Paper short abstract:

Marabouts, Islamic leaders present in W. Africa since the XIth century, have played a central role in the construction of the Senegalese state since its colonial inception. The aim of the paper is to assess the political role marabouts still play in contemporary democratic culture of Senegal.

Paper long abstract:

Marabouts, Sufi Islamic leaders have been present in West Africa since the XIth century. Marabouts have played a particularly central role in the construction of the Senegalese state since its colonial inception substituting the traditional Wolof chiefs in the colonial political system imposed by the French. The aim of the paper is to assess the political role marabouts still play in contemporary democratic culture of Senegal.

Though the relationship and the political-economic entanglements between Sufi leaders and the actors that gave birth to the Senegalese state has always been central feature of the political process of this country, this relationship has evolved over time.

From early mutual distrust between mouride marabouts and French colonizers at the end of the XIXth century, the relationship has evolved throughout the XXth to a relation mainly of cooperation and exchange of different kind of services. Symbolic reciprocal legitimation is one of these services marabouts and Senegalese politicians (either colonial or independent) have always exchanged and one that has persisted over time.

In this paper I would like to underline this symbolic dimension of the relation between the religious Islamic society (marabouts and followers) and the construction and enhancement of a democratic political culture in contemporary Senegal.

Particularly, I would like to draw attention to the evolution of the expression of this relationship in terms of dialectics present between the construction of the religious identity of marabouts and disciples in the one hand, and the political identity of citizenship and nation in the other.