This dissertation deals with the community making practices of young Senegalese followers of the Muridiyya Sufi order (the Murids) in Brazil, a lesser-known destination for French-speaking West African migrants. The study offers an ethnographic exploration of everyday life among these Sufi Muslims in three Brazilian state capitals: Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, and São Paulo. The dissertation focuses on the contextual meanings and impacts of their public expressions of religiosity reflected in their dress codes, devotional musical performances, and chanting of African Sufi poetry.
Senegal began its “Large Infrastructure Projects” in early 2000. The State sought to build a modern nation capable of attracting foreign investment and tourists through this economic plan. In the process, it brutally displaced many informal workers. The dissertation follows the trajectories of some of these informal workers from Senegal to Brazil. Drawing on twenty-one months of archival research and participant observation, I show how these African Muslim migrants adjust their professional skills and religious rituals to strategically bring Islam into the Brazilian public sphere amidst a global climate of Islamophobia and the rise of right-wing politicians.
By shifting the focus of analysis away from simplistic tropes of migrants’ suffering, my research finds that these Senegalese migrants respond to racism by creating a public religious identity centered on Muslim ethics. They contrast this image with prevailing understandings of Africanness in Brazil, which are entwined with slavery and non-Islamic forms of spirituality. Ultimately, this dissertation highlights the tensions that arise as these young Black Muslims seek to live an ethical life under capitalism and against Brazil’s racial politics. / 2025-09-18T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46951 |
| Date | 19 September 2023 |
| Creators | Ndiaye, Gana |
| Contributors | Ngom, Fallou |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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