Table of Contents
Illustrations
Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Background to the Study
Beyond Ethnicity: Brassage Sahélien
Niger: Postcolonial Developments
The Period of the 1990s
Enactment of Identity in the Urban Landscape
From Makaranta/Madarasa Literacy to the Quest for Material Basis of Empowerment
The Place of Biography
Outline of the Book
Part 1: Women, Education, and Epistemological Traditions
Chapter 1: When Kuble (Seclusion) Literacy Invades the Electronic Space: Malama A’ishatu Hamani Azrmakoy Dancandu and the Politics of Knowledge
Introduction
Gendered Spaces: Between Indigenous Tradition and French Colonialism
Poetry, Piety, and Identity
Transitional “Digraphia”: From Hausa Ajami to Arabic Script
Malama A’ishatu: Between Womanhood and Motherhood
Conclusion
Chapter 2: Women and the Political Economy of Education
Introduction
Women, Orality, and Literacies in Precolonial Niger
Women’s Other Educational Skills in the Precolonial Era
Education and the French “Civilizing” Mission: Gender Implications
Women in Education in the Aftermath of Independence
Constraints on Women’s Education in Postcolonial Niger
Women in lslamic Schools
Grassroots Women’s Responses to the Educational Crisis
Part 2: Women, Folklore, and Performative Identities
Chapter 3: Politics, Popular Culture, and Women Performing Artists: A Biographical Inquiry in a Francophone-Islamic Context
Introduction
Habsu Garba and Hybridity: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Habsu Garba and Educational Brassage
Habsu Garba: Between Modern Education and Indigenous Traditions
Brassage and the Urban Landscape
In Search of Professional Fulfillment
The Becoming of a Performing Artist and Its Cultural Problematics
Griotte(s) of Tradition and Modernity: The Struggle for Space
Functional Art: Between Orality and Literacy
The Tension between Performance and Politics
Between Politicla Patronage and Political Representation
When Fieldwork Connects the Present with the Past
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Cinderella Goes to the Sahel
Introduction
Islam, Folklore, Gender, and Modernity
The Story of the Orphan Girl Who Married the Prince of Masar
Analysis of the Tale
Conclusion
Part 3: Women and Overt Political Contestation
Chapter 5: Islamisms, the Media, and Women’s Public Discursive Practices
Introduction
Democratization and the Rise of Political Islam in Niger
Democracy, Islam, the Media, and Women’s Activism
Plural Islamisms and the Hijab Discourse
Women’s Islamic Literacy and the Public Display of Knowledge
Women, Islamisms, the Family Code, and the Media in Niger
UN Family Planning Campaign and Muslim Women’s Activism in the Media
Chapter 6: Through the Eyes of Agaisha: Womanhood, Gender Politics, and the Tuareg Armed Rebellion
Historical Background
The Political Context of the Uprising
Brassage Sahélien: Women Dispel the Myth of Ethnic Purity
Tuareg Women Entrapped by Identity Ties
Sisterhood during War
Conclusion
Conclusion
Appendix A: Abdoul Salam’s Dance Song Tigyedima: Transregional and Transethnic Sahelian Brassage
Appendix B: Biographical Sketch of Dr. Malama Zeinab Sidi Baba Haidara
Notes
References
Index
