Description
Book SynopsisIn Islam and Gender in Colonial Northeast Africa, Silvia Bruzzi provides an account of Islamic movements and gender dynamics in the context of colonial rule in Northeast Africa. The thread that runs through the book is the life and times of Sittī ‘Alawiyya al-Mīrġanī (1892-1940), a representative of a well-established transnational Sufi order in the Red Sea region. Silvia Bruzzi gives us not only a social history of the colonial encounter in the Eritrean colony, but also a wider historical account of supra-regional dynamics across the Red Sea, the Ethiopian hinterland, and the Mediterranean region, using a wide range of fragmentary historical materials to make an important contribution towards filling the gap that currently exists in women's and gender history in Muslim societies.
Trade Review[...] “Constant experimentation of approaches and the use of a wide variety of sources are the distinctive traits of this book [...]. Silvia Bruzzi’s book is an original and stimulating contribution that gives Eritrea the history of one of its foremost female protagonists”. Massimo Zaccaria, University of Pavia, in Aethiopica 23 (2020) pp. 292-295 [...] 'Cet ouvrage passionnant et érudit participe du renouvellement de l’approche biographique dans le champ des études africaines' Ophélie Rillon, CNRS, in Cahiers d’études africains 242 (2021) pp. 1-3
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Illustrations A Note on Transliteration and Dates Transliteration List Introduction Sufism, Colonialism and Gender Dynamics Sufism and the Female Body 1 Islamic Renewal Movements, Colonial Occupation, and the Ḫatmiyya in the Red Sea Region Islam and the Idrīsī Tradition in Northeast Africa The Establishment of the Ḫatmiyya in the Red Sea Region 2 Sufis at the Crossroads: Regional Conflicts and Colonial Penetration The Ḫatmiyya up against the Sudanese Mahdī A Marriage Alliance between the Mīrġanī and the Beni ʿAmer People Sīdī Hāšim: Spy or walī ? 3 Islam, Gender and Leadership Female Heirs by Blood Alone: A Power Vacuum? Women and Heresy in Sufi Centres Embodying Religious Orthodoxy 4 Fragmented, (In)Visible and (Un)Told Stories Looking for Muslim Women in Northeast African History Regional Women’s Centres of Empowerment and Religious Learning Baraka, Itinerant Preaching and the Mobility of Pious Women 5 Sufi Women’s “Fantasy”, Performances and Fashion Imagination and Desire in Women’s Bodies Women’s Fantasia in Sufi Regional Centres Visiting a Fashionable, Cosmopolitan Woman 6 Growing Visibility in the Political Arena Women’s Bodies, Photography, and Colonialism Growing Popularity Broadcast through Visual Media Visibility, Visuality and Power in Portraits of the Šarīfa 7 Marvels, Charisma and Modernity Performed and Contested Karāmāt Modern Enchantment: Colonial Technologies and Infrastructures Mediating Conflicts 8 Military Bodies: Askaris, Officials and “the Female Warrior” Religious Intermediaries and Regional Networks Enlisting Askaris and Colonial Propaganda The Defeat of Italy 9 A Female Icon of Muslim “Emancipation” for the Conquest of Ethiopia (1936–1941) Building Mosques: Muslim Policies from Libya to Ethiopia A Female Icon of Muslim “Emancipation” The Mosques Built in Honour of Sittī ʿAlawiyya Muslim Attitudes towards the Italian Occupation: From Collaboration to Agency 10 Conclusion: Sufi Memories Women’s Embodied Archives and Spirit Possession Embodying Sittī ʿAlawiyya’s Visit to Harar Sufi Visions and Historical Imagination Bibliography Index
