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Reli02


Training for good life or a good society? Religious students’ individual and collective aspirations in public universities in sub-Saharan Africa 
Convenors:
Vincent Favier (Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient)
Koudbi Kabore (Joseph Ki-Zerbo University Burkina Faso)
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Chair:
Koudbi Kabore (Joseph Ki-Zerbo University Burkina Faso)
Discussant:
Vincent Favier (Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient)
Format:
Panel
Streams:
Religion (x) Decoloniality & Knowledge Production (y)
Location:
Neues Seminargebäude Seminarraum 13
Sessions:
Friday 2 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin

Short Abstract:

This panel discusses the ways in which university students engage with academic training and religious practice. It interrogates youth's individual and collective aspirations and how religiosity affects higher education in sub-Saharan Africa.

Long Abstract:

Manifestations of religiosity have increasingly pervaded public universities in sub-Saharan Africa during the past decades and shaped social interactions within these spaces. This panel discusses the ways in which students engage with academic training and religious practice at the university, and how religiosity may affect higher education in sub-Saharan Africa. The panel focuses on Pentecostal and Salafi discourses and practices as these groups have recently gained a strong foothold in public universities across the continent. The objective is to understand the motivations of these actors and the influence they may have on the educational landscape. They are not only “reformers” within their respective religion, but also social leaders who try to shape students towards academic excellence, professional success, and religious practice. In other words, a sense of moral accountability and decolonization drives their social and political agendas. University campuses become a privileged ground for religious training and a competition arena between religious elites. How does this competition materialise on campus? What do religious leaders preach to students and how does their audience react? How do religious discourses affect the academia as a site of knowledge production? How do religious leaders, students and lecturers define the mission of institutions of higher education for their society? Taking into account the religious movements’ social and historical trajectories in their contexts, the panel interrogates the aspirations of an educated and religious youth as it envisions the future individually and collectively. The convenors welcome contributions that address these topics from different perspectives and disciplines.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -
 
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