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Dissertation Information for Gibril Raschid Cole

NAME:
- Gibril Raschid Cole

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2000)

ADVISORS:
- Christopher Ehret
- William H. Worger

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Brenda E. Stevenson
- Richard L. Sklar

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Embracing Islam and African traditions in a British colony: The Muslim Krio of Sierra Leone, 1787--1910

Abstract: At the end of the American War of Independence, a number of ex-slaves who had gained their independence by joining the British Red Coats were either transported to Britain along with other British war veterans or relocated to Nova Scotia. Subsequently, these two groups formed the core of a new settlement established in Sierra Leone in 1787. They were later joined by others freed from slave plantations in Jamaica and Barbados, and, after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, from slave ships bound for the Americas along the Atlantic ocean.

The settlement in Sierra Leone, named Freetown, was envisaged to be a Victorian middle-class Christian community from whence Africans who had been successfully assimilated into British culture will be dispatched to other parts of Africa to spread Western civilization. It was therefore imperative to not only instill Christian values and ideals into the inhabitants of Freetown but, also to actively discourage the continued existence of African modes of thought. Thus it was essential to curtail any interaction between this Christian community and the non-Christians in the vicinity of the colony. The presence of a group within the community of ex-slaves which declined to embrace Christian doctrines, and instead elected to uphold Islam as their religion of choice, as well as maintain their African customary practices, came to pose a clear threat to the agenda of the Church and the colonial state.

This dissertation examines the growth of Islam among the Liberated Africans in the colony of Sierra Leone, and calls for a rethinking of the narrative on Krio history. Based on research of archival and other historical documents in Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom, and interviews conducted in Freetown, this study endeavors to correct the historical marginalization of the Muslim Krio. It seeks to shift attention from a historiography centered on Christian elitist paradigms to one which takes into cognizance the socio-cultural, religious, and economic complexity that is Krio society.

MPACT Scores for Gibril Raschid Cole

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-11 15:42:33

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Students under Gibril Raschid Cole

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None