The Grave Preferences of Mourides in Senegal: Migration, Belonging, and Rootedness

Abstract

Burial in cemeteries created by and on the orders of Cheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride Sufi order in Senegal, is said to guarantee passage to paradise. While many Mourides, understandably, prefer to have their corpses transported for burial in these cemeteries, others opt to be interred elsewhere. Focusing on the commune of Joal-Fadiouth in Senegal, I argue that the choices of Mourides concerning place of burial are influenced by histories of migration in the commune and the processes through which people develop ties to the area. In explaining Mourides’ divergent preferences, the paper sheds light on broader questions of identity and rootedness, evolving conceptions of “place of origin” – as well as illuminating interactions between the religious and non-religious spheres in the lives of many Africans. I draw mainly on ethnographic research in the Thies and Diourbel Regions of Senegal.

Frontiers of belonging and politics of identity: the materiality of funeral rituals and festivals in Nigeria’s urban space

“…While the claim that mostly Berom Christians had denied access to Hausa Muslims to burial spaces can be interpreted as a political strategy, the Muslim communities' choice to exhume and rebury their dead is a continuation of the politics of belonging and claims to urban space in Jos. Thus, reburials and 'funerals at home' draw attention to the increasing global quest for the return of objects and human remains to their places of origin (see Onoma 2018). These burials and reburials are crucial not only because the living care for their loved ones and want to give them a befitting burial and have a say in where they are interred, but also because they represent an ancestral link to the city and are also perceived as a process of claiming ownership and owning the city.…”

Negotiating Moral Authority for Body Repatriation: The Case of Senegalese Migration

“…These different normative layers may conflict with each other. As shown by Onoma (2018) with the case of Murids who scattered in the Senegalese hinterland, some decide to be buried in the place they settled in interventions -0:0 4 ............................ and have called "home" rather than in Touba, the religious capital of Muridism. This is all the more so when migrants long established abroad have to decide between burial in the land of their fathers or that of their children.…”

“…The few studies on the subject (Petit 2002;Solé Arraràs 2015) have mainly focused on rural contexts (the Senegal River and Casamance areas) and the redefinition of death rituals among communities and families. Apart from a study on internal migrants (Onoma 2018), no research has specifically analysed the role of Murid authorities in the management of death among their expatriate members. The aforementioned adage suggests this role is extremely important.…”