From the Cross (and Crescent) to the Cedar and Back Again: Transnational Religion and Politics Among Lebanese Christians in Senegal (original) (raw)

This article examines the changing relationship between religion, secular-ism, national politics, and identity formation among Lebanese Christians in Senegal. Notre Dame du Liban, the first Lebanese religious institution in West Africa, draws on its Lebanese " national " character to accommodate Lebanese Maronite Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christians in Dakar, remaining an icon of " Lebanese " religion, yet departing from religious sec-tarianism in Lebanon. As such, transnational religion can vary from national religion, gaining new resonances and reinforcing a wider " secular " ethno-national identity. [