Short Abstract

This panel focus on local ethical principals in West Africa and beyond, examining how they shape and are reflected in religion, norms, and social action. The panel welcomes theoretical and methodological reflections, particularly cross-disciplinary approaches, and case studies of local ethics.

Long Abstract

Following Mamadou Diawara’s formulation, inspired by Geertz, of “local knowledge,” which drew scholarly attention to specialized intellectual expertise and technical innovations previously attributed to colonial powers, this panel focuses on local ethical precepts. Ethical principles are too often subsumed under social organization or economic practice, although they are fundamental to local societies. This panel therefore places ethics and ethical models at the centre of analysis.

Ethics extends into the realm of religion, whether Indigenous, Islamic, Christian, or combining different traditions. How do local ethical principles shape religious experience, so that religious changes adopted by local populations may establish forms of ethical continuity? Robert Baum’s work illustrates this process, challenging the assumption that later-arriving world religions were attractive because they introduced comprehensive moral codes. Such codes could already inhere in local religions, as in Casamance.

Ethics stands astride religious and philosophical perspectives. In Muslim communities, Arabic texts may articulate ethical precepts, but written records are only one source among many. Ethics is also embodied in norms and rules enacted and articulated by local populations, while even non-verbalized precepts may be reflected in broadly shared social action. Combining different approaches may therefore best illuminate local norms.

Analysis may draw on Western intellectual traditions (e.g. Ricoeur, Schweitzer) or African-oriented philosophical traditions (Bashir Diagne, Mudimbe, Samaké). The panel welcomes theoretical and methodological reflections, particularly cross-disciplinary approaches, as well as case studies of local ethics from West Africa and beyond.

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