Paper short abstract:

West African anti-slavery movements critique local interpretations of Islamic jurisdiction, which in their view discriminates against ex-slave groups. Why do these movements insist on their secular nature rather than initiating a religious (counter-) movements or NGO?

Paper long abstract:

Although internal slavery in West Africa is often associated with a past long gone, over the past decades several West African anti-slavery movements emerged. They address the problematic nature of internal slavery's continued ideological legacies (stigma based on ascribed status and slave descent) and denounce the remnants of historical slavery (monopolies of freeborn elites on land, politics and jurisdiction) that shape so-called post slavery situations to date.

The movements are based on intense forms of citizen participation and some of them explicitly focus on bringing 'development', in particular to citizens with slave status in marginalised rural areas. A second goal of most movements is to challenge existing interpretations of Islamic (Malikite) jurisdiction. To that end, in april 2012, Mauritanian activist Biram has burned several books of Islamic jurisdiction. By so doing, he spurred huge national and international protest.

Although challenging aspects of existing religious ideologies is central to the activists' mission, they are not -nor do they present themselves as- religious movements. Mainly focussing on very recent anti-slavery movements that emerged in Mali (2012) and Mauritania (2008), the paper proposes answers to why these movements and the development work they engage in, was initiated by secularised elites rather than by critical religious scholars who organised themselves in religious (counter-)movements.

Data are based on postdoctoral research (2011-2012) with movement activists in Mali and Niger, as well as with Mauritanian activists in the West African diaspora in Paris.