Prof. Muhammed Haron presented his abstract "Scholarly Research, Bibliographical Reflections" at the 2nd International Congress on Islamic Civilisation in Southern Africa

1.
Southern Africa’s Muslim Minorities:
Scholarly Research, Biblographical Reflections
Muhammed
Haron
(University
of
Botswana/University
of
Johannesburg)
AwqafSA/IRCICA/UKZN/IPSA
Congress
March
2016
Abstract
Over
the
years
Southern
Africa
like
other
regional
blocks
has
gradually
been
populated
by
different
religious
communities,
and
the
Muslim
communities
are
no
exception.
In
this
paper
the
presenter
will
use
his
annotated
bibliographical
study
to
reflect
upon
the
emergence
and
the
settlement
of
Muslim
minorities
across
the
region.
Whilst
this
paper
does
not
intend
to
give
detailed
insight
into
the
social
history
of
these
communities,
it
only
wishes
to
provide
a
superficial
sketch
to
zoom
in
on
the
scholary
outputs
over
the
past
two
decades
and
more.
Put
differently,
it
wants
to
reflect
more
specifically
on
the
scholarly
outputs
over
this
period
(circa
1995-­‐2015).
These
outputs
that
have
been
captured
and
catalogued
in
a
draft
annotated
bibliographical
text
offer
a
fair
overview
and
understanding
as
to
what
has
been
adequately
researched
and
what
areas/themes/topics
have
been
sorely
neglected
by
researchers;
a
part
of
this
paper
will,
in
fact,
compare
the
entries
in
this
draft
text
with
those
that
appeared
in
Paul
Schrijver’s
2006
compilation
in
order
to
highlight
these
aspects.
This
paper
wishes
to
essentially
underscore
the
importance
of
reference
texts
such
as
this
bibiography
-­‐
and
other
related
bibliograhies
-­‐
for
researchers,
academics
and
other
stakeholders
who
pursue
studies
that
focus
on
Southern
Africa’s
Muslim
communities;
and
it
wants
to
cogently
illustrate
wo
what
extent
(Muslim)
scholarship
-­‐
regionally
and
internationally
–
contributed
towards
the
appreciation
of
an
‘emerging’
Islamic
Civilization
in
the
Southern
African
region
and
it
will
do
so
by
couching
the
study
within
an
insider/outsider
theoretical
frame.
Key
Words:
Southern
Africa,
Muslim
communities,
Bibliography,
Scholarship