Arabic Literacy and Secrecy Among the Mende of Sierra Leone

The social uses of Arabic literacy for concealing and manipulating knowledge among the Mende of Sierra Leone are examined. We show that those Mende who are competent in Arabic literacy use their skills much like indigenous elite used traditional secret knowledge: to gain the labour and allegiance of dependants. In contrast to the paradigm which views literacy as a mode of facilitating communication, we show that those Mende who are learned in Arabic construe the knowledge to which literacy allegedly gives access as dangerous and, therefore, secret. We contrast these patterns with the uses of English literacy and with recent changes in Arabic education itself.