African Diaspora 9 (2016) 77–99 brill.com/afdi Transnational Baye-fallism Transformation of a Sufi Heterodoxy through Diasporic Circulation* Ester Massó Guijarro Universidad de Granada
[email protected] Abstract This article examines the transformation of the Baye-fall movement (Baye-fallism, henceforth), a particular form of Senegalese Muridism, as it extends into the Senegalese diaspora. In particular, the article explores shifts in understandings of what it means to be a ‘good’ Baye-fall, as Senegalese migrants in Spain become confronted with hostility in their new social context, and as the need for spiritual engagement and community belonging intensifies. Starting with the origins of Baye-fallism as a Sufi heterodoxy in Senegal, the paper then focuses on Senegalese migrants in Lavapiés (Madrid, Spain) and in Granada (Andalusia, Spain). The central argument is that in this diasporic context, adhesion to Baye-fallism becomes more intense, and that the performance of Sufi orthodoxy takes on new meaning, which also informs discussions about being a ‘good’ Baye-fall in Senegal. Keywords Baye-fall movement – Sufism – diaspora – Senegal – Spain * The research for this article was undertaken in the framework of the research project “Human Rights and Global Justice in the context of international migrations” (ffi2013–42521-p), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation in the National Plan for Research and Development and whose principal investigator is Juan Carlos Velasco Arroyo. I would like to thank Juan Antonio Estrada Diaz and Ubric Rabaneda Purification for the kind revision of the original manuscript as well as the invaluable work of Linda van de Kamp, which substantially and unreservedly improved it, and Hélène Neveu Kringelbach for her helpful comments.