Louis Brenner was a member of the Department of African Languages and Cultures at SOAS from 1983 until his retirement in 2002 as Emeritus Professor of the History of Religion in Africa.
Louis’s publications focus primarily on the history of Muslim thought in West Africa, the content and application of various forms of Islamic knowledge and how these different knowledges were acquired and transmitted. Among the themes researched were justifications for, and opposition to, the nineteenth-century jihadi movements in what is now northern Nigeria, Sufi thought and practice, Muslim healing and divinatory practice, and the transformation of Muslim schooling in Mali in the latter twentieth century.
Louis’s most recent publication, Histories of Religious Thought and Practice in Africa: Thematic Perspectives, is a comparative analysis of selected endogenous, Christian, and Muslim religious traditions in sub-Saharan Africa as complex, constantly evolving and interacting social phenomena. The conceptual framework and thematic approach adopted in the book was formulated during the years he taught an undergraduate introductory course at SOAS entitled Religion in Africa.
Louis served as Head of the Department of African Languages and Cultures and was also co-editor of The Journal of African History, 1995-1999.
Research interests
History of Islam in Africa
History of Religion
African thought
Publications
Histories of Religious Thought and Practice in Africa: Thematic Perspectives
Brenner, Louis (2008). In: Bâ, Amadou Hampaté, (ed.), A spirit of tolerance : the inspiring life of Tierno Bokar. Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, pp xv-xxvii
The Transformation of Muslim Schooling in Mali: The Madrasa as an Institution of Social and Religious Mediation
Brenner, Louis (2007). In: Hefner, Robert W., (eds.) and Zaman, Muhammad Qasim, (eds.), Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp 199-223
Brenner, Louis (2000). In: Olupona, Jacob K., (ed.), African spirituality: forms, meanings, and expressions. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Co., pp 324-349
Brenner, Louis (2000). In: Triaud, Jean-Louis, (eds.) and Robinson, David, (eds.), La Tijâniyya: Une confrérie musulmane à la conquête de l’Afrique. Paris: Karthala, pp 289-326
Brenner, Louis (1997). In: Robinson, David, (eds.) and Triaud, Jean-Louis, (eds.), Le Temps des marabouts: Itinéraires et stratégies islamiques en Afrique Occidentale Française, ca. 1880-1960. Paris: Karthala, pp 467-492
Brenner, Louis (1993). In: Elboudrari, Hassan, (ed.), Modes de transmission de la culture religieuse en Islam. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire, pp 159-180
Brenner, Louis (1993). In: Brenner, Louis, (ed.), Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. London ; Bloomington: Hurst Publishers, pp 59-78
Introduction: Muslim Representations of Unity and Difference in the African Discourse
Brenner, Louis (1993). In: Brenner, Louis, (ed.), Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. London ; Bloomington: Hurst Publishers, pp 1-20
Brenner, Louis (1993). In: Otayek, René, (ed.), Le Radicalisme islamique en Afrique subsaharienne: Da‘wa, arabisation et critique de l'Occident. Paris: Karthala, pp 161-195
The Jihad Debate between Sokoto and Borno: an Historical Analysis of Islamic Political Discourse in Nigeria
Brenner, Louis (1992). In: Peel, J.D.Y., (eds.) and Ajayi, J. F. Ade, (eds.), People and Empires in African History: Essays in Memory of Michael Crowder. London: Longmans, pp 21-43
Brenner, Louis (1989). In: Barber, Karin, (eds.) and Farias de Moraes, P. F., (eds.), Discourse and its Disguises: The Interpretation of African Oral Texts. Birmingham: Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, pp 87-105
Concepts of Tariqa in West Africa: the Case of the Qadiriyya
Brenner, Louis (1988). In: Cruise O'Brien, Donal, (eds.) and Coulon, Christian, (eds.), Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp 33-52
Muslim Thought in Eighteenth Century West Africa: the Case of Shaikh ‘Uthman b. Fudi
Brenner, Louis (1987). In: Levtzion, Nehemia, (eds.) and Voll, John Obert, (eds.), Eighteenth Century Renewal and Reform in Islam. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, pp 39-67
Brenner, Louis (1985). In: Du Toit, Brian M., (eds.) and Abdalla, Ismail Hussein, (eds.), African Healing Strategies. Buffalo, NY: Trado-Medic Books, pp 20-28
Religion and Politics in Bornu: the Case of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
Brenner, Louis (1979). In: Willis, J. R., (ed.), Studies in West African Islamic History. Vol. I, The Cultivators of Islam. London: Frank Cass (Routledge), pp 160-176
Brenner, Louis and Cohen, Ronald (1974). In: Ajayi, J. F. Ade, (eds.) and Crowder, Michael, (eds.), History of West Africa, Vol. II. London: Longmans, pp 93-128
The North African Trading Community in the Nineteenth Century Central Sudan
Brenner, Louis (1971). In: McCall, Daniel F., (eds.) and Bennett, Norman R., (eds.), Aspects of West African Islam. Boston: Boston University, African Studies Center, pp 137-150
