Dr. Abdoualye Sounaye

This project offers some reflections on the concept of boko, focusing on the ways in which it constructs Europe and articulates a critique of both schooling and intellectualism in Hausa contexts in West Africa. Boko is usually associated with the secular, and most importantly, the Euro-secular episteme that imposed itself onto many through a system of thought (modern rationalism), a social practice (school and schooling) and political project (modern state). It is one of those Hausa concepts that emerged within the European colonial context to nurture intellectual culture, trigger emancipatory politics and boost religiosity.