Ğihād, sufi e colonialismo in Africa sub-sahariana. Il caso della Ḫatmiyya in Eritrea

This thesis deals with the socio-political accommodation of Muslim brotherhoods to colonial occupation in sub-saharan Africa. In particular, it analyses how the Khatmiyya Islamic Brotherhood accommodated to the Italian colonial rule in Eritrea. Being this brotherhood a trans-regional entity it’s considered also its influence in Sudan, comparing its relations with Italian authorities in Eritrea with the ones it made with British authorities in Sudan. Special attention is paid to the role of a female sufi leader of the Khatmiyya, Sharifa 'Alawiyya (d.1940). She was an Eritrean Islamic mystic who assumed a very influential role whithin the tariqa during Italian occupation. Her strong personality is still celebrated through her Arabic epithet of “al harbiyya/al-labisa harbiyya”, the militant/the one who dress as a militant or the Italian one, “la regina senza corona”, the queen without the crown, of Eritrea.