Popular and formal Islam, and supralocal relations: The highlands of northwestern Tunisia, 1800-1970

The present paper explores the interplay between local popular Islam and the repeated introduction of formal Islam in Khrumiria, North-western Tunisia, against the background of its social and political structure and the radical changes the latter underwent in the colonial and post-colonial era. The dynamics underlying the relation between the two versions of Islam in Khrumiria should be interpreted primarily by reference to supra-local political and economic incorporation processes, i.e. to ultimately non-religious factors.