Islamic Conversion and Social Change in a Senegalese Village

Discussed is Islamic conversion among the inhabitants of a Badyaranke community in the upper Casamance of Senegal, where 15 months of field research was conducted. The Badyaranke are village farmers. Their conversion contributes to their transition from a historically distinct people with a unique set of sacred symbols, to participants in an international religious community. It also coincides with their transformation from an autonomous community into a group of peasants at the bottom of a national & international decision-making process. To some extent it has added to the social resources with which the community adapts to modernization. Conversion has provided a more universal & therefore more powerful source of magical control over the expanding scale of social relations. Bibliography. AA.