Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal

This collection critically examines "tolerance," "secularism," and respect for religious "diversity" within a social and political system dominated by Sufi brotherhoods. Through a detailed analysis of Senegal's political economy, essays trace the genealogy and dynamic exchange among these concepts while investigating public spaces and political processes and their reciprocal engagement with the state, Sunni reformist and radical groups, and non-religious organizations.

Through a rich and nuanced historical ethnography of the formation of Senegalese democracy, this anthology illuminates the complex trajectory of the Senegalese state and its reflection of similar postcolonial societies. Offering rare perspectives on the country's "successes" since liberation, this collection identifies the role of religion, gender, culture, ethnicity, globalization, politics, and migration in the reconfiguration of the state and society, and it makes an important contribution to democratization theory, Islamic studies, and African studies. Scholars of comparative politics and religious studies will also appreciate the volume's treatment of Senegal as both an exceptional and universal example of postcolonial development.

Mamadou Diouf is the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and History at Columbia University. His many publications include New Perspectives on Islam in Senegal: Conversion, Migration, Wealth, Power, and Femininity, coedited with Mara A. Liechtman and Rhythms of the Afro-Atlantic World: Rituals and Remembrances, coedited with Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo.