Post-Salafism: From global to local Salafism

Abstract

ABSTRACT This special issue expands on the recent literature break with the globalist paradigm of Salafism studies to propose a shift to a ‘glocal’ or ‘translocal’ paradigm emphasizing the interplay between global pushes and local particularities. Based on an extensive literature review, this introduction proposes to (1) challenge the prevalent understanding of the global spread of Salafism as a Saudi-induced process; (2) to raise the question of Salafis’ integration in their respective national/local environment; and (3) to analyse the local as a space in its own right rather than as a mere receptacle of global fluxes. In contrast with the model of a globalized, ‘decultured’ Salafism, the SI contends that Salafism is now taking an opposite direction towards a threefold trend of ‘indigenization’, re-culturation, and politicization, which encompass an increasing embeddedness in local dynamics and the revision of exclusivist, isolationist, and non-participatory behaviours. The SI proposes a series of case-studies and cross-case comparisons both at the centre (France, Algeria, Tunisia, and Syria) and at the periphery of the Mediterranean region (Mauritania, Mali/Nigeria, Ethiopia, and far away Cambodia) with the intent of demonstrating that this trend is not confined to a specific geography but occurs in all Muslim communities, including Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority countries. Through in-depth ethnographic and qualitative research, the authors observe a tendency towards the revision of Salafis’ exclusivist and rejectionist stance through a reinvention of its modes of engagement with society at the religious, political, and cultural levels, which marks an unprecedented rupture with ‘globalized’ Salafism.