How, for God's sake, can I be a good Muslim

Gambian youth in search of a moral lifestyle

Bibliographic Data

ID2402508
AuthorsMarloes Janson (0000-0002-4281-7364, SOAS University of London, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume17
Issue1
Pages22-46
Publication date2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1466-1381 • E-ISSN: 1741-2714
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1466138115575655
OpenAlexW2086522233
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited69

By analysing the case study of a young Muslim man's conversion within and between different expressions of Islam in the Gambia, this article challenges common understandings of conversion that see it as a transition from one form of religious belief or identity to another, as well as theories of Islam's place in Africa that distinguish between 'local' traditions and 'world' religions. The ethnographic case study illustrates that, for Gambian youth, conversion is not a unilinear path but entails the continuous making of moral negotiations and a preparedness to reflect on the ambiguity of selfhood - an inevitable result of the making of these negotiations

Aesthetics · Ambiguity · Epistemology · Ethnography · Identity (music · Islam · Negotiation · Political science · Religious conversion · Social science · Sociology · Theology · African history and culture analysis · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nigeria · Religion, Society, and Development

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