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Goikolea-Amiano, Itzea (2020) 'Gender and Sexuality in early 19th-century Tunisia: a Decolonial Reading of Aḥmad b. al-Qāḍī al-Timbuktāwī’s naṣīḥa on the sub-Saharan diaspora.' Genre et Histoire, 25. p. 4983.

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Abstract

This article examines the gender and sexuality politics in early nineteenth-century Tunisia, with particular reference to the healing rituals performed by the diasporic sub-Saharans and the attempts at disciplining them by Muslim religious scholars. It does so through an in-depth analysis of a 1808 naṣīḥa penned by the West African scholar Aḥmad b. al-Qāḍī al-Timbuktāwī, where the Tunisian rulers are urged to ban the religious practices of the sub-Saharan populations – mainly slaves – which are deemed un-Islamic. In addition to close-reading the naṣīḥa, I contextualise and compare it with other texts and literature to ‘unveil’ not only al-Timbuktāwī’s discourse but also the history of enslaved sub-Saharans and the larger social, cultural and political history of early nineteenth-century Tunisia. I argue that al-Timbuktāwī’s request to ban the rituals was religiously motivated, but also aimed at preventing the leadership and sexual intimacy which the rituals allegedly promoted, and I investigate whether such gender and sexual practices were (or not) perceived as disrupting the domestic Tunisian social and sexual order.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: Slavery – Tunisia – gender – sexuality – 19th-century – sub-Saharan slaves
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of Languages, Cultures & Linguistics
ISSN: 21025886
Date Deposited: 14 Oct 2020 15:13
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/34130
Funders: European Union

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