Afrika-seminar: Islam i Afrika – fra politisk islam til post-islamisme

TIME: Thursday, 1 December, 15:15 -17:00

VENUE: Centre of African Studies, Købmagergade 46, 4th floor, Auditorium 12, 1150 Copenhagen K

Discussant will be Niels Kastfelt, Associate Professor, Centre of African Studies, University of
Copenhagen

TIME: Thursday, 1 December, 15:15 -17:00

VENUE: Centre of African Studies, Købmagergade 46, 4th floor, Auditorium 12, 1150 Copenhagen K

Discussant will be Niels Kastfelt, Associate Professor, Centre of African Studies, University of
Copenhagen

Islam in Africa is experiencing huge changes, in its Northern part as well as in its Sub-Saharan one. The democratic transitions that took place in Africa south of the Sahara in the beginning of the 1990s have given rise to new dynamics and new Islamic actors.

Islam, as well as Christianity and “traditional” religions, is more and more visible in the public space, shaping discourses and strategies, which challenge the secular state. In Africa north of the Sahara, the democratic revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya question the place of Islam in the political system.

At the same time, all Islamic societies in Africa are facing the rise of a “cultural” Islam, open to globalization and mainly concerned with ethics and morality, rather than with political issues as such, as is the case with Islamism. The presentation will focus on these changes and discuss the idea of “post-Islamism” as developed by scholars like Olivier Roy and Gilles Kepel.

René Otayek is director of the research centre LAM (Les Afriques dans le monde) at the Institute of Political Studies, Bordeaux in France. He has done extensive research on religious mobilization, political transition, identity and politics in Africa and the Middle East. Among his recent publications is Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007) co-edited with Benjamin Soares.