Islamic Society And State Power In Senegal

The Sufi Muslim orders to which the vast majority of Senegalese belong are the most significant institutions of social organization in the country. While studies of Islam and politics have tended to focus on the destabilizing force of religiously based groups, Leonardo Villalon argues that in Senegal the orders have been a central component of a political system that has been among the most stable in Africa. Focusing on a regional administrative center, he combines a detailed account of grassroots politics with an analysis of national and international forces to examine the ways in which the internal dynamics of the orders shape the exercise of power by the Senegalese state. This is a major study that should be read by every student of Islam and politics as well as of Africa.

This collection critically examines "tolerance," "secularism," and respect for religious "diversity" within a social and political system dominated by Sufi brotherhoods. Through a detailed analysis of Senegal's political economy, essays trace the genealogy and dynamic exchange among these concepts while investigating public spaces and political processes and their reciprocal engagement with the state, Sunni reformist and radical groups, and non-religious organizations. The anthology provides a rich and nuanced historical ethnography of the formation of Senegalese democracy, illuminating the complex trajectory of the Senegalese state and reflecting on similar postcolonial societies. Offering rare perspectives on the country's "successes" since liberation, the volume identifies the role of religion, gender, culture, ethnicity, globalization, politics, and migration in the reconfiguration of the state and society, and it makes an important contribution to democratization theory, Islamic studies, and African studies.

A West African nation with an extremely rich political and cultural heritage, Senegal continues to serve as a role model for Francophone Africa despite its weak economic base and small population. Senegal's status as both a Sahelian and a maritime country brought its people into early contact with Islam and the West, making the country a crossroads where traditional African, Islamic, and European cultures met and blended. Sheldon Gellar begins his exploration of Senegal by examining the influence of Islam, Western imperialism, and French colonial rule and by tracing the country's political, economic, and social evolution since independence. This expanded second edition also analyses developments since 1983, looking in particular at the state of multiparty democracy, the 1993 national elections, the deterioration of the political climate following the assassination of the vice president of the Constitutional Council, the 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc, and the return of Abdoulaye Wade to the government coalition in 1995. Despite its inability to break out of severe and chronic economic crises, Senegal has managed to solicit high levels of foreign aid and has gained a significant profile on the international scene. Gellar closes with an evaluation of the social and cultural trends that have contributed to Senegal's emergence as one of Africa's most important cultural centers.

This book brings together scholars for their fresh perspectives on religious conversion, transnational migration, economic globalization, and the politics of education, power, and femininity in African Islam in Senegal.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Maps -- 1. Introduction -- The colonial encounter: Civil state and religious society -- The comparative approach: Five case studies, one core story -- Parameters of analysis -- Ideologies of modernity -- Ideologies of Salafi radicalism -- Case studies -- Note on methodology -- Notes -- 2. Burkina Faso: Secrets of quiescence -- Future Burkina -- The birth of Burkina's religious balance -- Consensual secularism in a new society -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3. Niger: Ebbing frontier of radicalism -- Future Niger -- Colonial Islamisation -- The state's own Islam -- Intimations of a religious society -- Intimations of a civil Islam -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4. Senegal: Sufi country -- Future Senegal -- The colony: Sufi ascendancy, Salafi marginality -- Senegal's religio-political chessboard -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5. Mali: On the edge -- Future Mali -- Islamisation and its discontents -- The road to crisis -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6. Nigeria: Breakdowns -- Future Arewa -- Colonial revolution and ideology -- From persuasion to violence -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7. Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Social research study of the role of the mouride brotherhood of an islamic tribal peoples in the political leadership and economic structure of Senegal - describes the origins, growth, religion and rural cooperative organisation of the brotherhood and covers social structure, social status, traditions, membership, land settlement, land tenure, agriculture, rural migration to urban areas, social change, etc. Bibliography pp. 305 to 311, maps and statistical tables.

The Mosque and the termite mound -- Ranks and categories: the emergence of a Haalpulaar social division of labour -- Historical origins and social pedigrees of craftsmen and musicians: genealogies of power and knowledge of the wild -- The white and the black: ideology and the rise to dominance of the Islamic clerics -- Accommodationist Sufi Islam and rites of passage: tensions and ambiguities -- The witch-hunter and the marabout: competing domains of knowledge and power -- The power of the word: the oral and the written -- Islamic reformers, Islamists and the Muslim community.

Charts the responses of the Sufi orders to the French colonial regime and their negotiations over power and autonomy.