‘How, for God’s sake, can I be a good Muslim?' Gambian Youth in Search of a Moral Lifestyle

Janson, Marloes

Abstract

By analysing the case study of a young Muslim man's conversion within and between different expressions of Islam in the Gambia, this article challenges common understandings of conversion that see it as a transition from one form of religious belief or identity to another, as well as theories of Islam's place in Africa that distinguish between ‘local’ traditions and ‘world’ religions. The ethnographic case study illustrates that, for Gambian youth, conversion is not a unilinear path but entails the continuous making of moral negotiations and a preparedness to reflect on the ambiguity of selfhood – an inevitable result of the making of these negotiations.

Citation

Janson, M. (2016). ‘How, for God’s sake, can I be a good Muslim?' Gambian Youth in Search of a Moral Lifestyle. Ethnography, 17(1), 22-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138115575655

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 22, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Mar 16, 2015
• Publication Date: Feb 22, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 12, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2020
• Journal: Ethnography
• Print ISSN: 1466-1381
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-2714
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 22-46
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138115575655
• Keywords: conversion, Islamic reform, Tablighi Jama‘at, Salafiyya, Pentecostalism, morality, youth, West Africa, the Gambia
• Related Public URLs: http://eth.sagepub.com/content/17/1/22
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Published online before in print March 16, 2015. Published in hardcopy in March, 2016.