The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a transnational missionary movement with origins in late 19th century British India and a global contemporary presence. In the 1920s, the Ahmadiyya established a mission in Ghana, then the British Gold Coast, opening English-language primary schools and medical facilities. The Ahmadiyya expanded rapidly, attracting tens of thousands of African members. Today, it has nearly one million members in Ghana. In his lecture, John Hanson (Indiana University, Bloomington) outlines the Ahmadi missionary activities in Ghana and its affiliation with local religious communities shaping the relations between modernity and Islam in the Ahmadiyya movement.
John Hanson's research project "Transnational Islam and Civil Society in Ghana, West Africa: The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community" was funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of the special programme Islam.