História atlântica da islamização na África Ocidental: Senegâmbia, séculos XVI e XVII

Abstract

This thesis discusses the Islamic religion in Senegambia, from an Atlantic perspective, during 16th and 17th centuries. The main question is: how did Islam develop in that area? The suggested hypothesis indicates that local agents have translated religion into regional terms without obstructing Islamic doctrine and have built new knowledge and practices in dialogue with the Islamic world. The main goal was to understand the mechanisms of Islamization, its agents, practices and scope. The specific goals were to point out to the local appropriation of Islam; to demonstrate ways of regional production of religious knowledge and its Atlantic continuity; to reflect on singularities and globalities present in the regional approach, in an Atlantic context. From the methodological perspective, religious practices and challenges imposed by Muslims, both free and enslaved, on Catholic religious policies in the Atlantic world (Africa, Europe and America) were contrasted with the mechanisms applied on the elaboration of Islam in Senegambia. The sources were European narratives; African legal, historical, and philosophical texts; African oral traditions; proverbs; inquisitorial records; Jesuit letters; literature; material culture collected in archives, museums, and libraries in Germany, France, Gambia, Portugal, and Senegal; as well as published material. The conclusion achieves that institutionalization of Islam in Senegambia was featured by the expansion of the Koranic schools, production of regional Islamic cultural and religious capital, and development of new social networks in contexts of expansion of the Atlantic trade in enslaved people. The process of religious enhancement, characterized by these mechanisms, is understood as the great jihad.