Symbolic Confrontations: Muslims Imagining the State in Africa

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Donal Cruise O'Brien is a leading authority on Islam in Africa. This is a collection of his writing over the last 30 years, some significantly rewritten to render this a coherent book to use for teaching about the interplay between politics and Islam in Africa. The author’s main argument is that much of politics in Africa is negotiated through use of symbols, and can not be separated from the religious origins and the systems of belief from which they originate. The book focuses on Senegal, a fascinating example of the spread of Muslim brotherhoods and their overarching influence on the construction and decision-making processes of the state.