Invoking the invisible in the Sahara : Islam, spiritual mediation, and social change / Erin Pettigrew.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pettigrew, Erin, author.

Series:

African studies series

ASS African studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islamic occultism--Mauritania.

Islamic occultism.

Islamic occultism--Western Sahara.

Western Sahara--History, Local.

Western Sahara.

Mauritania--History, Local.

Mauritania.

Supernatural--Religious aspects--Islam.

Supernatural.

Genre:

Local history.

Physical Description:

xviii, 344 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Summary:

"In this innovative new history, Erin Pettigrew utilizes invisible forces and entities - esoteric knowledge and spirits - to show how these forms of knowledge and unseen forces have shaped social structures, religious norms, and political power in the Saharan West. Situating this ethnographic history in what became la Mauritanie under French colonial rule and, later the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Pettigrew traces the changing roles of Muslim spiritual mediators and their Islamic esoteric sciences - known locally as l'ḥjāb - over the long-term history of the region. By exploring the impact of the immaterial in the material world and demonstrating the importance of Islamic esoteric sciences in Saharan societies, she illuminates peoples' enduring reliance upon these sciences in their daily lives and argues for a new approach to historical research that takes the immaterial seriously"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: A Saharan Ontology of the Invisible

Part I. 1. Principles of Provenance: Origins, Debates, and Social Structures of l'ḥjāb in the Saharan West

2. Local Wisdom: Contestations over l'ḥjāb in the 18th-19th centuries

Part II. 3. Colonial Logics of Islam: Colonial Logics of Islam: Managing the threat of l'ḥjāb

4. Postcolonial Transfigurations: Contesting l'ḥjāb in the Era of Social Media

Part III. 5. Desert Panic: Bloodsucking Accusations and the Terror of Social Change

6. Sui Generis: Genealogical claims to the past and the transmission of l'ḥjāb

Epilogue

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Pettigrew, Erin. Invoking the invisible in the Sahara

ISBN:

9781009224611

1009224611

9781009224567

1009224565

OCLC:

1322051278