La dahira de Mame Diarra en la diáspora: ¿un desafío al patriarcado Murid?

Abstract

The dahira (a group of believers around a religious leader, with both espiritual and material collective committments) is the quintessential organizational mode of the brotherhood Muridiyya, both in Senegal and in its intense migrant diaspora. The exclusively female dahiras, against male or mixed, are held on the basis of the cult of Mame Diarra, a hugely respected figure as the mother of Ahmadou Bamba, founder of Muridism. Such dahiras operate autonomously and independently at all levels: economic management, organization, leadership, etc., mobilizing large amounts of human and financial resources within and outside Senegal. This article reviews the relevant theory on dahiras firstly, and female dahiras from a gender perspective, secondly, to address after the case study of Mame Diarra dahira in Madrid and its significance in the Murid community context in Spain, to analyze whether Muridism experience for women through dahiras involves the degree of autonomy and agency that some studies claim.