Paths of Accommodation: Muslim Societies and French Colonial Authorities in Senegal and Mauritania, 1880-1920 - Western African Studies

Synopsis

Between 1880 and 1920, Muslim Sufi orders became pillars of the colonial regimes and economies of Senegal and Mauritania. In "Paths of Accommodation" David Robinson examines the ways in which the leaders of the orders negotiated relations with the Federation of French West Africa in order to preserve autonomy within the religious, social and economic realms while abandoning the political sphere of their non-Muslim rulers. This was a striking development because the local inhabitants had a strong sense of belonging to the Dar al-Islam, the "world of Islam" in which Muslims ruled themselves. By charting the similarities and differences of the trajectories followed by leading groups within the region as they responded to the colonial regimes, Robinson provides an understanding of the concepts of the relationship between knowledge and power, the concepts of civil society and hegemony, and the transferability of symbolic, economic and social capital.