Set in Colonial Northern Nigeria, this book confronts a paradox: the state insisted on its separation from religion even as it governed its multireligious population through what remained of the precolonial caliphate. Entangled Domains grapple with this history to offer a provocative account of secularism as a contested yet contingent mode of governing religion and religious difference. Drawing on detailed archival research, Rabiat Akande vividly illustrates constitutional struggles triggered by the colonial state's governance of religion and interrogates the legacy of that governance agenda in the postcolonial state. This book is a novel commentary on the dynamic interplay between law, faith, identity, and power in the context of the modern state's emergence from colonial processes.

‘With the shift away from sponsoring Christian missionary projects, the British empire turned to indirect rule with secularist features. In this enterprising history of law and politics in northern Nigeria between past and present, Rabiat Akande illuminates how such secularism intruded on religious and social identity and reshaped it, with profound legacies for the constitutionalism that followed in the postcolony. This is an extremely impressive achievement.’

Samuel Moyn - Yale Law School

‘Discussions of secularism often descend into arguments ‘for’ or ‘against’ secularism. Not so for Rabiat Akande’s study of the entanglements of law, religion, and empire in colonial Northern Nigeria and its postcolonial epilogue. Emphasizing the ambivalences of secular governance, Akande explores the unexpected expressions of the state’s colonial and postcolonial claims to secularity. An important contribution to the globalization of critical secularism studies.’

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd - Northwestern University