Barracks Islam and Command Christianity: Religion in Britain’s West African Colonial Army (c.1900–1960)

Religion was an important and dynamic aspect of Britain’s West African colonial army. The religious composition of the force changed from primarily Muslim in the late nineteenth century to primarily traditionalist and Muslim during the early twentieth century to overwhelmingly Christian during and immediately after the Second World War. These changes reflected not only military requirements but also broader social trends. While Muslim religious life in the military reflected a ‘barracks Islam’ accommodated by British officers, a top-down form of command Christianity emerged from the 1940s. Appointed during the Second World War, military chaplains and imams encouraged recruiting and strengthened morale but the presence of black religious officials challenged the existing racial hierarchy.     

Geographies of youth – a generational perspective

ABSTRACT

Twenty years ago the publication of Cool Places created visibility for emerging research on geographies of youth. Yet in comparison with Children’s Geographies geographical work on youth has failed to mature as a sub-disciplinary field. In this contribution I explore the reasons why this may be so highlighting the way youth geographies has struggled to define its own identity, and its lack of a strong founding, globally relevant, theoretical approach. Instead, I argue that the development of intergenerational geographies has led thinking about youth to be absorbed into wider framings of geographies of age, or geographies of family life.