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- Convenors:
-
Benjamin Kirby
(University of Bayreuth)
Jannis Saalfeld (University of Duisburg-Essen)
Hassan Mwakimako (Pwani University)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Perspectives on current crises
- Location:
- S44 (RWII)
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 1 October, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
This panel explores diverse forms of Muslim political dissent in Eastern Africa, including jihadi militancy and civic activism. Attending to parallels, divergences, entanglements, and ambivalences, it challenges prevailing representations of local politico-religious landscapes.
Long Abstract:
This panel invites researchers to draw on empirically grounded studies to explore diverse forms of Muslim political dissent in Eastern Africa. In recent years, currents of jihadi militancy in the region that extend beyond Somalia have garnered a considerable degree of international attention—most recently in the context of the ongoing insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, but also in relation to the activities of militant networks operating in DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and elsewhere. Rather less well-publicised has been the emergence of a number of Muslim civic activist movements which have contested ruling parties and the Muslim leaders that support them.
This panel adopts a broad notion of Muslim political dissent, not in order to conflate jihadi militancy and civic activism, but rather to tease out parallels, divergences, and entanglements between these different forms of political expression—as well as the ways in which states and other actors have responsed to politico-religious contention. The panel also creates space for researchers to acknowledge the contingencies and ambivalences that permeate the contexts and events that they study.
In doing so, the panel sets out to unsettle and reconfigure prevailing representations of Muslim political dissent in and beyond Eastern Africa which all too often gloss the diversity of such expressions and the contexts they emerge in, as well as the ambiguities that their research interlocutors must navigate. Here we also make room for critical reflection on the political work that such representations perform (and, indeed, the ends that they serve).
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 1 October, 2024, -Paper short abstract:
Based on an empirical study carried out in Sudan, this paper explores the rise of jihadi militancy in Sudan and the strategies adopted by the government of Sudan to respond to jihadi activism.
Paper long abstract:
In recent years, Sudan has witnessed the growth of various Pan-Islamist and Salafi-jihadi movements that aim at establishing an Islamic state in Sudan. Furthermore, the country witnessed growing rates of recruitment among youth into jihadi militant groups. To achieve their political and religious objectives within Sudan and beyond, jihadi militancy movements legitimate the use of violence. Based on an empirical study carried out in Sudan, this paper explores the rise of jihadi militancy in Sudan and the strategies adopted by the government of Sudan to respond to jihadi activism. The official narrative about jihadi militancy in Sudan tends to minimize its impact and portrays it as a foreign, imported, and recent phenomenon. However, empirical findings reveal that jihadi militancy is not only rooted in the society but also embedded in the Islamist regime’s radical Islamist ideology that ruled Sudan between 1989 and 2019. During three decades in power, the Islamist regime has created conditions for jihadi militancy to thrive, which resulted in Sudan being listed in the US government’s list of states sponsoring terrorism. In this contribution, I will present case studies of jihadi militancy movements in Sudan, their narratives, and discources. After, I will delve into the Sudanese government‘s response to the jihadi militancy in Sudan, namely the top-down deradicalization program that aims at doctrine ‘revisions‘ and religious counseling with jihadi militants. This presentation not only offers a critical reflection of the program‘s components and outcomes, but it also considers the wider political processes it operates in.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper we contextualise and test the ‘exclusion/repression-radicalisation’ hypothesis and its counterpart, the ‘inclusion-moderation’ hypothesis. We do so by studying the evolution of Muslim empowerment movements in Tanzania and Kenya, two religiously heterogeneous East African societies.
Paper long abstract:
Since the early 2000s, the study of political Islam has been increasingly guided by social movement studies. As part of this development, the combination of political exclusion and repression has been identified as a key driver of violent Islamist radicalisation. Regionally, this proposition mainly grounds in comparative research on the MENA region and Southeast Asia. By contrast, countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been relatively neglected when it comes to discussing the relevance of the ‘exclusion/repression-radicalisation’ hypothesis and its counterpart, the ‘inclusion-moderation’ hypothesis. Against this background, in this article we contextualise and test the two hypotheses by studying the evolution of Muslim empowerment movements in Tanzania and Kenya, two religiously heterogeneous East African societies characterised by persistent Muslim grievances. Drawing on the logic of a ‘most-similar’ research design, we reinforce the validity of the ‘exclusion/repression-radicalisation’ hypothesis. Furthermore, resorting to ‘within-case’ process-tracing, we show that in both cases the competitive authoritarian openness of political systems worked against Islamist radicalisation. At the same time, we find that in Tanzania and Kenya, the electoral process has not counteracted radicalisation independently of the ideological outlook of individual Islamist movements.
Paper short abstract:
This paper builds on long-term empirical fieldwork to investigate the reproduction of a Muslim activist milieu in Dar es Salaam—one that has routinely petitioned the Tanzanian state to provide Muslims with the same conditions for social mobility and political representation as Christians.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I build on long-term empirical fieldwork to investigate the reproduction of a Muslim activist milieu in Dar es Salaam—one that has routinely petitioned the Tanzanian state to provide Muslims with the same conditions for social mobility and political representation as Christians. My discussion is organised around two different sites from which this milieu is reproduced. In the first instance, I investigate collective memories of Muslim welfare associations in Tanganyika/Tanzania during the colonial and early independence periods, examining in particular an enduring controversy surrounding the formation of BAKWATA—a state-backed Muslim umbrella organisation—in 1968. In the second instance, I explore forms of conspiracy thinking circulated by Muslim activists, particularly in relation to collective memories of Muslim citizens' contribution to the independence struggle, as well as broader claims concerning an implicit "Christian hegemony" in Tanzania (which is perceived to promote the marginalisation of Muslim citizens). Overall, this paper departs from prevailing accounts of Muslim political consciousness in Tanzania and other African countries which foreground the influence of reformist ideologies and "radical" movements that are “foreign” to the continent. Instead, it charts the development of a broad-based Muslim activist milieu that promotes a political cause which first emerged under colonial rule, and which adopts a form of political expression and togetherness grounded in collective memories about local urban sites, as well as critiques of (alleged) transnational conspiracies.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines dynamics driving the Ansari Sunna and MRC to prominence. Using oral interviews with members to analyse the thinking behind events involving them, discard monolithic, totalising narratives to explain the extent to which Islamist ideology account for events in the coast of Kenya.
Paper long abstract:
The Ansari Sunna and the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) groups in the Coast of Kenya are infamous because, they were founded by indigenous coastal inhabitants, led by enigmatic personalities. Within a short period of their existence both have created local networks of influence across the coast of Kenya and successfully deploy discursive strategies to address the ‘daily life contexts’ of their sympathisers and are able to activate large masses as well as a complex network of individuals and activities. Stories of their emergence are dominated by grievances, discrimination against coastal communities, radicalization, secession demands, police brutality, forced disappearances, abductions, violence and extremism. Telling the story of coastal politics through the MRC and Ansar Sunna is to narrate a tale of how to write histories of Islamist thinking in rural settings, a story that is told here by investigating the nature of groups’ dynamics and avoiding all too common generalizations. This paper examines the local dynamics of Ansari Sunna and MRC groups to prominence, including contexts of claims of marginalization and broader coastal grievances. In understanding the current status of religious and political developments in the Coast of Kenya, the MRC and the Ansar Sunna are relevant and instructive case studies. Based on oral interviews with participants and members of the groups one is able to analyse the thinking behind events involving members of these groups and discard the monolithic and totalising narratives used to explain the extent to which Islamist ideology is present in events in the coast of Kenya.
Paper short abstract:
This study looks at the role of Sufism in urbanization, analyzing the case of Makin Road town in Kenya's Kwale County. The study involves a literature review, fieldwork, and interviews to understand the role of Sufism in urbanization.
Paper long abstract:
Despite the widespread belief that Sufism and its adherents primarily engage in mystical pursuits, recent research indicates that Sufis and their institutions play a pivotal role in urbanization processes, both directly and indirectly. This exploratory study seeks to investigate the influence of Sufism on urbanization in Kenya, focusing on the case of Makina Road town in Kwale County.
Since the early 2000s, a contingent of Sufi disciples from Somalia has migrated to Makina Road town, drawn by the presence of the shrine of their spiritual guide, Sheikh Mohamed Raamoole for Ziyara and veneration. However, over time, these disciples established their own Sufi learning centers and lodges, known as Zawiyas, or Mawlac among Somalis.
This study aims to examine how the Sufi leaders and their mawlacs have contributed to the urbanization of Makina Road town by attracting an influx of Sufi adherents and fostering the growth of real estate and small businesses.
To accomplish this objective, the study will commence with a comprehensive review of existing literature on Sufism and urbanization in East Africa, with a particular emphasis on Kenya. Subsequently, fieldwork will be conducted, involving observations within the town and interviews with key stakeholders, including Sufi sheikhs, local chiefs, business owners, Sufi students, and representatives from local civil society organizations.
Additionally, data regarding population figures and the number of settlements will be obtained from local county offices to track the demographic changes and proliferation of settlements in the area over time.