Family law in Senegal: opposition and pragmatic pluralism

In Muslim contexts across Africa, family law gives rise to heated debate. In Senegal also, the Family Code has long been a subject of vigorous national discussion, pitting Muslim authorities against the state. This article analyzes the governance of marital dispute and divorce as well as the relations among authorities at the local level. While several authors imply that relations among authorities concerning family matters are similarly adverse at this level in Senegal, the ethnography presented here suggests differently. In the secondary city of Tivaouane, state, religious and semi-state authorities work from competing claims, but their relations are tolerant, thus demonstrating a "pragmatic pluralism" of negotiated co-existence. This relates, it is argued, to an overriding concern for social peace and to the multiple attachments of local-level authorities and their constituents - meaning that for these authorities, power derives from negotiation.