Ussumane Tchuda - A Mystical Resistance: The Role of Art and Spirituality in African Popular Uprisings and Revolutionary Movements

African revolutionary movements have long relied on creativity and faith as vital resources of resistance. From anti-colonial struggles to contemporary democratic uprisings, spiritual practices and artistic expression have provided legitimacy, solidarity and a language of dissent. And yet, scholarship on African uprisings has often emphasised economic, political or military dimensions, leaving the cultural and spiritual infrastructure underexplored.

This research examines mysticism not as a belief system separate from political reality, but as an experiential practice that generates revolutionary consciousness and aesthetic production. Focusing primarily on Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, the project investigates contemporary movements such as the Set Setal muralists and the Y'en a Marre hip-hop collective, alongside the historical legacy of Amílcar Cabral and the PAIGC.

Using a sensory ethnography framework, this inquiry analyses resistance through the five senses, examining how practitioners themselves experience spiritual aesthetics as politically consequential. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that mysticism and revolution are mutually constitutive processes, offering new analytical tools for understanding the embodied dimensions of political mobilisation in Africa.