C'est La Vie: An Ethnography of Resistance and Resignation in Senegal.

This thesis explores religion as a vital resource for individual and social resilience in Senegal, a nation known for its civic stability despite socio-religious challenges that have destabilised other regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. It examines how faith, as belief and practice, not only fosters resilience but also shapes processes of becoming. I argue that in Senegal, individuals navigate change, aspiration, and constraint through religious frameworks that give meaning to the happenings of life. Based on 22 months of ethnographic fieldwork, it investigates how religion is mobilised to pursue personal growth, social mobility, and collective cohesion.

By centring religiously associated ethnological questions, this dissertation asks: Why do Muslim parents perceive Catholic schools as privileged spaces of social and academic formation? How do young Senegalese men and women engage with polygamy as a religiously significant means of personal and social advancement? Why is pig rearing and pork consumption central to Catholic Senegalese expressions of becoming? How do moto delivery drivers reframe experiences of immobility through faith, transforming stagnation into a meaningful narrative of self-cultivation? And why, when aspirations falter, do narratives of belief and becoming take centre stage? By foregrounding the centrality of faith in everyday life, this dissertation contributes to broader discussions on religion, pluralism, and civil society, demonstrating how religious belonging sustains both individual perseverance and collective solidarity in Senegal's pluralistic landscape.