Almajiranci, an old Islamic-based system of education in Northern Nigeria, has in recent times been the subject of enormous scrutiny, controversy and misrepresentation in Nigeria and internationally in the media as well as academia. The system, its students (almajirai) and graduates have been linked, with little evidence to religious uprisings, political unrest and terrorist organisations such as Boko Haram. These associations raise some profound questions about Nigerian society’s attitude to other forms of education, as well as the scapegoating of an underrepresented group that has been isolated mainly from the mainstream Nigerian society. And have been mostly absent in the policies and patronage of the Nigerian government over the last century. The research takes a unique approach to understand Almajiranci by presenting it in a documentary film format with discussions with experts in the field of Islamic West African History and prominent researchers in the field of the almajiranci phenomenon. It takes alternative narratives which disclose the incomplete nature of the existing negative mainstream discourses. The documentary looks at the precolonial history of almajiranci in the Northern Nigerian region as well as the rest of Islamic West Africa. It also examines the colonial and postcolonial time. With the use of discursive lenses, it uncovers a complex interplay of knowledge, power, ‘colonial modernity’ and epistemological prejudice in the construction of the Almajiranci narratives, with particular reference to the delegitimisation of this form of education within the postcolonial Nigerian society.
Footage Sources:
Channels Television-
Channels Television-
Channels Television-
Journeyman Pictures-
British Pathé-
TVC News Nigeria-
Ajipe Health and Wellbeing-
Basil Davidson’s AFRICA: A Voyage of Discovery: The King and The City
Nigeria – Giant in the Sun 1959.
National Geographic- The Quest for Gold.
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