Change and variation in family religious language policy in a West African Muslim community

This article examines variation in family religious language policy in a Muslim community in West Africa. Taking an ethnographically grounded case study approach, I situate families’ choices with regards to their children’s religious (language) education within the larger linguistic, social, and cultural context, focusing on new influences on Islamic education and Arabic learning in the community and the wider region during a period of Islamic resurgence. I examine families’ religious education choices with particular attention to what they mean for children’s Arabic learning and what they say about families’ orientations toward Arabic. This article is based on a language socialization study of seven young Fulbe children into three languages (Fulfulde, Arabic, and French) at home, Qur’anic school, and public school in northern Cameroon. Changes in the religious, linguistic, and educational landscape of the region are reflected in the variation within and among four focal families with respect to how they organized and envisioned their children’s religious study and Arabic language learning. In presenting ethnographic research conducted at the intersection of religious language policy, language education policy, and family language policy, my goal is to further our understanding of how private choices are connected to forces in the public sphere, giving rise to changes in the ways faith, language, and learning are practiced and conceptualized.