Islam and the Prayer Economy: History and Authority in a Malian Town

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At a time when so-called fundamentalism has become the privileged analytical frame for understanding Muslim societies past and present, this study offers an alternative perspective on Islam. In an innovative combination of anthropology, history, and social theory, Benjamin Soares explores Islam and Muslim practice in an important Islamic religious centre in West Africa from the late nineteenth century to the present. Drawing on ethnography, archival research, and written sources, Soares provides a richly detailed discussion of Sufism, Islamic reform, and other contemporary ways of being Muslim in Mali and offers an original analytical perspective for understanding changes in the practice of Islam more generally.

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Benjamin Soares's study of changing and contested notions of authority and discourses on proper Muslim practice in Nioro du Sahel, Mali, offers an important contribution to the anthropology of Islam in Africa as it has evolved over the past 25 years. -- African History, Volume 50, 2009 Benjamin Soares's study of changing and contested notions of authority and discourses on proper Muslim practice in Nioro du Sahel, Mali, offers an important contribution to the anthropology of Islam in Africa as it has evolved over the past 25 years.

Author Bio

Benjamin F. Soares is Senior Researcher, African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.