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Shari'ah and the Secular State Shari’ah and the Secular State: Popular Support for and Opposition to Islamic Family Law in Senegal by Carrie S. Konold A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science) in The University of Michigan 2010 Doctoral Committee: Professor Mark A. Tessler, Co-Chair Associate Professor Ted Brader, Co-Chair Professor Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University Professor Jennifer A. Widner, Princeton University © Copyright Carrie S. Konold 2010 Dedication To my parents, Phyllis and David Konold, With love and gratitude ii Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the many individuals and institutions that have made this research possible. First, I thank my undergraduate teachers at Wellesley College— especially Craig Murphy, Joel Krieger, and Ann Velenchik—who inspired my love of learning and the courage to pursue my passions. I am indebted to my advisors at the University of Michigan who have provided intellectual mentorship and friendship throughout my graduate training, research, and writing. Thank you to Ted Brader, Mamadou Diouf, Mark Tessler, and Jennifer Widner for sharing your expertise and encouragement. It has been a true pleasure to know and work with you. Thank you to the many institutions that have funded various portions of my graduate training, conference travel, field research, and dissertation research and writing. At the University of Michigan, I thank the Center for the Education of Women, the International Institute, the Department of Political Science, the Rackham Graduate School, and the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies. I also thank the National Science Foundation, Fulbright IIE, CAORC, Wellesley College, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, and the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University. This research would not have been possible without their support. iii I am especially grateful to so many individuals in Dakar, Senegal who made this research possible. There are literally too many to mention individually. Each person on my research team worked tirelessly to carry out each and every interview. My heartfelt thanks to each of my colleagues, who taught me so much along the way. I was blessed to meet so many friends in the neighborhoods where I worked who opened their homes and families to me. I am most grateful for each of the participants in the study who were kind enough to take time out of their busy lives to speak with us. Without your hospitality, openness, and patience, this study simply would not have been possible. I have tried to accurately represent your opinions in this dissertation, but I cannot adequately thank you for sharing your time and ideas. Each member of my research team here in Ann Arbor was invaluable to this study as well, and I thank each one of you. The care, dedication, and curiosity with which you entered, interpreted, and coded each and every response showed true integrity. A special thanks to Jim Lepkowski at the Survey Research Center and Aliou Gaye at the Direction de la Prévision et de la Statistique who provided critical assistance as I prepared the sampling frame. Finally, to my friends and family—where to begin? I owe my parents Phyllis and David Konold everything, and I thank them for their love and support. I am grateful to my brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, for their unconditional friendship. Each of my friends from the different chapters in my life means the world to me. Thank you for reminding me of what is important. All my love and thanks to my Philly family—to the girls, for making each day more fun, and finally, to , for going on life’s adventure with me. iv Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Islam and the Secular State: Senegal in Context .............................................. 18 Chapter 3 Elite Frames and Values: Public Responses to Political Debate ...................... 43 Chapter 4 Framing Shari’ah and the Family Code ........................................................... 58 Chapter 5 A Survey of Senegalese Opinion: Bringing Citizens’ Voices into Focus ....... 81 Chapter 6 Popular Frames: How Citizens Make Sense of the Islamic Family Law Debate ......................................................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 7 Taking Sides on Shari’ah: The Roots of Popular Support and Opposition ... 145 Chapter 8 Belief Systems about Religion and State ....................................................... 174 Chapter 9 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 200 Appendix ......................................................................................................................... 212 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 216 v List of Figures Figure 5.1 Neighborhood Map of Dakar........................................................................... 83 Figure 7.1 Impact of changing religious engagement on probability of strong support for an Islamic family law ...................................................................................................... 158 Figure 7.2 Impact of changing religious engagement on probability of strong opposition to an Islamic family law .................................................................................................. 159 vi List of Tables Table 2.1 Varieties of religion-state relationships ............................................................ 20 Table 2.2 Variations in role for Islam in Muslim-majority states ..................................... 21 Table 5.1 Preferences for a state family law based on Shari'ah, by gender ...................... 89 Table 5.2 Education, by preferences for a family law based on Shari’ah ........................ 89 Table 5.3 Education, by gender ........................................................................................ 90 Table 5.4 Household wealth, by preferences for a family law based on Shari’ah ............ 92 Table 5.5 Age, by preferences for a family law based on Shari’ah .................................. 92 Table 5.6 Religious identity, by preferences for a family law based on Shari’ah ............ 93 Table 5.7 Quintiles of religious engagement, by gender .................................................. 97 Table 5.8 Religious engagement, by Muslims’ support for a family law based on Shari’ah ......................................................................................................................................... 100 Table 5.9 Religious engagement for Muslims, by opposition to and support for a secular state ................................................................................................................................. 103 Table 5.10 Education for Muslims, by opposition to and support for a secular state ..... 103 Table 5.11 Religious engagement, by support for uniformity in laws and rights for all citizens ............................................................................................................................ 105 Table 5.12 Education for Muslims, by support for uniformity in laws and rights for all citizens ............................................................................................................................ 105 Table 6.1 Number of considerations mentioned by respondents in open-ended narratives ......................................................................................................................................... 111 Table 6.2 Why citizens say they support or oppose a family law based on Shari’ah ..... 113 Table 6.3 Religious arguments offered by supporters of an Islamic family law ............ 116 Table 6.4 Meanings of secularism for opponents of an Islamic family law ................... 126 Table 6.5 Frequency of considerations for Christians and Muslims who oppose an Islamic family law ....................................................................................................................... 135 Table 6.6 Mean education for individuals who mention frames in media discourse ..... 137 Table 6.7 Support and opposition to a secular state, by views on Islamic Family Law . 139 Table 6.8 Education levels for respondents who mention secularism ............................ 141 Table 6.9 Support for legal uniformity, by support for an Islamic family law ............... 142 Table 7.1 Popular support and opposition to Islamic family law ................................... 151 Table 7.2 Predicted probabilities of supporting and opposing an Islamic family law .... 152 Table 7.3 Predicted probabilities of responding with strong support and strong opposition to an Islamic family law across levels of religious engagement
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