Quranic Schools in Northern Nigeria: Everyday Experiences of Youth, Faith, and Poverty

294 Pages·2018·8.278 MB·English

by  Hannah Hoechner

Quranic Schools in Northern Nigeria
In a global context of widespread fears over Islamic radicalisation
and militancy, poor Muslim youths, especially those socialised in reli-
gious seminaries, have attracted overwhelmingly negative attention.
In northern Nigeria, male Qur’anic students have garnered a reputa-
tion for resorting to violence in order to claim their share of highly
unequally distributed resources. Drawing on material from long-term
ethnographic and ‘participatory’ fieldwork among Qur’anic students
and their communities, this book offers an alternative perspective on
youth,faith,andpoverty.
Mobilisinginsightsfromscholarshiponeducation,povertyresearch,
and childhood and youth studies, Hannah Hoechner describes how
religious discourses can moderate feelings of inadequacy triggered by
experiences of exclusion, and how Qur’anic school enrolment offers
a way forward in constrained circumstances, even though it is likely
to reproduce poverty in the long run. A pioneering study of religious
schoolstudentsconductedthrough‘participatory’methods,thisbook
presentsvitalinsightsintotheconcernsofthismuch-vilifiedgroup.
Hannah Hoechner is a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology and
migration studies at the University of Antwerp and the Université
libre de Bruxelles. She completed her doctorate at the University of
Oxford and has conducted extensive ethnographic research in Nige-
ria,Senegal,andtheUS.HerworkhasbeenpublishedinAfrica,Chil-
dren’s Geographies, Qualitative Research, International Journal for Social
Research Methodology, European Journal of Development Research, and
Afrique Contemporaine. As part of her work in Nigeria, she has pro-
ducedthe‘participatory’docudrama‘DuniyaJuyiJuyi–Howlifegoes’,
whichwontheAfricast2012SpecialAwardfor‘ParticipatoryVideofor
Development’.
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Foralistoftitlespublishedintheseries,pleaseseetheendofthebook.
Quranic Schools in Northern
Nigeria
Everyday Experiences of Youth, Faith, and
Poverty
Hannah Hoechner
International African Institute, London
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108425292
DOI:10.1017/9781108348270
(cid:2)C HannahHoechner2018
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To the almajirai

Contents
Listoffigures pageix
Listofmaps xi
Listoftables xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Noteontranslationandanonymisation xix
1 Porridge,piety,andpatience:Qur’anicschoolingin
northernNigeria 1
2 Fairgameforunfairaccusations?Discoursesabout
Qur’anicstudents 42
3 ‘Secularschoolingisschoolingfortherich!’:inequality
andeducationalchangeinnorthernNigeria 69
4 Peasants,privations,andpiousness:howboysbecome
Qur’anicstudents 93
5 Inequalityatcloserange:domesticserviceforthe
better-off 122
6 Concealment,asceticism,andcunningAmericans:
howtodealwithbeingpoor 140
7 Mangomedicineandmorality:pursuingarespectable
positionwithinsociety 158
8 Spiritualsecurityservicesinaninsecuresetting:
Kano’s‘prayereconomy’ 181
9 Roles,risks,andreproduction:whatalmajirieducation
impliesforsocietyandforthefuture 203
Annex:Synopsisof‘DuniyaJuyiJuyi–HowLifeGoes’ 227
Glossaryandabbreviations 231
vii
viii Contents
Bibliography 235
Newspaperarticles 258
Websitesandblogs 259
Index 261