Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the new claims of Female preachers in media. Based on empirical field research, it analyzes how Female preachers participate to the public and national debate about religion, development and social identity of women in Senegal.

Paper long abstract:

In the context of political democratization and the new religious dynamics which have emerged in Africa since the 1990s, researchers have identified several phenomena: the liberalization of the media; the increased visibility of Islam; the religious uses of the media developed by some Muslim personalities. In Senegal, preachers hosted shows on different stations - ones with more general programming like the RMD and Islamic stations like Dunya FM, RDV and women preachers have been able to participate directly in Islamic activism and compete with men. Wanting that women "know their rights" in order to "contribute to development", female preachers claimed the help of certain networks of male associations. But also, some female preachers participated in international institutional networks or in government programs to take courses on the dangers of female circumcision, on the fight against AIDS, and on family planning.

In this paper based on empirical field research involved three visits to Dakar in June 2008, March 2010 and July 2011, I would like to know how female preachers participate differently in public and national debates about the Secularism, the role of religion in the development in terms of moralization of social life, about the claim of a new social identity for women. I would like to see if these forms of citizen participation propose a new model of feminism, to analyze the assets and the limits of this sort of participation. Finally, I would like to understand how men preachers have to deal with this context.