عنوان

Followers of the Marabout? Knowledge, Exchange, and Spiritual Relations in Niger

TL47918

انگلیسی

Followers of the Marabout? Knowledge, Exchange, and Spiritual Relations in Niger

[Thesis]

[Thesis]

[Thesis]

[Thesis]

Noah Butler

Launay, Robert

Northwestern University

2014

259

Committee members: Bledsoe, Caroline; Earle, Timothy

Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-21651-6

Ph.D.

Anthropology

Northwestern University

2014

In what ways do Muslim followers construe their relationships with religious leaders? Forms of leadership in Islam have been at the forefront of burgeoning attention. Scholarship on Islam, however, tends to focus on religious leaders. This is particularly true in the West African context, where marabouts (holy persons) have been the subject of considerable scholarly inquiry while their followers have tended to be continually taken for granted. This dissertation elucidates interactions between marabouts and followers, specifically in terms of social relations of knowledge. Nigeriens recurrently describe marabouts as 'Those who know the Qur'an.' Their description is telling because it underscores how marabouts, by possessing knowledge that is neither quotidian nor widely distributed, are in a unique (and uniquely qualified) position to makes claims to and express their knowledge.

African Studies; Religion; Cultural anthropology

Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Marabout;Muslim religious leader;Niger

Rittenberg, Ryan M.

Launay, Robert

Anthropology

Northwestern University

1615374754; 3638141

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y