Identity imaged in history and story: re/constructing the life of Abd‐al‐Karim, founder/renewer of Islam in Wadai, Chad

Abstract

This study re/constructs, from the known written and oral sources, the life of the legendary Abd‐al‐Karim, founder of Islam and a new Wadai kingdom in Chad in the 1600s. In the spirit of postcolonialism, blurring the line between historical and literary accounts, one fictional account is included. Two research questions guide the analysis: how is the life of Abd‐al‐Karim imaged in history and story? and how does the 1970 oral corpus take back history and restore local agency? Vansina's oral history methodology, specifically the constructs ‘episode’ and ‘image’, inform the re/construction of Abd‐al‐Karim's life and Scheub's thesis that ‘the image evokes feeling’ informs discussion of the rhetorical power of selected images. From the analysis emerge images that tend, broadly speaking, to an African, an Arab/Islamic, or a European construction of identity for this historical figure. For example, positive images of black Africa, local initiative in the conversion process and the establishment of a royal family suggest tendency to an African construction of identity. Abassid ancestry, religious preparations and conversion imaged by itinerant preaching and teaching suggest tendency to an Islamic/Arab construction of identity, while images of political preparation and military action suggest tendency to a European construction of identity. Ancestry, history, language, geography and place, constructs integral to identity, were revised by oral informants, who engage the dominant cultures, Islam and Europe, but renegotiate identity, ultimately claiming a hybrid cultural identity for Abd–al–Karim. While they localise the legend and indigenise this culture hero, they simultaneously affirm Islam, claiming a religious identity that gives them a sense of global belonging.