The Role of Islam, Ajami writings, and educational reform in Sulemaana Kantè’s N’ko

Abstract

The written words of African Muslims have recently received renewed attention. This stems from a push to go beyond colonial archives as well as concerns with terrorism and Islamic radicalization. While Ajami—that is, African languages written in Arabic script—has been a part of this trend, Manding-language publications in the N’ko script have been overlooked. And yet, this literary industry is distinctly Islamic. Putting the writings of Sulemaana Kantè into conversation with historical authors and his contemporaries, Donaldson demonstrates that N’ko represents an iteration of Afro-Muslim vernacular thought, thereby illuminating Kantè and a body of N’ko and Ajami publications.

Digital resistance: Discursive construction of polarization and otherness in Oduduwa secessionists’ social media discourse

“…'Insha Allah' in TWT 12 is an indexical reference to the Fulani ethnic group in Nigeria. Because most Fulani people are Muslims (Donaldson, 2020), the term is used to encode their ethnicity in the tweet. In addition to the fact that linguistic strategies such as coinages encode ideological stances and socio-cultural contexts embedded in them, Miranda et al (2016) submit that coinages allow social actors establish conflictual relationship with their 'enemy', indicate peaceful relationships with their comrades, and legitimize their stances to demand social change.…”