Thesis
Cheikh Amadu Bamba and the cultural symbolic souls of black Muslims within Islam: reflections on Bamba's education of the American Muridiyya
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2012
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101199
Abstract
Today as it stands, anthropological accounts of culture may "emphasize the idiosyncrasies of the 'other' in relation to what is considered normal for the outsider, while ignoring or partially representing the actual bases for action" (Barth, 1995: 65). Anthropologists should be advocates toward finding better ways of representing the materials we have been calling "cultural" to reveal the diverse processes that shape cultural manifestations and distributions (66). This includes adapting to, and foremost, accepting religious mindsets for critical analyses of cultures whose meanings are found within the epistemological understandings of their religions' metaphysics often directly tied to key cultural symbols or human essences and prototypes. This thesis serves as an exploratory analysis of the cultural symbolic system behind the cultural symbolic soul of the Muridiyya. It will serve as a qualitative and empirical study of both an African branch of Sufi Islam and the Muslims who identify with its African-centered Sufi discourse. Through an anthropological analysis of interviews from African-American and Senegalese Muridullah disciples, this research will map out the key symbols and symbolic meanings of the Muridullah cultural system and attempt to provide, as Rashid offers, a "more inclusive representation of Muslims in America" and "illustrate the diversity of perspectives among Muslims" and especially those that "defy simple stereotypical characterizations" (73).
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Details
- Title
- Cheikh Amadu Bamba and the cultural symbolic souls of black Muslims within Islam
- Creators
- Alcione Diana Frederick
- Contributors
- Nancy P. McKee (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525003101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis