Communautés politiques et communautés religieuses : quelles formes d’appropriation territoriale ?

Abstract. Article 24 of the Senegalese constitution provides for the development of religious communities and article 102 for the development of local authorities through decentralisation, while respecting the territorial integrity of the Republic. At Touba Mosque, a Mouride space and decentralised entity, the religious and the political coexist, creating multiple territorialities and complex governance issues where citizens and talibés come together in various ways. This article looks at the different forms of territorial appropriation and logics of belonging to these communities, particularly in the education and health sectors. The mixed methodology combines an exploratory visit, a mapping of the deployment of religion and politics and their interactions, semi-structured interviews and a quantitative survey of 208 residents between November 2024 and May 2024. The results show that religious territoriality is hegemonic, but that it also has to deal with political spatiality that is sometimes structuring, like that of the State, and sometimes interstitial, like that of the municipality. In governance, in the construction of identities and in development initiatives in education and health, this is reflected in forms of duplication, duality and in-betweenness that shape the urban space. Keywords: Political community, Religious community, Coexistence, Duality; Religious territory; Touba