Animating the archive: The trial and testimony of a Sufi saint

De Jong, Ferdinand (2016) Animating the archive: The trial and testimony of a Sufi saint. Social Anthropology, 24 (1). pp. 36-51. ISSN 0964-0282

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Abstract

In 1895 the colonial administration of Senegal sentenced Sheikh Amadu Bamba to exile for stirring anti-colonial disobedience. At his trial, Bamba allegedly recited a prayer in defiance of the French authorities. Although there is no archival record to prove that the prayer was recited, since the 1970s Bamba's disciples have flocked to the former seat of colonial power to commemorate his act of resistance; their testimony has displaced the authority of the colonial archive and imagines a decolonial utopia in archival absence. This article examines how their prayer subverts the colonial archive, while it remains entangled in its substrate.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	senegal,archive,testimony,prayer,decolonial utopia
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Centres > Centre for African Art and Archaeology Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Art History and World Art Studies
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	18 Mar 2016 12:00
Last Modified:	21 Aug 2023 00:49
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/57579
DOI:	10.1111/1469-8676.12286

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