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Muslim Empowerment in Ghana (MEG): Discourses, Agendas and Actions on Poverty, Community and Gender

Muslim Empowerment in Ghana (MEG): Discourses, Agendas and Actions on Poverty, Community and Gender

Time

1.1.2017–

Project partners

  • Dr Yunus Dumbe – Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi Ghana
  • Fatimatu Sulemana – University of Ghana Legon/Accra Ghana
  • Prof. Ousman Kobo – Ohio State University USA
  • Funded by

  • Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters
  • The politicization of Islam and the emergence of extremist organizations that propagate a total Islamization of society has been a noted factor in several West African states. Most research has hitherto focused on West African countries with a Muslim majority while the impact of Islam and Muslim organisations in countries with a Muslim minority, where the marginalization of Muslims might breed extremism, is less known. This lacuna is addressed in the outlined project, in which Ghana – a Christian-dominated secular state where Muslims constitute a minority – will be studied. The main objective is to investigate the discourses, agendas and actions of Muslim faith-based organizations (MFBOs) through two interlinked research questions. The first research question focuses on solutions on the empowerment of the Muslim minority in Ghana; the second research question focuses on the prospects of peaceful Muslim/Christian co-existence in Ghana. The two research questions will be studied through three interlaced Research Themes: 1) empowerment through poverty alleviation, 2) empowerment and political discourse, and 3) empowerment and inter-faith dialogue. The study is based on individual and group interviews with male and female Muslim scholars, opinion leaders and MFBO activists. In addition, the project will collect data from digital and published sources. The social media provides a third set of qualitative data to be analyzed.