ngo-ization as Legitimization: The “Engineering” of a Senegalese Shi‘i Islamic Development Model

Abstract

Senegal’s Shi‘i Muslim leaders have been establishing religious centers as ngo s, which bring material and spiritual development to neighborhoods and villages. Obtaining ngo status grants legitimacy and convinces a growing network of followers of the wider benefits of adhering to a minority branch of Islam. This article uses a framework of “development brokerage,” “religious engineering,” and “translation” to examine one Shi‘i ngo’s presentation of self. A promotional video illustrates the Shi‘i development project for Western and Muslim donors and the Senegalese state by appropriating the global discourse of international development. This example is contrasted with a religious ceremony for converts grounded in the universal rhetoric of Islamic salvation and the exclusivity of belonging to a local West African community of Shi‘a. Through employing multiple linguistic registers strategically adapted for distinct audiences, ngo leaders assert authority and cultivate a self-sustaining society of moral and ethical Shi‘a able to contribute to the Senegalese nation.