Household claims in Bathurst's Muslim court

Bala Saho's study draws on qadi court records and two hundred interviews in Wolof and Mandinka to examine urban Muslim family life. Following the court's 1905 establishment, cases brought questions of marriage, bridewealth, maintenance, divorce, child custody and property into a recorded forum. ^{[saho-contours]}

The book describes women using that forum to pursue domestic and property claims, with some judges sympathetic to their arguments. These disputes show households negotiating rights within Islamic, local and colonial legal settings, rather than passively receiving a single rule from outside. ^{[saho-contours]}