Ambiguous Positionings: The Politics and Experiences of Moral Learning at Gülen Movement Schools in Urban Tanzania

Abstract

This article examines the ambiguous positionings of the Gülen Movement (gm) in the religiously mixed setting of urban Tanzania, particularly in education. It argues that the gm has capitalised on its identity as a not-explicitly-Muslim minority group within the privatised educational market in Tanzania, making its schools an option for Muslim and Christian families alike. Against the backdrop of Tanzania’s larger histories of religious inequalities and sentiments of injustice among the Muslim population, gm schools fill a significant gap through their elite orientation and inclination towards Islam. The article further argues that the moral education offered by gm schools binds them to the broader ideological mission of the movement. Foregrounding the experiences of female students, it shows that moral education at gm schools is a highly gendered and open-ended process that entails the embodiment of different and at times contradictory understandings of femininity, modesty, and shame.