Table of Contents

Preface: Islam and Politics
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: Locating Cosmopolitan Shi'i Islamic Movements in Senegal
Part I. The Making of a Lebanese Community in Senegal
Introduction to Part I.
1. French Colonial Manipulation and Lebanese Survival
2. Senegalese Independence and the Question of Belonging
3. Shi'i Islam Comes to Town: A Biography of Shaykh al-Zayn
4. Bringing Lebanese "Back" to Shi'i Islam
Part II. Senegalese Conversion to Shi'i Islam
5. The Vernacularization of Shi'i Islam: Competition and Conflict
6. Migrating from One's Parents' Traditions: Narrating Conversion Experiences
Interlude: 'Umar: Converting to an "Intellectual Islam"
7. The Creation of a Senegalese Shi'i Islam
Coda: On Shi'i Islam, Anthropology, and Cosmopolitanism
Glossary
Notes
References

About the Author

Mara A. Leichtman is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Muslim Studies at Michigan State University. She is editor (with Mamadou Diouf) of New Perspectives on Islam in Senegal: Conversion, Migration, Wealth, Power, and Femininity.

Reviews

"In popular and media portrayals of Islam, images of fundamentalism and global terrorism obscure more everyday understandings of the varied lives of Muslims around the world. Mara Leichtman's engaging book on Shi'ism in Senegal is a refreshing antidote."—American Ethnologist
"This book provides an original and timely analysis of the dynamics of religion and race in transnational migration. . . . Leichtman's book is sure to make an impact on African studies but should be read by non- Africanists as well.
"—Journal of West African History
"This book is highly recommended for anyone with interest in African and Middle Eastern Affairs, Islam and Religious Studies, and Peace Studies."—African Studies Quarterly
"[Leichtman's] volume is a theoretically packed, historically grounded and ethnographically rich exploration into minority religious communities and their migrations."—Journal of Modern African Studies
"Takes the bold step of considering Lebanese and African Shi'a in Senegal together in the same volume, and refusing to admit the intellectual segregation of different racial communities in the same country by giving in to the temptation to write two separate, shorter books. . . . A significant contribution."—Robert Launay, author of Beyond the Stream: Islam & Society In A West African Town