ePub The Life and Letters of Philip Quaque; the First African Anglican Missionary (Race in the Atlantic World; 1700–1900 Ser.) by From Brand: University of Georgia Press in History

Description

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 to 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.Drawing from a wide variety of archival; oral; and Arabic sources; Robinson describes the important roles played by Muslim merchants and the mulatto community of St. Louis; Senegal. He also examines the impact of the electoral institutions established by the Third Republic; and the French effort to develop a reputation as a “Muslim power” — a European imperial nation with a capacity for ruling over Islamic subjects.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 relationship between knowledge and power; the concepts of civil society and hegemony; and the transferability of symbolic; economic; and social capital.