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White-adjacent Muslim development: racializing British Muslim aid in Mali

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2023

Rhea Rahman
Rhea Rahman*
Affiliation:
Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Muslim aid organizations are relatively new actors in the Western aid industry. Based on multi-sited ethnographic research with the UK-based NGO Islamic Relief, I explore the organization’s engagement with a school in need of repair in southern rural Mali that is also the site of a sacred shrine of importance to locals. I examine the contextual global logics of racialization that undergird different interpretations and practices of what it means to ‘do good’. Situating an understanding of ‘development’ in an analysis of global racial capitalism, I argue that, as an Islamically inspired aid organization based in the UK, Islamic Relief is both subject to anti-Muslim racism and complicit in a white-adjacent racialized project of ‘development’ in Africa. I foreground the whiteness of development to show how modernist development practice makes it impossible to see other ways of conceptualizing ‘doing good’ that are also deeply grounded in Islam.

Résumé

Résumé

Les organisations d’aide musulmanes sont des acteurs relativement nouveaux dans le secteur de l’aide occidental. Se basant sur des études ethnographiques multisites menées avec l’ONG britannique Islamic Relief, l’auteur explore l’engagement de l’organisation auprès d’une école pour l’aider à réparer ses bâtiments dans une région rurale du Sud du Mali qui est aussi le site d’un sanctuaire d’importance pour la population locale. Il examine la logique globale contextuelle de racialisation qui sous-tend différentes interprétations et pratiques de ce que signifie « faire le bien ». Situant une compréhension du « développement » dans une analyse du capitalisme racial mondial, l’auteur soutient qu’en tant qu’organisation d’aide d’inspiration islamique basée au Royaume-Uni, Islamic Relief est à la fois l’objet de racisme anti-musulmans et complice dans un projet racialisé blanc adjacent de « développement » en Afrique. Il met en avant la blanchité du développement pour montrer comment la pratique moderniste du développement permet de voir d’autres façons de conceptualiser le « faire le bien » qui sont également profondément ancrées dans l’islam.

Resumo

Resumo

As organizações de ajuda muçulmana são actores relativamente novos na indústria de ajuda ocidental. Com base na investigação etnográfica multi-situada com a ONG britânica Islamic Relief, exploro o envolvimento da organização com uma escola que necessita de reparação no sul rural do Mali, que é também o local de um santuário sagrado de importância para os habitantes locais. Examino lógicas contextuais globais de racialização que sustentam diferentes interpretações e práticas do que significa ‘fazer o bem’. Situando o entendimento de ‘desenvolvimento’ numa análise do capitalismo racial global, defendo que, como uma organização de ajuda de inspiração islâmica sediada no Reino Unido, a Islamic Relief está simultaneamente sujeita ao racismo antimuçulmano e cúmplice de um projecto de ‘desenvolvimento’ racializado de adição branca em África. Eu ponho em evidência a branquidade do desenvolvimento para mostrar como a prática modernista do desenvolvimento torna impossível ver outras formas de conceptualizar ‘fazer o bem’ que também estão profundamente enraizadas no Islão.

Type
Race in Muslim Africa
Information
Africa , Volume 93 , Issue 2 , May 2023 , pp. 256 - 272
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute

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