Covid-19, Islam and Digital Media in Côte d'Ivoire: Response Measures and Reinvention of Religious Practices
- Title
- Covid-19, Islam and Digital Media in Côte d'Ivoire: Response Measures and Reinvention of Religious Practices
- list of authors
-
Issouf Binaté
- Abstract
- This chapter evaluates how measures of confinement imposed by the government and adapted by Muslim communities generated new forms of Islamic socialisation and the organisation of worship (sermons, sessions of tafsir, etc.) on the web, in a religious context characterised by competing ideological currents. In fact, Covid-19 has created an unprecedented health crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. Like most countries affected by this pandemic, the Ivorian authorities have implemented response strategies ranging from the establishment of a night curfew, the exhortation to stay at home and the isolation of the city of Abidjan, pandemic epicentre which registered more than half of the 1000 patients at the end of April 2020. Muslim community organisations reacted to these preventative measures by deciding to close mosques and by taking other measures aimed at restricting religious activities. In this context of social distancing promoted by confinement, the digital media have proven to be a considerable contribution towards ensuring the continuity of Islamic activities and the maintenance of social ties. Facebook, an online meeting platform with more than 3 million subscribers in this West African country in 2017, served as a channel for restoring community life. On this social network where religious leaders, young influencers and Muslim media (radio and newspaper) have accounts followed by thousands of subscribers, messages and videos that are usually oriented towards da’wa (Arabic term for “call to Islam” Arabic) now include information and attempts to sensitise Muslims to measures to control the spread of Covid-19.
- Book Title
- Covid-19 in Africa: Societal and Economic Implications
- Place of Publication
- Cham
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Date
- 2023
- chapter
- 8
- page start
- 173
- page end
- 196
- Language
- Anglais
- Type
- Chapitre de livre
- Spatial Coverage
-
Côte d'Ivoire