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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Islam and the Construction of Social Identity in the Nineteenth-Century Sahara
Author:Cleaveland, TimothyISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:The Journal of African History
Volume:39
Issue:3
Pages:365-388
Language:English
Geographic term:West Africa
Subjects:Islam
animal husbandry
History and Exploration
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Religion and Witchcraft
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/183359
Abstract:During the last quarter century anthropologists and historians have radically revised the old, static models of African pastoral societies that were produced during the colonial period. They have argued that although pastoralists generally defined themselves in terms of descent, their societies were nevertheless quite dynamic. This essay draws on 19th-century Arabic sources from the western Sahara to argue that pastoral societies in this area were dynamic long before the colonial period, and that many Saharans perceived their society in this way. The sources presented describe economic and social changes in the western Sahara that are associated with migration. In particular, the essay focuses on genealogical histories written by Mu.hammad .SŻali.h al-NŻa.sirŻi (d. 1854), a Saharan Arab of nomad origin. The genealogies he recorded constitute a social model of Saharan society, a model that linked social transformations with economic changes, such as the transition from camel nomadism to cattle husbandry or commerce. These changes generally required emigration from the open desert to oases or towns, and they often coincided with the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle. This model was explicitly Islamic, based on the socially constructed relationships of the Prophet Muhammad's diverse community in Medina. Notes, ref., sum.
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