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- Convenors:
-
Asaf Augusto
(Bayreuth University)
Eva Spies (University of Bayreuth)
Send message to Convenors
- Chair:
-
Fungai Chirongoma
(Stellenbosch University)
- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Perspectives on current crises
- Transfers:
- Open for transfers
- Location:
- S59 (RW I)
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 1 October, -, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
The panel invites papers addressing the role of religious actors in the production of a crisis: Who detects and defines it how? Which coping strategies are suggested? Which boundaries to non-religious fields and -responsibilities are drawn and which conceptions of time and change are implied?
Long Abstract:
Religious actors play a key role not only in reacting to a perceived crisis but also in the process of defining or detecting a crisis. No matter whether a time or situation is perceived as spiritual, moral, political or natural crisis or who is made responsible for causing it, a crisis is often understood as a sign of transition. Recognising and overcoming it is considered a necessary condition for “change”.
However, the definitions are far from being unambiguous even within a religious tradition: where some saw violence and the system of apartheid as an expression of crisis, others supported it and saw no need for a change of the status quo. These ambivalences can be found in other domains, e.g. with regard to climate, epidemics or economic downturn.
By studying religious actors’ definitions and attitudes towards crises and change we can better understand the differentiations they make between religion and non-religion, as well as their diverse understandings of responsibility and time: What caused the crises? To what kind of change does the crisis point to, and who is able and responsible to manage it?
The panel invites case studies or conceptual papers addressing questions like these: Which crises are detected? How is a crisis defined? Which measures are suggested to deal with it and to what end? We are especially interested in divergent definitions of crises, in the boundaries drawn to non-religious fields and -responsibilities and the differing conceptions of time and change implied in the production of a crisis.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 1 October, 2024, -Fungai Chirongoma (Stellenbosch University)
Paper short abstract:
There is need to recognize religious actors as key partners in addressing social challenges. In a society where religion determines gender power relations, religious actors play a key role in challenging violence against women.
Paper long abstract:
In 2014, the country was named the world rape capital because of the intensity of violence. Several legal reforms have been put in place to address such violence, which include the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 and the establishment of Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences investigations units across all South African Police Services stations. It appears these laws and policies have not been an effective strategy to address violence against women. Despite the longstanding tendency in the social sciences to overlook the role of religion or religious actors in the realm of social service provision, faith-based organizations have proven to be key religious actors in addressing the challenge of violence against women in Cape Town. Although research on the work of FBOs and violence against women mitigation is still in its infancy, these organizations have proven to be essential partners in responding to the challenge of violence against women through advocacy and campaigns, offering training to religious leaders and providing shelter to survivors of violence against women. It is significant to appreciate that in a society such as South Africa where religion determines gender power relations, laws and policies alone are not an effective strategy to curb violence against women. There is need to appreciate the role of religious actors in addressing social problems such as violence against women. The work of FBOs in addressing violence against women reflects the continued presence of religion in the public square and its continued role in addressing social problems.
Joram Tarusarira (University of Groningen)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will show how religion plays a crucial role in interpreting, defining, and shaping responses to climate crises among the Makhuwa people in northern Mozambique despite being marginalized by technoscientific approaches.
Paper long abstract:
Religion plays a crucial role in defining and framing climate crises among the Makhuwa people in northern Mozambique. However, interpretations and responses to the climate crises predominantly take biospheric, environmental, and vulnerability approaches, which lend themselves to macro and institutional approaches to climate action. These approaches marginalize religion because it cannot be objectively observed, validated, and measured. The paper is based on participatory methodologies and ethnographic research in Nampula province in northern Mozambique. It will show how indigenous religion, Christianity, and Islam play a crucial role in interpreting, defining, and shaping responses to the impacts of climate change. It will critique the dominance of technological innovations not because it finds the science behind them wrong or unnecessary but because there is more to the story than the technoscience conveys. Furthermore, it will argue that religion provides meaning to climate crises and influences the everyday practices that affect people's vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
Justice Arthur (Pentecost University)
Paper short abstract:
Illegal small-scale gold mining, known as Galamsey, is causing severe environmental damage and impacting communities in Ghana. Religious actors have been leading the fight against this menace. This paper explores how they define the crisis, their attitudes, and perspectives on how to address it.
Paper long abstract:
The concept of ‘crisis’ is a useful framework for understanding contemporary social changes, especially those related to climate and environmental issues. In Ghana, the problem of illegal small-scale gold mining, popularly known as galamsey, has become a significant crisis that has captured the attention of the media since 2017. This activity has led to severe environmental damage and has had a detrimental impact on the local communities. The gravity of this situation is such that the country may have to resort to importing water in the near future due to the contamination of many of its water sources with mercury. Additionally, galamsey has disrupted agricultural productivity, increased the spread of diseases, and resulted in a loss of revenue for the state. Despite the Ghanaian government’s efforts, including the establishment of designated courts, deployment of an anti-galamsey task force, and incentives for small-scale miners, the crisis remains unresolved. Religious institutions, including historic Protestant mission churches, Pentecostal-Charismatic churches, and their ecumenical organisations, have emerged as critical players in the fight against this crisis. They collaborated with a coalition of media houses and personalities to lead a popular advocacy campaign, #StopGalamsey, from 2017 to 2019. The campaign highlighted how religious actors create awareness, mobilise public opinion, and advocate policy changes to address the crisis. Based on data from fieldwork, this study delves into the ways in which these religious actors have defined the galamsey crisis, their attitudes towards it, and their perspectives on how to tackle the environmental crisis.
Kefas Lamak (University of Iowa)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the religious responses of many Nigerians to the recent global pandemic, COVID-19, and its implications on the citizens. The researcher argues that from 2019 until the post-Covid-19 period, many Nigerians prioritized religious interpretation and solution to COVID- over scientific
Paper long abstract:
Nigeria today is recognized as one of the most religious sensitive countries in the world and on the top list of Africa. Religion for Muslims and Christians is considered sacrosanct and imperative of all social institutions among ethnicity, culture, and identity.
Even with the presence of Western medicines all across Nigeria, many citizens of the country still look up to religion, faith, and spirituality first in terms of health and diseases. This is evident in the recent international pandemics that the world experienced, such as Ebola, Flu, and Covid-19. For example, in 2019, while the West and China locked down their countries and went in search of scientific solutions to COVID-19, many Nigerian people, Muslims, Christians, and African Indigenous Religious practitioners went in search of the religious reasons/interpretations for the pandemic and spiritual solutions to the same. As a result of that, many extremists came up with conspiracy theories of either denying that COVID-19 is real or that it is a divine punishment to the world. The conspiracy theories of Covid-19 in Nigeria, people's response to the global pandemic, and its implications prompted this paper. While addressing this crisis, the researcher raises questions about the response of Nigerians to themes on health and diseases in general, but the recent COVID-19 in particular. What are the implications of such responses to the general citizenry of the country?
I look forward to presenting my findings at VAD 2024
Elias Banesé Betaré (Université du Quebec à Montréal)
Paper short abstract:
I'm assessing the missionaries' contribution to the emancipation of the slaves in a colonial context marked by paradoxes and tensions. The traditional chiefs saw missionnaries as a threat to their interests. Thus, hundreds of slaves were freed, but survived under the weight of the stigma.
Paper long abstract:
Résumé
Ce travail questionne la contribution de l’église au processus d’affranchissement des esclaves à Ngaoundéré, capitale de l’Adamaoua-Cameroun. Avant de devenir un pôle administratif d’envergure, cette ville a été un centre de traite des captifs de razzias en menées aux frontières sud de l’empire Sokoto. Cependant, au début du XXe siècle, la traite représentait un trouble fait pour l’ordre colonial qui s’imposait. Les Européens avaient interdit les raids et trafics des esclaves. Afin d’apaiser les maîtres d’esclaves, les Allemands ont interdit présence missionnaire dans la région. Toutefois, ce deal est rompu quand, en 1916 la France évince l’Allemagne du Cameroun après la Grande Guerre et autorise les églises à s’installer pendant la décennie 1920. Seulement, l’activisme des missionnaires est perçu par la chefferie peule comme une ingérence dans les affaires politiques locales. Il s’est ainsi développé une crise entre l’église et la chefferie musulmane soutenue par l’administration coloniale. En croisant les archives missionnaires et coloniales je démontre que malgré la libération des esclaves par l’église, ceux-ci demeurent prisonniers du montage mental issu du passé servile encore vivace dans les mœurs locales.
Mots-clés : Église, chefferie, Islam, identité, esclavage, abolition, Ngaoundéré-Cameroun.
Vincent Favier (Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient)
Paper short abstract:
In Niger, the higher education system is going through a number of crises, not only financially but also regarding its academic model. New religious actors on campus try to overcome these crises and achieve political reform by shaping students towards a new social model informed by moral principles.
Paper long abstract:
Between the insecurity in the Sahel region, the chronic political instability, poverty and food insufficiency, the Nigeriens seem to live in a state of permanent crisis. When it comes to identifying its causes, Niger's education system is often singled out for its lack of resources and its economic or cultural inadequacy in relation to the needs of society. The emergence of jihadist movements throughout the Sahel (especially Boko Haram), is no stranger to this educational crisis. Beyond their violent rejection of the dominant and secular educational model inherited from the colonial era, other actors, notably religious ones, rather try to reshape this model. Moreover, the Structural Adjustment Programs imposed in the 1980s sacrificed higher education in favour of mass schooling. Despite its structural problems and its failure to bring about development and prosperity, the Université Abdou Moumouni (UAM) of Niamey remains a crucial institution in the production of future elites. Since the 1990s, religious discourses have supplanted Marxist and secular ideologies on West African campuses. New actors in academia seek to solve the university crisis by shaping students towards a new social model. Who are these actors on the UAM's campus? What are their strategies and discourses to cope with educational crises and to achieve reform? This paper will present a few ethnographic vignettes and show how Muslims, Christians and unionists on campus respond to the current crisis in higher as they seek to reform political practice towards good governance and to impact the Nigerien society positively.
Moussa Ibrahim (Université André Salifou) Bello Adamou Mahamadou (Zentrum Moderner Orient)
Paper long abstract:
Since July 26, 2023, Niger has been facing a politico-military crisis that has upset the constitutional order. In a quest for popular legitimacy, the military in power denounces the military agreements that bind Niger to France, the former colonial power. At the same time, they called on the population to make a patriotic "surge" to achieve the "total independence" of the country. This context has led to the mobilization of religious leaders (Salafists, Pentecostals and followers of local religions) who are trying to play their part through various actions. The interventions of minorities, especially the followers of local religions, have provoked the reaction of the Muslim faithful who take a dim view of the "awakening" of these minorities who are trying to assert themselves in a predominantly Muslim field. This paper examines, on the one hand, the perceptions of the crisis that the country is going through by these three religious actors and, on the other hand, their plans to support the military in power. Based on an analysis of primary and secondary data, it aims to account for the role of religious actors in crisis contexts. In this way, it attempts to answer the following questions: How do these three groups of actors interact in the "accompaniment" of the military in power? Doesn't the intervention of these actors reflect a desire for change in the place of religion in the state? How does the military deal with the involvement of these actors?
Adeyemi Balogun
Paper short abstract:
The Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria received a strong reaction from the Christian religious actors which caused a change in the dynamics of the election.
Paper long abstract:
At the presidential elections held in Nigeria in 2023, the ruling party presented a presidential and vice-presidential candidate who were both Muslims. Across the nation, this led to widespread dissatisfaction among Christians. Though it was a decision driven by political exigencies, the Christian religious leaders vehemently opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket. In a country that is still dealing with Boko Haram violence, the outcry against a Muslim-Muslim ticket increased the age-old fear of Islamization and the extermination of Christianity. In this paper, I argue that the reaction of the religious actors towards the Muslim-Muslim ticket changed the outcome of the election by exposing the religious fault lines of Nigerians. Although the Muslim-Muslim ticket prevailed in the election, the dissatisfaction against the ticket caused a monumental upset in places where ethnic ties have hitherto triumphed. Furthermore, I argue that religious actors were able to influence the outcome of the election not only through their rhetoric but also due to the support they received from political elites who utilized religion as a tool to mobilize supporters.
Tolulope Akinseye (University of Ibadan ,Nigeria Hamburg Universitat, Germany)
Paper short abstract:
This study investigates how Christian leaders play a crucial role in shaping attitudes and responses to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), aiming to provide a deeper understanding and develop nuanced prevention, as well as intervention strategies within Nigerian Christian communities.
Paper long abstract:
The pervasive nature of domestic crises, particularly Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), in Nigeria underscores the detrimental impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Despite efforts to address these issues, there remains a significant gap in understanding how Christian leaders, as key social actors, play a crucial role in shaping attitudes and responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) within the context of Christian teachings and societal values. Existing literature highlights the prevalence of domestic violence in Nigeria, often perpetrated by males as a means of asserting power and affirming masculinity. However, the role of Christian leaders, Christian teachings and religious ideologies in challenging violent behaviors, especially IPV remains understudied. Drawing from Critical Discourse Theory, this study seeks to explore how Christian leaders influence attitudes and responses to intimate partner violence within the framework of Christian teachings and societal values.
Additionally, it aims to investigate the role of Christian teachings and religious ideologies in challenging domestic violence in Nigeria, particularly within the context of IPV. By analyzing the discourses of selected Christian leaders, this study uncovers the ideological stances underpinning their responses to IPV. The data for this study comprise sermons, speeches, and writings of Christian leaders, selected based on their thematic relevance to domestic crises and IPV. In revealing the ideological factors shaping their perspective on IPV, the study aims to guide the development of more nuanced strategies for IPV prevention and intervention within Christian communities in Nigeria.
Molatokunbo Olutayo (University of Ibadan)
Paper long abstract:
The fact that religious violence have been on the increase in Nigeria especially in the Northern states where Christians are a minority, binary tension seems to exist due to the struggle for economic, political and social spaces which has religious undertone. There are also disparities in teachings of these religions especially Pentecostal churches which follow to a large extent a method of indoctrination that stimulates zeal to the degree that lives and sustainability are not as secondary and these have negative effect on our national stability. Gender based violence that are related to religion have been well researched on, though few works have been done on Pentecostalism and how doctrines have inherently stimulated violence. In this decade, there have been four or five major specific religious conflicts, the most recent is the case of Deborah Yakubu a second year student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, who on Thursday May 15, 2022, was repeatedly stricken with stones and clubs before setting her lifeless body ablaze by her colleagues. Using the historical cum systemic review method, the study highlighted how religious entanglement and the appendant religious conflict resulted to violence and interrogated how teachings of Islam and Christian religions incite religious conflict, as well as women more often than men are likely to be on the receiving end of such violence. The female gender are the most affected in this form of violence