Education, Religious Trust, and Ethnicity: The Case of Senegal

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-14-2018

Publication Title

International Journal of Educational Development

Volume

62

First page number:

254

Last page number:

263

Abstract

Although the relationship between religious attachment and education has received much attention, few studies have examined it in the African context. Using data from a survey of 1,484 rural Senegalese citizens and Afrobarometer survey data, this article examines the relationship between different types of education (adult literacy education, Koranic education and formal education), ethnicity, and trust in religious leaders and institutions in the West African and overwhelmingly Muslim setting of Senegal. The results indicate that adult literacy education (ALE) generally has a negative effect on religious trust while the effects of formal education and Koranic education appear more variable. Ethnicity is also strongly linked to religious trust and appears to mediate the effects of education on religious trust.

Keywords

Education; Adult literacy education; Koranic education; Religious trust; Secularization; Ethnicity

Disciplines

Political Science

Language

English

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