Islam and Social Change in French West Africa

History of an Emancipatory Community

By: Sean Hanretta

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Paperback | 19 July 2010 | Edition Number 1

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328 Pages

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23.39 x 15.6 x 1.75

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Exploring the history and religious community of a group of Muslim Sufi mystics who came largely from socially marginal backgrounds in colonial French West Africa, this study shows the relationship between religious, social, and economic change in the region. It highlights the role that intellectuals - including not only elite men, but also women, slaves, and the poor - played in shaping social and cultural change and illuminates the specific religious ideas on which Muslims drew and the political contexts that gave their efforts meaning. In contrast to depictions that emphasize the importance of international networks and anti-modern reaction in twentieth-century Islamic reform, this book claims that, in West Africa, such movements were driven by local forces and constituted only the most recent round in a set of centuries-old debates about the best way for pious people to confront social injustice. It argues that traditional historical methods prevent an appreciation of Muslim intellectual history in Africa by misunderstanding the nature of information gathering during colonial rule and misconstruing the relationship between documents and oral history.

Industry Reviews

'... this book is a valuable contribution both to African colonial and postcolonial history and also to the sociology of religion. In addition to providing a history of a movement about which little is known, it raises a number of important questions pertaining to African historiography.' The Journal of African History
'[A] rich and intellectually ambitious work.' Gregory Mann, Islamic Africa

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List of maps and figures	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Note on orthographic conventions	p. xiii
Abbreviations used in references	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Implicit knowledge and the colonial episode	p. 4
Traditions, repertoires, and sources	p. 11
Structure of the argument	p. 22
ôThe Suffering of Our Fatherö: Story and Context
Sufism and Status in the Western Sudan	p. 29
The Western Sudanic tradition	p. 32
The Middle Senegal Valley: colonial intervention and the reconfiguration of authority	p. 45
Conclusions	p. 59
Making a Revival: Yacouba Sylla and His Followers	p. 60
Kaédi, Nioro, and the light of a new reform	p. 62
Yacouba Sylla	p. 71
Revival	p. 74
Conclusions	p. 82
Making a Community: The ôYacoubistsö from 1930 to 2001	p. 83
A prison community	p. 83
Fodie Sylla and the end of militancy	p. 89
Consolidating the community	p. 93
Return to activism	p. 99
From history to myth	p. 110
Conclusions	p. 116
ôI Will Prove to You That What I Say Is Trueö Knowledge and Colonial Rule
Ghosts and the Grain of the Archives	p. 121
The grain of the archives: Islam, knowledge, and control	p. 126
Ghostwriters in the archives: religious competition and borrowed knowledge in the colonial library	p. 138
Myths of Yacouba, myths of empire	p. 151
History in the Zâwiya: Redemptive Traditions	p. 159
Synecdoche and Sufism: Yacouba Sylla, tilmîdh shaykh hamahu'llâh	p. 162
A community of suffering	p. 171
God's work: the zâwiya, the plantation, and the nation	p. 179
Conclusions	p. 182
ôWhat Did He Give You?ö: Interpretation
Lost Origins: Women and Spiritual Equality	p. 189
Women as participants	p. 191
Mahr, adulthood, and honor	p. 195
The vision of Fatima	p. 200
Struggles for control	p. 204
The Spiritual Economy of Emancipation	p. 208
Defining slavery and abolition	p. 210
Paths to personhood	p. 217
Conclusions	p. 224
The Gift of Work Devotion, Hierarchy, and Labor	p. 227
Work's gifts	p. 228
The gift of history	p. 240
Conclusions	p. 249
ôTo Never Shed Bloodö: Yacouba, Houphouët, and Côte d'lvoire	p. 253
Defining free labor	p. 256
Giving and moral tutelage	p. 260
Moral geography	p. 269
Conclusions	p. 275
Gifts of the Past	p. 275
Glossary	p. 289
Note on References	p. 293
Index	p. 295
Books in This Series	p. 307
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Islam and Social Change in French West Africa

History of an Emancipatory Community

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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