Post by EUI History Department

Our researcher Siga Maguiraga defends her #PhD thesis on the Islamic practice of the quest for knowledge (talab al-‘ilm), pursued by Central Sahelian Muslims in Cairo, particularly at al-Azhar mosque, during the 19th and 20th century 👉 https://loom.ly/xGl7imE Drawing on transregional archives spanning Egypt, West Africa, France, Britain and North Africa, the study examines how the quest for Islamic knowledge was reorganised during the era of Ottoman reforms and colonial empires Rather than treating Sahelian Muslims as passive objects of colonial governance or simply recipients of Middle Eastern Islamic influence, the dissertation foregrounds them as mobile actors who negotiated, adapted, and strategically engaged with institutions. In doing so, the study challenges the narratives that portray Sub-Saharan Africa as isolated or peripheral to the wider Muslim world.