Islam and gender in colonial northeast Africa: Sitti 'Alawiyya, the uncrowned queen
Silvia Bruzzi, Islam and gender in colonial northeast Africa: Sitti 'Alawiyya, the uncrowned queen, Leiden-Boston: Bril, 2018
Abstract:
ING
In 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.
ITA
Nel libro, Silvia Bruzzi fornisce un resoconto dei movimenti islamici e delle dinamiche di genere nel contesto del dominio coloniale dell’Africa nord-orientale. Il filo conduttore del libro è la vita di Sitti ‘Alawiyya al-Mirgani (1892-1940), la rappresentante di un ordine islamico sufi transnazionale nella regione del Mar Rosso. Silvia Bruzzi ci offre non solo una storia sociale dell’incontro tra sufi locali e colonialisti italiani nella Colonia Eritrea, ma anche un più ampio resoconto storico delle dinamiche sovraregionali che coinvolgono il Mar Rosso, l’entroterra etiope e la regione mediterranea.
Lingua: inglese
Acknowledgements
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 Hatmiyya in the Red Sea Region
Islam and the Idrisi Tradition in Northeast Africa
The Establishment of the Hatmiyya in the Red Sea Region
2 Sufis at the Crossroads: Regional Conflicts and Colonial Penetration
The Hatmiyya up against the Sudanese Mandi
A Marriage Alliance between the Mirgani and the Beni 'Amer People
Sidi Hasim: Spy or wall?
3 Islam, Gender and Leadership
Female Heirs by Blood Alone: A Power Vacuum?
omen and Heresy in Sufi Centres
Embodying Religious Orthodoxy
4 Fragmented, (In)Visible and (Un)ToId 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
magination 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 Sarifa
7 Marvels, Charisma and Modernity
Performed and Contested Karamat
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 Sitti Alawiyya
Muslim Attitudes towards the Italian Occupation: From Collaboration to Agency
10 Conclusion: Sufi Memories
Women's Embodied Archives and Spirit Possession
Embodying Sitti Alawiyya's Visit to Harar
Sufi Visions and Historical Imagination
