Conversion to Islam

Military Recruitment and Generational Conflict in a Sereer-Safèn Village (Bandia), 1920-38

Bibliographic Data

ID5813620
AuthorsJames F Searing (University of Illinois Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume44
Issue1
Pages73-94
Publication date2003-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853702008174
OpenAlexW2158789828
LanguageEN
Citations received6

The Sereer-Safèn are a minority population in a predominantly Wolof and Muslim region. During the colonial period the Safèn were ruled by Wolof chiefs, who treated them as a conquered population. Until the First World War, Safèn resistance was based on preserving a separate religious and ethnic identity, symbolized by the village shrine and matrilineal descent. Conversion to Islam had its roots in the crisis created by military recruitment. When the Safèn were forced to give soldiers to the French, 'maternal uncles' used their authority over their 'nephews' to recruit soldiers. Today this act is remembered as a 'betrayal' that called into question the legitimacy of the matrilineal system of labor and inheritance. Conversion to Islam has been studied by focusing on long-term Islamization rather than the moment of conversion. Oral testimony from converts emphasizes changes in behavior, funeral rites, inheritance and patterns of labor and power in the village community

Betrayal · Inheritance · Islamization · Nephew and niece · Religious conversion · Asian Studies and History · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Hispanic-African Historical Relations

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