Sufis, salafis, and the public square

This project examines whether there has been an implicit deal between authoritarian regimes and Salafist movements in countries where Sufism is being crowded out by heavily funded forms of Salafism and other forms of anti-Sufi Islam. Ewing and Stille are investigating the eclipse of Sufism within the contemporary political context of four Muslim countries, three of which (Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania) are characterized by authoritarian regimes aiming to fend off violent jihadism and a fourth, Senegal, in which a democratic government actively supports Sufism but is also concerned with the increasing influence of Salafism. The project draws Columbia University?s Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL) and Journalism School into a collaboration that engages students and local researchers in collecting oral histories of variously oriented Sunnis and members of government under the joint supervision of Professors Stille and Ewing. Our goals are to produce a significant publically available database of oral histories; a long piece of narrative journalism by Stille that would bring the fruit of this work to a larger public; a volume of oral histories edited by Ewing that would target policy makers, students, and the public; and articles by Ewing that would address a scholarly audience.