Call for papers
for the journal Afrique contemporaine Religious entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa:
Individual trajectories, relationships with social hierarchies, interactions with the state
Special issue proposed and edited by
Muriel Gomez-Perez (Université Laval, Quebec City), Marie Brossier (Université Laval) and Cédric Jourde (University of Ottawa)
African societies are at the heart of a proliferation of religious options provided by various branches of Islam—Sufism; reformist, Salafist, jihadist and neo-fraternal movements (Samson, 2011; Triaud and Villalon, 2009)—and Christianity—Catholicism, Methodism, and syncretism;
prophetic, Evangelical, (neo-)Pentecostal, and ecumenical charismatic movements (Corten and Mary, 2000; Fourchard et al., 2005). The result has been strong religious competition and a
“profusion of sites of production and dissemination” (Mayrargue, 2004, 2009) in the context of globalized religion. Studies of religion in Africa (Freeman, 2012; Bompani and Valois, 2017;
Mayrargue, 2008) highlight the extent to which this diversification has been tied to logics of liberalization in the period since the implementation of democratic transitions (Villalon, 2010).
As a result, the Muslim and Christian religious field in Africa has become fragmented and dispersed (Lasseur & Mayrargue, 2011).
However, only a small number of researchers (Coyault, 2014; Fourchard et al., 2005; Gifford, 2004; Louveau, 2011; Marshall, 2009) have focused on the trajectories of those individuals responsible for shaping the dynamics of religious innovation. This special issue therefore seeks to revitalize the field by showing the extent to which this process of diversification and fragmentation, when studied in light of the processes of institutional and societal liberalization, is also tied to the emergence of new entrepreneurial figures who see the religious field as a space of political and moral economy to be conquered. Such conquests have been made possible by the emerging neo-liberal economy, within which establishing a position of power depends on an ability to attract financial investments and redistribute them within a specific community.
As they set out to conquer these new “religious marketplaces” (Triaud and Villalon, 2009), religious entrepreneurs must decide how to align themselves with or differentiate themselves from other movements, as well as what proselytization strategies to adopt using the media and NICT, among other tools. They also need to choose the level (local, national, international, or global) at which to situate their religious and economic activities, as well as those of their movements. In doing so, religious entrepreneurs are forced to deal with long-established national and transnational networks (such as those associated with the Muslim brotherhoods, commerce or migration), either by harnessing their power or by attempting to bypass them in favour of emerging networks (parallel, complementary) capable of providing new financial, social, and cultural opportunities to religious entrepreneurs and the communities they mobilize.
This process of proliferation reflects an ability to innovate and a high degree of religious creativity, revealing a strong taste for practices and discourses that are strict, righteous, and even
redemptive. The corresponding rise of public piety and missionary efforts follows both the logics of belonging to a community of faith and the ascensional logics of prophetic figures who sometimes successfully establish themselves as authority figures.
In particular, this special issue aims to shed light on the corresponding logics of ascension and mobilization, on the circumstances under which such logics emerge, and on what they reveal about social hierarchies (reproduction, tension, transcendence) and power plays (relationships with the state and with funders). It is therefore a matter of understanding how individuals have moved from being ordinary activists to becoming religious entrepreneurs and ultimately to emerging as key actors in the local, national, and even international public spheres. In contexts where certain forms of solidarity (ethnicity, gender, social status) can hinder social advancement (Foucher and Smith, 2011), do these entrepreneurs emerge from marginal positions in the social hierarchy (women, youth, “former captives”, outcasts)? Or do they hail from comfortable backgrounds and transfer their social capital to the religious sphere, thereby adapting their trajectories to available social and economic opportunities? The goal is to clearly determine whether or not these emerging entrepreneurs are circumventing structures of domination through their involvement in the economic, social, or political spheres of the religious field—
whether are thwarting social constraints or using them in their favour. By extension, this special issue seeks to determining whether hierarchical and unequal relationships have been perpetuated or whether the organizations founded by these entrepreneurs rely on other logics (family-based, ethnic, clan-based).
Given that these actors oversee the construction of social and educational facilities, launch media outlets, offer “moral” and medical counselling services (advice on marriage, abstinence, AIDS, family), open travel agencies for the Hajj, develop fashion companies for Muslim women, etc., they seem to operate as economic as well as social entrepreneurs, positioning themselves at the centre of the larger religious proliferation. But what criteria can be used to determine whether they are truly “success stories” (Banégas and Warnier, 2001)? And whose success is being measured (the individual’s, the community’s, both)? It is also worth reflecting on whether these individuals are conscious of their roles as entrepreneurs, on whether they carefully chart their complex trajectories through intersecting religious, spiritual, social, and entrepreneurial spheres. More generally, insofar as the proliferation of religious options in recent decades has led to competition and one-upmanship among different religious movements, do these trajectories reflect a need to seek out new markets as a way of reaching new audiences? How do the networks (old and new) that structure the religious field and within which religious entrepreneurs operate affect the latter’s trajectories? To what extent are the latter willing to sacrifice their autonomy when faced with actors and institutions seeking to coopt or exclude them?
Answering such questions means reflecting not only on these individuals’ social capital, their ability to build and supply networks that are profitable to them and their followers, but also on their place within multiple generations of religious actors operating in a competitive and diverse religious landscape and facing a complex and variable—and sometimes coercive—
political context.
By virtue of their visibility or recognition within a broad community, these religious entrepreneurs inevitably draw the attention of the state (Bompani and Brown, 2016; Kolapo, 2016). Although their positions are by no means frozen in time once the state has the potential to become a key supplier (financing, building permits, authorizations of any kind) and arbiter (settling internal conflicts or regulating the broader playing field), this special issue invites, on the one hand, a reflection on the circumstances that lead these actors to forge ties with the state, to confront it, or to avoid any form of contact with it whatsoever; and, on the other hand,
an examination of how these obscure political manoeuvres affect the trajectories of religious entrepreneurs and the longevity of their organizations?
Submissions:
The editors seek both in-depth and shorter articles.
(1) In-depth articles must be 35,000 characters in length at time of publication, including spaces, footnotes and bibliography. Submissions must include an abstract of 800 total characters, key words, and a 150-character author(s) biography. In-depth articles can include maps, drawings, chronologies and/or photos.
(2) Shorter articles will feature in the Repères section that focuses on more-focused, empirical subjects, such as professional chronicles, participant observations, career progressions, and so forth. These shorter articles can also include maps, drawings, chronologies and/or photos.
Interested authors should submit an article proposal composed of a one-page précis, describing the topic, argument outline (in brief), and relevant sources, data and/or fieldwork.
Each article proposal will be blind peer-reviewed by two anonymous referees and by the Afrique Contemporaine editorial board.
Please submit your response to this call for papers via our online Editorial Manager:
http://www.editorialmanager.com/afriquecontemporaine/
Only articles that successfully complete a blind peer-review by two anonymous referees and by the Afrique Contemporaine editorial board will be published.
For questions or clarification, please contact Muriel Gomez-Perez Muriel.Gomez-
Perez@hst.ulaval.ca, Nicolas Donner donnern.ext@afd.fr et Isabelle Fortuit fortuiti@afd.fr,
Timeline :
Submit article proposal by 18 February 2019
The editors will select article topics and notify authors by 4 March 2019 Selected authors must submit a first draft of their articles by 15 June 2019 The special Issue will be published in December 2019.
Bibliography
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Bompani, B. & Brown, S. T. 2015. A “religious revolution”? Print media, sexuality, and religious discourse in Uganda", Journal of Eastern African Studies, 9:1: 110-126.
Bompani, B. et Valois, C. (éds.). 2018. Christian Citizens and the Moral Regeneration of the African State. London, Routledge.
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Coyault, B. 2014. « Innovation religieuse et esthétique prophétique au Congo. L’émergence du mouvement Louzolo-Amour », Afrique contemporaine, 252 : 109-129.
Foucher, V. et Smith, E. 2011. « Les aventures ambigües du pouvoir traditionnel dans l'Afrique contemporaine », Revue internationale et stratégique 81 : 30-43.
Fourchard, L., A. Mary, et R. Otayek (éds). 2005. Entreprises religieuses transnationales en Afrique de l’Ouest, Paris, IFRA-Karthala.
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Gifford, P. 2004. Ghana's new Christianity : Pentecostalism in a globalizing African economy. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.
Kolapo, F.J. 2016. “Appraising the Limits of Pentecostal Political Power in Nigeria,” Journal of Religion in Africa, 46.4: 369-389.
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