Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait
In the first decades of the 20th century, Islamic modernist discourse inspired very local transformations in education across the Middle East and Indian Ocean. As Gulf merchants returned from their oceanic travels, they brought back ideas for instituting “modern” education in the port towns of the A...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa
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| Series: | Arabian Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cy/4887 |
| _version_ | 1797311124212809728 |
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| author | Lindsey Stephenson |
| author_facet | Lindsey Stephenson |
| author_sort | Lindsey Stephenson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the first decades of the 20th century, Islamic modernist discourse inspired very local transformations in education across the Middle East and Indian Ocean. As Gulf merchants returned from their oceanic travels, they brought back ideas for instituting “modern” education in the port towns of the Arabian Peninsula. The initial goals were not necessarily nationalist or even Arabist. Rather they were an attempt to provide education that would teach new, necessary skills in a modern, systematic environment while upholding traditional Islamic identities. While modern education has been understood primarily as a project undertaken by the Arab merchants of the region, this article demonstrates that the “‘Ajam” schools of Bahrain and Kuwait were initially a part of the same conversation. Tracing the early history of their development in the 1910s and 1920s through to the 1930s, I illuminate the initial orientation of the schools and how they responded to the influence of the Iranian modernist‑nationalist state project. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:53:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-33dd5d1b37f74d66b5f138474639ab8a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2308-6122 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:53:44Z |
| publisher | Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arabian Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-33dd5d1b37f74d66b5f138474639ab8a2024-02-14T09:17:38ZengCentre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de SanaaArabian Humanities2308-61221210.4000/cy.4887Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and KuwaitLindsey StephensonIn the first decades of the 20th century, Islamic modernist discourse inspired very local transformations in education across the Middle East and Indian Ocean. As Gulf merchants returned from their oceanic travels, they brought back ideas for instituting “modern” education in the port towns of the Arabian Peninsula. The initial goals were not necessarily nationalist or even Arabist. Rather they were an attempt to provide education that would teach new, necessary skills in a modern, systematic environment while upholding traditional Islamic identities. While modern education has been understood primarily as a project undertaken by the Arab merchants of the region, this article demonstrates that the “‘Ajam” schools of Bahrain and Kuwait were initially a part of the same conversation. Tracing the early history of their development in the 1910s and 1920s through to the 1930s, I illuminate the initial orientation of the schools and how they responded to the influence of the Iranian modernist‑nationalist state project.https://journals.openedition.org/cy/4887KuwaitBahrainIran‘AjamschoolingIslamic modernism |
| spellingShingle | Lindsey Stephenson Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait Arabian Humanities Kuwait Bahrain Iran ‘Ajam schooling Islamic modernism |
| title | Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait |
| title_full | Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait |
| title_fullStr | Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait |
| title_full_unstemmed | Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait |
| title_short | Between Modern and National Education: The ‘Ajam Schools of Bahrain and Kuwait |
| title_sort | between modern and national education the ajam schools of bahrain and kuwait |
| topic | Kuwait Bahrain Iran ‘Ajam schooling Islamic modernism |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cy/4887 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lindseystephenson betweenmodernandnationaleducationtheajamschoolsofbahrainandkuwait |