Ce livre réunit pour la première fois la totalité des textes chantés au cours d'une cérémonie d'initiation ('girkaa') au culte de possession 'bòorii' des Hausa de la région de Maradi au Niger. La cérémonie dont traite le livre a eu lieu entre le 6 et le 14 novembre 1979 à Aderawa, petit village de 500 habitants, à 5 km au sud de Maradi. Chaque chant n'apparaît que dans une forme plus ou moins abstraite. Bien que chaque vers puisse être répété plusieurs fois, il ne figure dans ce livre qu'une seule fois. De même, seuls les vers chantés pas le 'mài gòogee' (soliste) sont reproduits; les autres joueurs se contentent dans la plupart des cas d'une répétition du texte proposé par le soliste. Les textes sont présentés en hausa avec une traduction française.
Nach einer kürzen Überblick über dan Staat (Teil I), folgt einer detaillierte Untersuchung der Provinz Gobir (Teil II und III). Der Verfasser beschäftigt sich dabei mit zwei Fragestellungen: wie verlaufen die Beziehungen zwischen staatlicher Verwaltung und Bauern? Wie wird den Bauern eine autonome Agrarkultur von einer islamisch-urbanen Kultur abgelöst? Bei der erste Frage konzentriert er seine Untersuchung auf die unterste Ebene, bei der Verwaltung und Bauern in unmittelbaren Kontakt zueinander treten. Die Herrschenden kommen dabei nur soweit ins Blickfeld, als sie auf den Bauern unmittelbar einwirken. Alle Angaben beziehen sich auf der Zeit vor dem Militärputsch (15.4.1947). Ebenfalls nicht berücksichtigt sind die heute weit wichtigeren Uran-Exporte. 6 Anhänge: Feldforschung - Hausa-Glossar - Preislieder - Das Budget von Bauernhaushalten - Das ökonomische System der Heiratsgeschenke - Die Kommerzialisierung des Bodens.
Hitherto studies of the Tuaregs have concentrated on the nomads of the north to the neglect of their southern brethren of Mali and Niger who have contributed most to the spread of Islamic culture and institutions. Their share in the foundation of towns like Timbuctoo, in the transmission of ideas particularly from Mamluk Egypt, their mystic lodges and their scholars played a key role in the penetration of Islam into the remote regions of the Southern Sahara. This is a comprehensive account of the history and spread of Islamic culture through the medium of the sacerdotal 'caste' of the Ineslemen, from the Arab conquests of the 7th century to the golden age of Tuareg scholarship in the 15th and 17th centuries. Tuareg history is brought up to date with an account of their resistance to the French and their present status in Niger after their severe sufferings in the recent Sahelian droughts. By detailed examination of the literary sources, talking and living with Tuareg scholars, the author is able to place the contribution of these devoted adherents of Islam in its true setting. This book is important for Islamists Africanists, Anthropologists and all those who wish to understand the achievements of this unique people.
In the last two decades of the twentieth century, crucial processes of political and economic liberalizations transformed the political landscape in much of the post-colonial world. The reigning theory of modernization which was pegged in the era of political emancipation to national development and authoritarian secular stratecraft came under the various challenges of human rights defending groups and the promoters of cultural nationalism. These groups boldly seek to rewrite the history and the future of political modernity, and in many countries, cultural nationalism took the form of an Islamist political project. Through historical and contemporary analysis of topical events and collective processes in Niger - a country ruled by a secular, democratizing state and consisting of a majoritarily Muslim citizenry - this dissertation seeks to uncover the depths and orientations of secularist and Islamist movements in a post-colonial context.
Social scientists have long debated the appropriate perspective from which to study cultural phenomena. On one side are objectivist perspectives which focus on structure and the constraints society places on the individual. Conversely, subjectivist approaches centralize the actions of the individual and are thus concerned with the influence the individual has on society. In this study of Muslim identity construction in Zinder, Niger is used as a vehicle for mediating objectivist and subjectivist views of culture. Practice theory provides the framework for the analysis of Muslim identity construction in Zinder which in turn furthers an understanding of the relationship between structure and practice.
Based on data collected in Zinder during individual interviews, group interviews and participant observation, several conclusions emerge. First, a consideration of both objectivist and subjectivist perspectives is important for understanding cultural phenomena. Second, this is evident in the dialectical relationship which exists between structure and practice as seen in the dialectical relationship which exists between society and the individual. And finally, although both perspectives need to be considered, it is by focusing on the actions of individuals that one learns the most about culture.
The first calling of every theocratic centre is the acquisition and the transmission of the religious knowledge. Saayi has been accomplishing this mission since its creation in the xiii xixth century. This knowledge, based on the koran, is passed on in different ways. The example of the translation and commentary of the koran in saayi shows the importance of its understanding, or partly, to accomplish rites and practices. In south-saharan africa, the source text of the koranic commentary is al-galalayni's. The african translation is more a voice expressing the word of god than a classical way koranic commentary. This concision of the source text leaves few details related to the practical methods of cult, where the interest in the religious songs, draws its source from the koran, the prophetic tradition and in muslim case law books. The choice for the ramadan month to make this translationcommentary has given it, as time goes by, a ritual character in the same way as the great heathen agrarian events.
Ce texte s’intéresse à la transmission des savoirs islamiques par le beïtu. Au cœur de l’enseignement dans les écoles coraniques traditionnelles, cette approche pédagogique tente de réactiver ce type de foyer de formation que des générations des diplômés de médersas – incluant ceux en provenance des pays arabo-musulmans – et la politique de réforme éducative étatique avaient réussi à influencer. Dans un contexte de fort taux de pénétration d’Internet et d’essor des réseaux sociaux, notamment Facebook, en Côte d’Ivoire, des prédicateurs proches de ces écoles précurseurs de la diffusion de l’islam ont trouvé en ces plateformes l’opportunité de donner de la visibilité à leur savoir-faire en matière de transmission du savoir religieux et d’éducation des masses à travers le beïtu. Ce travail repose essentiellement sur des études de terrain menées en Côte d’Ivoire et une ethnographie digitale conduite à partir de la plateforme Facebook.
In this article, I propose to look at how class belonging, and shared notions of good religiosity are intertwined in the context of current ways to assert oneself as a “good Muslim.” Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2016 and 2019 in the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, this article presents a series of portraits of women and their families. These portraits emphasize how the growing popularity of tourist travels towards so-called “Muslim societies” in the Arab world, and more recently in Morocco, plays a role in the construction of “good religiosity” as it is enmeshed in social class relations. The ethnographic data discussed in this article shows that travel consumption asserts class belonging as well as shared notions of “good religiosity.” To draw out this argument, I propose to revisit in a critical way Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of conspicuous consumption as processes of social distinction.
The growth of marabouts’ divinatory practices in urban centres in Côte d’Ivoire from the 1980s onwards was due to the generational crisis among marabouts and the unemployment of many graduates from universities in the Arab Maghreb. Forced to earn money linked to the difficulties of urban city life, some marabouts replaced the traditional community support with a mandatory fee, so that we witnessed the professionalisation of maraboutage. Professional marabouts mingled with other practitioners of the occult, causing repeated scandals. In response, the Ivorian state took measures to control the activities of “fake” marabouts. This study focuses on the political, economic and religious consequences for the image and the position of marabouts in the postcolony. It is based on the use of press clippings, bibliographic data and oral sources.
Like the most African states, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Senegal have a system of religious pluralism. However, if the latter is inadequately regulated, it can lead to interreligious or even socio-political conflicts. However, we note the absence of such religious excesses in these states. This absence could be explained by the existence of a legal regime of secularism that guarantees religious pluralism due to its relatively liberal character. This character stems from the limited consolidation of norms favouring religious freedom, and the moderate affirmation of those fostering the diversity of faith-based organizations.
The article analyzes the evolution of Islam in Côte d’Ivoire in the light of the profound changes that have taken place in the country since independence in 1960 and up to the present day. The author explores the reasons for the rapid increase in the number of Islamized residents compared to other West African countries, especially during the first 30 years of independent development. This was a period of awakening of the collective consciousness and organizational cohesion of Ivorian Muslims. The second stage, since the first multiparty elections in the early 1990s, is associated with the politicization of religion, with a new form of Islamic religious culture, especially in cities - proselytism. The tariqas, due to their lack of organization, play a secondary role in the modern history of the Muslim societies of Côte d’Ivoire. In addition, the modernization processes have further weakened their influence. Spiritual brotherhoods did not become a barrier to the spread of reformist teachings that were associated with Sunni Islam, a departure from Sufi spirituality. The reformist elite of the Ivorian Muslim community made extensive use of the Quranic concept of da'wa in their religious propaganda, with its ideology borrowed from the Arab-Islamic world. Its main goal was the re-islamization of Muslim society, the introduction of political Islam. The paper examines the problems of relations between Ivorian Muslims and Christians, which have not always been peaceful, especially during periods of military and political crises, when they were intertwined with ethnic ones. The coming to power in 2011 of A.Ouattara, the first Muslim president, contributed to the preservation of a stable balance between faiths thanks to his clerical policy.
