Les identités religieuses contemporaines au Yémen : convergence, résistances et instrumentalisations

• Main Author: Laurent Bonnefoy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2008-04-01
• Series: Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/remmm/4963

It is generally assumed that contemporary religious identities in Yemen are more or less equally divided between two Islamic sects: Shiite Zaydism and Sunni Shafeism. Yet a number of transformations, encouraged and instrumented by the Republican state, question the relevance of such a divide. The opposition between these two identities has gradually led the way to a process of convergence, that can’t be considered mere “sunnification”. This convergence is mainly linked to the spread of Islamic Reform movements and the growing individualization and marketization of religious practices. The dominion of this “new” Yemeni religious identity is yet incomplete and has to face important resistance coming from certain Zaydi groups and Salafis, but also paradoxically from State actors.