
Conférence de Roman Loimeier (Université de Göttingen), Professeur invité de l’EHESS, Chaire sécable de l’IISMM, dans le cadre du séminaire « Anthropologie comparative du Sahel occidental musulman » (15 mai 2019): « Dynamics of Reform in 20th Century Africa » : lien vers le Podcast
Discutante : Charlotte Courreye (Inalco)
Abstract: Muslim societies in sub-Saharan Africa have seen, since the late 17th century, the emergence of numerous of movements of reform. Some of these movements of reform have turned into movements of jihad, in particular, when we look at the movements of reform in the 18th and 19th centuries in West Africa that were often led by religious scholars linked with a Sufi order. In the 20th century, these Sufi-oriented movements of reform have been complemented by Salafi-oriented movements of reform. Although these Salafi-oriented movements of reform tend to criticize Sufi practices as un-Islamic innovations, their dynamics of development can be compared well with Sufi-inspired movements of reform: they usually develop a distinct programme (manhaj) of reform, they create symbolic distinctions with respect to other Muslims, they insist on forms of social separation and they finally (but not necessarily) establish (spatially) separate communities. Being aware of numerous differences between individual movements of reform, I try to highlight the structural similarities among these movements of reform