Labor and Religious Tolerance in Two Senegalese Daaras

Abstract

How do people create their religious selves and a religious culture through their everyday practices and discourses? This article examines residents of two rural daaras (Sufi religious communities) in Senegal and their focus on labor and tolerance as religious practice. It uses concepts of tradition, performativity, and citation to trace the themes of labor and tolerance through historical, political, and present-day applications in Senegal. How do common ways of talking about and practicing labor and tolerance unite a religiously diverse population, both in the daaras and more broadly in Senegal? The daaras’ shaykh and residents cite Murid teachings to inform their practices and discussions of labor and tolerance, and have developed the daaras to consciously embed those values in everyday life. These shared practices and discourses form a cultural milieu in which people intentionally participate in the interests of a unified community that can work toward both spiritual and environmental purposes.