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In this innovative new history, Erin Pettigrew utilizes invisible forces and entities - esoteric knowledge and spirits - to show how these forms of knowledge and unseen forces have shaped social structures, religious norms, and political power in the Saharan West. Situating this ethnographic history in what became la Mauritanie under French colonial rule and, later the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Pettigrew traces the changing roles of Muslim spiritual mediators and their Islamic esoteric sciences - known locally as l'hÌĐjaÌ"b - over the long-term history of the region. By exploring the impact of the immaterial in the material world and demonstrating the importance of Islamic esoteric sciences in Saharan societies, she illuminates peoples' enduring reliance upon these sciences in their daily lives and argues for a new approach to historical research that takes the immaterial seriously.

Islamic occultism --- Muslim occultism --- Occultism, Islamic --- Occult sciences, Muslim --- Occultism --- Supernatural --- Religious aspects --- Islam. --- Western Sahara --- Mauritania --- History, Local. --- Religion --- Miracles --- Mauretania --- Mauritanie --- Mavritanii︠a︡ --- Islamskai︠a︡ Respublika Mavritanii︠a︡ --- Territoire de la Mauritanie --- Islamic Republic of Mauritania --- République islamique de Mauritanie --- Jumhūrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-Mūrītānīyah --- R.I. Mauritanie --- RI Mauritanie --- Mūrītāniyā --- République islamique arabe et africaine de Mauritanie --- Mūrītāniyyah --- Al-Ğumhūriyyah al-Islāmiyyah al-Mūrītāniyyah --- Ğumhūriyyah al-Islāmiyyah al-Mūrītāniyyah --- Muritaniyah --- موريتانيا --- Mūrītānyā --- Gànnaar --- Murutaane --- Moritani --- الجمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية --- al-Jumhūrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-Mūrītānīyah --- جمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية --- モーリタニア --- Mōritania --- Mauretanien --- Länsi-Sahara --- Maʻarav Saharah --- Nishisahara --- Sahara Occidental --- Saharan demokraattinen arabitasavalta --- Ṣaḥrāʼ al-Gharbīyah --- Taneẓroft Tutrimt --- Västsahara --- Zapadnai︠a︡ Sakhara --- Западная Сахара --- מערב סהרה --- صحراء الغربية‎ --- 西サハラ --- Spanish Sahara