• "Stubborn" Workers, Academics, and Women: Pakistani Women Academics' Identity Frameworks - Shabana Mir

• "Modern" Medersas in Mali: Transforming Islamic Education - Helen N Boyle, Florida State University

• A Return to God? Muslim Youth, Education, Politics, and Identity in a Postmodern World - Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant

• Karen Monkman, DePaul University