Paper short abstract:

My communication aims to investigate the unexplored topic of Saharan religious mobilities and conversions from Islam to Christianity, in order to illustrate the polysemy of contemporary religious dynamics in the conflictual contemporary Sahara.

Paper long abstract:

My communication aims to investigate the unexplored topic of Saharan religious mobilities and conversions from Islam to Christianity, in order to show the polysemy of contemporary religious dynamics in the conflictual contemporary Sahara. It raises some fundamental questions about the way in which these rigidly hierarchical nomadic societies manage “religious pluralism” and tolerance for individual choice particularly among subaltern groups (such as former slaves and women). The challenge of this communication is to illustrate the “hidden histories” of Saharan Christians and to revise the common narrative of the Saharan as uniquely Islamic. Christian–Muslim inter-religious relations and encounters in contemporary Mali and Niger will be also analyzed with a focus on a series of religious attitudes that fuse Christian and Muslim beliefs and practices.