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| Title: | 'The Proof is on My Palm': Debating Ethnicity, Islam and Ritual in a New African Diaspora |
| Author: | Johnson, Michelle C. |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Religion in Africa |
| Volume: | 36 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 50-77 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Guinea-Bissau Portugal |
| Subjects: | ethnic identity Manding rites of passage Islamic culture diasporas Religion and Witchcraft Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/27594363.pdf |
| Abstract: | For Mandinga in Guinea-Bissau and Portugal, life-course rituals are currently provoking transnational debates on ethnic and religious identity. In Guinea-Bissau, these two identities are thought to be one and the same - to be Mandinga is to 'naturally' be Muslim. For Mandinga immigrants in Portugal, however, the experience of transnationalism and the allure of 'global Islam' have thrust this long-held notion into debate. The author explores the contours and consequences of this debate by focusing on the 'writing-on-the-hand' ritual, which initiates Mandinga children into Koranic study. Whereas some Mandinga immigrants in Portugal view the writing-on-the-hand ritual as essential for conferring both Muslim identity and 'Mandinga-ness', others feel that this Mandinga 'custom' should be abandoned for a more orthodox version of Islam. Case studies reveal an internal debate about Mandinga ethnicity, Islam and ritual, one that transcends the common 'traditionalist'/'modernist' distinction. The author suggests that the internal debate, although intensified by migration, is not itself a consequence of 'modernity' but has long been central to how Mandinga imagine themselves as both members of a distinct ethnic group and as practitioners of the world religion of Islam. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
