Islamic Education in West Africa

In response to the Block exhibition Hamdia Traoré’s “Des marabouts de Djenné” and Muslim Portraiture in Mali, this panel discussion will consider Islamic education as both global cultural heritage and a vibrant living practice in which both men and women richly participate. The program will be introduced by Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and curator of the exhibition. The panelists will be Zachary Wright, Director of the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs for Northwestern University in Qatar; Ali Diakite, Cataloger of West African Manuscripts at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library; and Samiha Rahman, Assistant Professor in Human Development at the University of California Long Beach.

Co-presented by Northwestern’s Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa. The program will be preceded with a public reception in the Block Lobby from 1:00 PM-2:00 PM.

Participation level – light, audience members can choose to participate in the Q&A at the close of the program.

Programs are open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are not required, but are appreciated.

About the Speakers:

Zachary Wright is associate dean for Faculty Affairs at Northwestern University in Qatar and professor in residence of History and Religious Studies in the Liberal Arts Program. Wright received his PhD in history from Northwestern University. His research focuses on Islamic intellectual history in West and North Africa, from the 15th century to the present. Most of Wright’s field research has been conducted in Senegal and Morocco with Arabic, French, and Wolof language sources. He serves as the director of Northwestern University’s Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA). He is the co-author of (Liverpool University Press, 2025) together with Mauro Nobili and Ali Diakité.

Ali Diakite is a cataloger of West African Arabic manuscripts at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) in Collegeville, Minnesota. He grew up in West Africa between Burkina Faso and Mali, a background that has shaped his research interests in the social and political history of Islam in West Africa. Diakite received his PhD from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France in 2015. His research focuses on the social and political history of Islam in West Africa, with particular attention to Arabic manuscripts. He held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Diakite is the co-author, with Mauro Nobili and Zachary Wright, of (Liverpool University Press, 2025), a critical edition and translation of important West African Arabic historical texts.

Samiha Rahman is an Assistant Professor at California State University Long Beach. She holds a Ph.D. in Africana Studies and Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Her scholarship examines how young people and their families engage race, religion, and education to achieve justice and liberation. Her research has garnered supported from the Mellon Foundation, the Institute of Citizens and Scholars, the Henry Luce Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Academy of Religion, the Spencer Foundation, the National Academy of Education, and the Fulbright-Hayes. Her first book, (New York University Press, 2026) tells the stories of a multi-generational community of Black Muslims in the Tijani Sufi tariqa who live and learn between the U.S. and Senegal. Her research has also appeared in The Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Africa, and the Journal of Negro Education, among others.

Image credit: Hamdia Traoré (Djenné, Mali, born 1992), Baber Toumagnon, marabout et maître coranique. Djenné-Youboucaïna (Baber Toumagnon, Marabout and Qur’anic Teacher. Djenné-Youboucaïna), from the series Des Marabouts de Djenné (Marabouts of Djenné), April 2018, printed 2023, Inkjet print, pigment-based. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Irwin and Andra S. Press Collection Endowment Fund purchase. 2022.17.16.

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