In a work that challenges the notion that fundamentalism is an appropriate analytical frame for understanding Muslim societies, Benjamin Soares explores different, and often seemingly contradictory, ways of being Muslim in Mali. In an innovative combination of anthropology, history, and social theory, he traces the transformations in ideas about Islam and authority and conventions of religious practice in a major Islamic religious centre from the late nineteenth century, through French colonial rule, and in the postcolonial period. Drawing on extensive ethnography, archival research, and writt ... More

In a work that challenges the notion that fundamentalism is an appropriate analytical frame for understanding Muslim societies, Benjamin Soares explores different, and often seemingly contradictory, ways of being Muslim in Mali. In an innovative combination of anthropology, history, and social theory, he traces the transformations in ideas about Islam and authority and conventions of religious practice in a major Islamic religious centre from the late nineteenth century, through French colonial rule, and in the postcolonial period. Drawing on extensive ethnography, archival research, and written sources, he provides a richly detailed discussion of Muslim religious practice—Sufism, Islamic reform, and other ways of being Muslim—in Nioro du Sahel in western Mali and more broadly in the country. Using an original analytical perspective, he shows the historical importance of more standardized ways of being Muslim and the centrality of exceptional charismatic leaders, Muslim saints, in the development of 'the prayer economy' in the postcolonial period. He analyzes some of the contradictions and tensions in this economy of religious practice in which certain Muslim saints offer blessings and prayers in exchange for substantial gifts. In addition, he considers the implications of the recent expansion of the public sphere and increased global interconnections for the practice of Islam. This study is a major contribution to the study of Islam in Africa and will be welcomed by scholars and students in history, religion, and the social sciences, particularly those interested in anthropology, Islam, colonialism and the public sphere.