Although statistics on development indexes in Mali unfailingly lament a stagnation in literacy and a low rate of book reading, the market of Islamic printing appears to be flourishing more and more in the country. This paper is based on a fieldwork analysis of the places that embody such a flourishing market, namely the Islamic bookshops of the capital city, Bamako. Attention is devoted to the different kinds of printed commodities that are displayed and sold there, but also to the bookshops as places of social interaction between booksellers, writers, customers and society at large. More occasional references are made to some Islamic oral media items that are also for sale in these bookshops and elsewhere. One of the main arguments is that if, on the one hand, a generalized resort to printing in general, and to certain printing genres in particular, especially the booklet, seems to be conducive to a process of standardization of religiosity and attitudes to religious knowledge, on the other hand, a trend towards increasing diversification and pluralism is also detectable. Such pluralism involves both doctrinal orientations (and contents) and linguistic choices, ranging from classical Arabic to Latin-script Arabic, French and Bambara, while these diversified ‘language politics’ of Islamic transmission of knowledge and religious communication interact, in their turn, in complex and creative ways with competing Christian initiatives.

Between standardization and pluralism. The islamic printing market and its social spaces ‎in Bamako, Mali‎ / Zappa, Francesco. - STAMPA. - (2015), pp. 39-62.

Between standardization and pluralism. The islamic printing market and its social spaces ‎in Bamako, Mali‎

ZAPPA, Francesco
2015

Abstract

Although statistics on development indexes in Mali unfailingly lament a stagnation in literacy and a low rate of book reading, the market of Islamic printing appears to be flourishing more and more in the country. This paper is based on a fieldwork analysis of the places that embody such a flourishing market, namely the Islamic bookshops of the capital city, Bamako. Attention is devoted to the different kinds of printed commodities that are displayed and sold there, but also to the bookshops as places of social interaction between booksellers, writers, customers and society at large. More occasional references are made to some Islamic oral media items that are also for sale in these bookshops and elsewhere. One of the main arguments is that if, on the one hand, a generalized resort to printing in general, and to certain printing genres in particular, especially the booklet, seems to be conducive to a process of standardization of religiosity and attitudes to religious knowledge, on the other hand, a trend towards increasing diversification and pluralism is also detectable. Such pluralism involves both doctrinal orientations (and contents) and linguistic choices, ranging from classical Arabic to Latin-script Arabic, French and Bambara, while these diversified ‘language politics’ of Islamic transmission of knowledge and religious communication interact, in their turn, in complex and creative ways with competing Christian initiatives.
2015
New media and religious transformations in Africa
978-0-253-01530-3
islam; Mali; print media
02 Pubblicazione su volume::02a Capitolo o Articolo
Between standardization and pluralism. The islamic printing market and its social spaces ‎in Bamako, Mali‎ / Zappa, Francesco. - STAMPA. - (2015), pp. 39-62.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/967986
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