Striving for knowledge and dignity: How Qur’anic students in Kano, Nigeria, learn to live with rejection and educational disadvantage

Hoechner, Hannah (2011) Striving for knowledge and dignity: How Qur’anic students in Kano, Nigeria, learn to live with rejection and educational disadvantage. European Journal of Development Research, 23 (5). 712–728. ISSN 0957-8811

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Abstract

What is it like for young people not to conform to increasingly globalised standards of ‘modern childhood’, as epitomised by formal schooling? Drawing on ethnographic and participatory research conducted with Qur’anic students (Almajirai) in Kano, Nigeria, this article explores how young people – excluded from forms of knowledge to which they aspire – struggle to make sense of the constraints upon their lives and futures. It first traces how the Almajiri system evolved from a prestigious avenue to power into a coping strategy for the poor. It then describes the educational policy context of the Almajirai's experiences and explores how, shut out from modern Islamic and secular models of education, they cope with the exclusion and rejection they face in daily life. Throughout the article, the problematic implications of pushing for universal enrolment without addressing the inequalities governing access to education that is meaningful and of acceptable quality are pointed out.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	02 Apr 2019 08:30
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 09:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/70439
DOI:	10.1057/ejdr.2011.39

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