Le charisme comme ressource emotionnelle du mouvement social? Dispositifs de sensibilisation dans une neo-confrerie pakistanaise

In: Critique internationale, Heft 66, S. 105-124

Abstract

Taking a sociology of social movements approach, the present article focuses on charismatic authority and emotions in a Pakisani Sufi neo-brotherhood, Minhaj-ul Quran. The brotherhoods founder/leader is considered a Sufi saint by his followers and his movement can be analyzed as an emotional community that has gradually become politicized. Qadris charisma is understood as a resource that is refreshed and reinvigorated via awareness-raising devices (hagiographies, rituals, poems, videos, performances, etc.) that may partly explain the groups emergence and capacity for mobilization. Minhaj-ul Quran seems to be an original reinvention of the South Asian brotherhood tradition, bringing various types of activism (social, religious, political) together within an NGO and a political party. Though the latter withdrew from the political scene in 2005, it continues to successfully participate in various political causes. Adapted from the source document.