Women and Arabic Literacy in Congo during the Colonial Period: A Double Invisibility

WOMLIT project aims at challenging the invisible presence of women in Arabic literacy in Congo during the colonial period (1885-1960).

The core assumption is that the grasp of salient feature of the participation of Muslim women in literacy is key to understanding Islam in Central Africa, women’s identity, social networks, and major inherent gender and class tensions.

This project is mainly designed to address the historical gap on the absence of women in Arabic literacy, aiming to bring new female voices.

To reach these goals, and given the significant scarcity of documentation in the field, WOMLIT will adopt a transnational, socio-historical and feminist perspective, combining oral testimonies, archival research and photographic material collected in Congo, as well as in other locations (Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, including Zanzibar) and in the Arabian Peninsula (Sultanate of Oman).

The project will address the extent to which Muslim women’s practices in other Swahili areas can be transposable to Congo, and vice versa, addressing their participation in Sufi Brotherhoods (Qaradiyya), Umwali (sexual initiation) and magic.

WOMLIT will analyse how the question of archives and the voices they reveal is a fundamental issue for feminist theories.

This project aims to add new perspectives on the history of the Congo, as well as the history of Oman whose presence in Congo remains silenced compared to its influence in East Africa.

WOMLIT is closely related to the research led by the researcher's supervisor Xavier Luffin and his team on Arabic literacy in Eastern Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda during the colonial period, part of a 4-year project funded by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS, Belgium), that will greatly benefit the fellow.