Education and Islamic Trends in Northern Nigeria: 1970s-1990s

Recognizably different Islamic trends in contemporary Northern Nigeria can be described in terms of traditionalism, modernism, and fundamentalism, and each trend can be correlated to a different educational background as well as a different political orientation. Within the last two decades, each of these trends has changed, with traditionalism shifting toward modernism, and modernism becoming fundamentalism, while fundamentalism faces imminent transformation in uncertain directions. Although handy for analyzing different trends, traditionalism, modernism, and fundamentalism should be recognized as discursive categories that are capable of not only revealing but also erasing subtleties, linkages and nuances of constantly changing social movements.