Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal
Mamadou Diouf
Abstract
This book 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, chapters here 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 book provides a rich and nuanced historical ethnography of the formation of Senegalese democracy, illuminating the comple ... More
This book 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, chapters here 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 book 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 a contribution to democratization theory, Islamic studies, and African studies.
Keywords:
tolerance,
secularism,
religious diversity,
Senegal,
Sunni reformist,
globalization,
migration
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231162630 |
| Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231162630.001.0001 |
