Amalia Dragani

My project aims to study the connections between Muslim-to-Christian religious conversions, the Sahelo-saharan pastoral minorities in Mali, Niger and Algeria and the post-conflict situation in Sahel. Research about conversions to Pentecostalism among the Tuareg, the Berabish, the Chaanba and the Kunta. The challenge of this project is to write the “hidden histories” of Saharan Christians and to revise the common narrative of the contemporary Sahara as uniquely Islamic. I will explore the transformation of the Self, the family life, mixed marriage and gender relationship and the links between subaltern categories (women, youth and former slaves) and religious conversions. As I know Tuareg language, I will study Tuareg Christian poetry. Finally I will study the encounters and inter-religious relations between Christians and Muslims.