African Studies Quarterly Volume 12, Issue 4 Fall 2011 Published by the Center for African Studies, University of Florida ISSN: 2152-2448 African Studies Quarterly Executive Staff R. Hunt Davis, Jr. - Editor-in-Chief Todd H. Leedy - Associate Editor Shylock Muyengwa - Managing Editor Emily Hauser- Book Reviews Editor Corinna Greene - Production Editor Editorial Committee Jenn M. Allen Asmeret G. Mehari Maia Bass Chesney McOmber Jennifer Boylan Jessica Morey Mamadou Bodian Stuart Muller Robin Brooks Anna K. Mwaba Renee Bullock Collins R. Nunyonameh Erin L. Bunting Greyson Z. Nyamoga Ben Burgen Erica Odera Nicole C. D'Errico Levy Odera Seifu Abiyot Debebe Levi C. Ofoe Dan J. Eizenga Gregory Parent Tim Fullman Narcisa Pricope Cerian Gibbes Sam Schramski John J. Hames Matthew H. Shirley Merise Jalal Noah I. Sims Cara Jones Caroline Staub Nicholas Knowlton Erik Timmons Alison M. Ketter Donald Underwood Ashley Leinweber Joel O. Wao Meredith Marten Sheldon Wardwell Vincent D. Medjibe Amanda Weibel Advisory Board Adélékè Adéèko Susan Cooksey Ohio State University University of Florida Timothy Ajani Mark Davidheiser Fayetteville State University Nova Southeastern University Abubakar Alhassan Kristin Davis University of Idaho International Food Policy Research John W. Arthur Institute University of South Florida, St. Parakh Hoon Petersburg Virginia Tech Nanette Barkey Andrew Lepp University of Iowa Kent State University African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 4 | Fall 2011 http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq Richard Marcus Alex Rödlach California State University, Long Beach Creighton University Kelli Moore Jan Shetler James Madison University Goshen College James T. Murphy Mantoa Rose Smouse Clark University University of Cape Tow Lilian Temu Osaki University of Dar es Salaam Roos Willems Dianne White Oyler Catholic University of Leuven Fayetteville State University Peter VonDoepp University of Vermont African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 4 | Fall 2011 http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq © University of Florida Board of Trustees, a public corporation of the State of Florida; permission is hereby granted for individuals to download articles for their own personal use. Published by the Center for African Studies, University of Florida. African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 4 | Fall 2011 http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq Table of Contents Appropriation of Islam in a Gambian Village: Life and Times of Shaykh Mass Kah, 1827–1936 Bala S. K. Saho (1-21) The (Mal) Function of “it” in Ifeanyi Menkiti’s Normative Account of Person Bernard Matolino (23-37) Sierra Leone’s 2007 Elections: Monumental and More of the Same Kevin S. Fridy & Fredline A. O. M'Cormack-Hale (39-57) Towards Concert in Africa: Seeking Progress and Power through Cohesion and Unity Sigfrido Burgos Cáceres (59-73) Book Reviews Martin Atangana. The End of French Rule in Cameroon. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc., 2010. xii, 131 pp. Review by Nkaze Chateh Nkengtego (74-75) Richard Benjamin and David Fleming. Transatlantic Slavery: An Introduction. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2010. 96 pp. Review by Nadine Hunt (75-76) John Campbell. Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2011. xxii, 183 pp. Review Benjamin O. Arah (76-78) Paul Deléage. End of a Dynasty: The Last Days of the Prince Imperial, Zululand 1879. Translated by Fleur Webb, introduction and notes by Bill Guest. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2008. xx, 212 pp. Review by Tony Voss (78-79) Myriam Denov. Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. xi, 234 pp. Review by Lt Col Mark E. Grotelueschen (79-81) Myron Echenberg. Africa in the Time of Cholera: A History of Pandemics from 1817 to the Present. Cambridge University Press, 2011. xxxi, 208 pp. Review by Zindoga Mukandavire (81-83) Harri Englund (ed.). Christianity and Public Culture in Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2011. 240 pp. Review by Jeremy Rich (83-84) Jack Goody. Myth, Ritual, and the Oral. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 161 pp. Review by Mickie Mwanzia Koster (84-86) African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 4 | Fall 2011 http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq Sean Hanretta. Islam and Social Change in French West Africa: History of an Emancipatory Community. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 311 pp. Review by Siendou Konate (86-89) Neil Kodesh. Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010. 280 pp. Review by Jason Bruner (89-91) M. Kathleen Madigan. Senegal Sojourn: Selections from One Teacher’s Journal. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010. xix, 231 pp. Review by Patrick Day (91-92) Anne Kelk Mager. Beer, Sociability, and Masculinity in South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. viii, 232 pp. Review by T.J. Tallie (92-93) William F. S. Miles. My African Horse Problem. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. xx, 173 pp. Review by R. Hunt Davis, Jr. (93-95) Michael Nest. Coltan. Cambridge, Polity, 2011. X, 220 pp. Review by Pádraig Carmody (95-96) Malyn Newitt (ed). The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415-1670: A Documentary History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. xviii, 246 pp. Review by Brandon D. Lundy (96-98) Michael F. O’Riley. Cinema in an Age of Terror: North Africa, Victimization, and Colonial History. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. 2010. 198 pp. Review by David Livingstone (98-99) Lahoucine Ouzgane. Men in African Film and Fiction. UK: James Currey, 2011. x, 180 pp. Review by Theresah P. Ennin (99-100) Robert Anthony Waters, Jr. Historical Dictionary of United States-Africa Relations. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2009. lxx, 369 pp. Review by Steven Gish (101-102) Daniel Zisenwine. The Emergence of Nationalist Politics in Morocco: The Rise of the Independence Party and the Struggle Against Colonialism After World War II. New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2010. 224 pp. Review by Gary Khalil (102-105) African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 4 | Fall 2011 http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 4 | Fall 2011 Appropriation of Islam in a Gambian Village: Life and Times of Shaykh Mass Kah, 1827–1936 BALA S. K. SAHO Abstract: This paper explores the role played by an Islamic cleric, Shaykh Mass Kah, in the dissemination of Islamic teaching and its practice in the Senegambia. It analyzes the role religious leaders played in the Senegambia after the demise of Islamic kingdoms that militant Islamic leaders attempted to build during the second half of the nineteenth century. Examining the life history of Mass Kah within this time period shows how religious leaders like him remained central in the everyday lives of local communities, their followers, and those who sought their blessings. Given the pivotal role of Islam in the Senegambia during the militant revolutions between Muslims and non-Muslims or nominal Muslims (those who practice the religion in name only) of the nineteenth century, the clerics emerged as new leaders in positions of social and political authority. Islam offered the people a social, cultural, and political opportunity to replace their autocratic overlords. By foregrounding the meaningfulness of the change that was brought by the peaceful transition to Islam during the colonial period, the paper examines how the ‚new‛ faith was widely internalized by the peasantry, who were impressed with the numerous demonstrations of miracles by Muslim clerics. Introduction One day, a student of Shaykh Mass Kah who had goiter, came to the cleric to seek permission to go to Dakar for treatment.1 The Shaykh looked closely at the swollen neck. He then murmured words under his breath, blew air onto his hands, and smeared the goiter with his hands. ‚Let us sleep till morning, and then you can go by God’s grace.‛ When the student woke up in the morning, the swollen neck was reduced to a tiny pimple, producing pus, which healed in a few days. The Shaykh’s followers regarded such as a ‚miracle,‛ which Qadi Omar Saho composed into a song: ‚Amoon na been taalibeem bu ko ňewaloon There was a student of his who came to him, Di ko tawat si benna giir, to complain of goiter, Bu ko sonnal. That troubled him. Seringe bi moocal ko, The Shaykh smeared the swollen area with words of Allah, Bala S. K. Saho is a Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, Michigan State University. His research focuses on nineteenth and early twentieth century Islamic, colonial, and gender history in the Senegambia region. http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v12/v12i4a1.pdf © University of Florida Board of Trustees, a public corporation of the State of Florida; permission is hereby granted for individuals to download articles for their own personal use. Published by the Center for African Studies, University of Florida. ISSN: 2152-2448 2 | Saho Mu weer sa saasa. The goiter healed immediately. Sering bi musta deňi, The Shaykh never faltered. ‘Yukisi naasa.’‛ Yukisu naasa’ This story is an example of how clerics like Mass Kah reached out and dealt with populations on daily issues that mattered to the people. The story helps us to understand how through such miraculous exhibits clerics drew followers. This paper explores the role played by the Islamic cleric, Shaykh Mass Kah, in the dissemination of Islamic teaching and its practice in the Senegambia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By attending to the everyday worries and needs of small communities, Shaykh Mass Kah was able to draw an extensive following. Using the history of Shaykh Mass Kah as an example, this paper analyzes the role religious leaders played in the Senegambia after the demise of Islamic kingdoms that militant Islamic leaders attempted to build during the second half of the nineteenth century. Given the pivotal role of Islam in the Senegambia during the militant revolutions between Muslims and non-Muslims or nominal Muslims of the nineteenth century, the clerics emerged as new leaders in positions of social and political authority.