Book contents
- The Temne of Sierra Leone
- The Temne of Sierra Leone
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Table
- Preface
- Acknowledgment
- List of Abbreviations
- Part I Historical Epistemology
- Part II Beyond the Colonial Sphinx: African Agency in the Making of the Colony
- Part III Ethnocentrism and New Frames of Popular Culture
- 5 Temne Cultural Associations and Popular Representations
- 6 Islamic Triumphalism in a Christian Colony: Temne Agency in the Spread and Sierra Leonization of Islam
- 7 From the Margins to the Center: The Role of Temne Market Women Traders
- 8 Conclusion: Nexus of Microhistory – New Perspective on the Colony’s Historical Landscape
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Islamic Triumphalism in a Christian Colony: Temne Agency in the Spread and Sierra Leonization of Islam
from Part III - Ethnocentrism and New Frames of Popular Culture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2017
- The Temne of Sierra Leone
- The Temne of Sierra Leone
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Table
- Preface
- Acknowledgment
- List of Abbreviations
- Part I Historical Epistemology
- Part II Beyond the Colonial Sphinx: African Agency in the Making of the Colony
- Part III Ethnocentrism and New Frames of Popular Culture
- 5 Temne Cultural Associations and Popular Representations
- 6 Islamic Triumphalism in a Christian Colony: Temne Agency in the Spread and Sierra Leonization of Islam
- 7 From the Margins to the Center: The Role of Temne Market Women Traders
- 8 Conclusion: Nexus of Microhistory – New Perspective on the Colony’s Historical Landscape
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter argues that the successful entrenchment and propagation of Islam and Muslim practices in a colony proclaimed as Christian in its root and orientation was a multiethnic effort, contrary to the assertion of the dominant literature. The collective efforts of Muslim clerics, agents, and missionary activists from diverse ethnic communities contributed greatly to the acceptance of Islam as a major force in the colony by “Christian Creoles” and the colonial administration. The prevailing Temne Islamic Community (TIC) and the numerous Islamic institutions it established undergirded this multiethnic enterprise. On this basis, this chapter shows the growing influence of the Temne community in the social formation of the colony. It also argues that the Temne Islamic Community, including those who identified themselves as Temne Islamic missionaries and elites, played a much bigger role in the propagation, popularization and/or Sierra Leonization of Islam than acknowledged in the historical literature. Like the TTA and cultural associations, Islam also became a symbol of pan-Temne unity.
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- The Temne of Sierra LeoneAfrican Agency in the Making of a British Colony, pp. 127 - 165Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2017