Paper short abstract:

I will bring a decolonial and postsecular approach to the question of how academics could research 'religion and development' going forward. I critique how the very framing of 'religion and development' risks reproducing problematic binaries, ontological injustice, and 'coloniality of secularity'.

Paper long abstract:

In 2011, Jones and Petersen argued that much academic research on 'religion and development' was "instrumental, narrow and normative" because it was largely informed by the agendas of donor agencies and organisations working within a secular framework, who sought concrete recommendations for engaging faith-based actors. In this proposal, I argue that, 12 years later, not much has changed. It is not a problem that academics produce knowledge of practical use to 'secular' organisations - that is part and parcel of development studies. However, an academic field should not be defined by these parameters, which risks being the case for 'religion and development' scholarship. Research which is ultimately framed by the question of 'what can religion do for development?' fails to engage with recent calls by scholar-activists that we decolonise the study of religion. It reproduces a Manichean binary between 'secular' and 'religious' worldviews/organisations, a binary which is the product of secular onto-epistemology which dominates in Western/Northern social science. Furthermore, putting the focus on 'religion' and development conveniently places secular onto-epistemology - and its violences, described by critical scholars as 'ontological violence' or 'coloniality of secularity' - outside of the analytical frame. It also implicitly frames 'religious ontology' as the Other to the secular norm or ideal, which side-lines the lived realities, struggles, and theoretical contributions of individuals, activists, or academics speaking from non-secular ontological perspectives. I illustrate the impact and limitations of coloniality of secularity through an analysis of academic and policy discourses on Islamic education in West Africa.