Religion and private sphere: religious dynamics, everydays experiences and the individual in West Africa. – Priverel

The work will focus on long field and immersion (participant observation, interviews,...), that allows to anderstand the believers their daily life and share their intimacy: this meticulous Ethnography will make possible the observation of variation in behaviour between public and private, between discourses and practices, and will shows the real meaning that individuals give their spiritual practices. Each membres of this program, knows his field of study. They will activate there own relational networks to carry out this work.

In each of these countries, four themes will be privileged: the place of these religious activisms in the domestic sphere (normalization of the family life, conflicts related to the conversion); the religion as (economic, sanitary) resource in front in a context of socio-economic crisis; the religion as object of valorization of the “social juniors” (young people, women); the religion as a way of finding pragmatic salute (logics of religious transhumances/accumulations). The expected results will concern the economic, legal, identical and pragmatic religious dimensions.

This program will show how religion becomes a guarantee of social, medical and economic security in crisis context; but also a possible way of social benefit, injecting in the everyday life and the identity of the new adepts a new socio-political ideal. Beyond the three countries and the religious divisions, this study will consider the militant dimensions common to the different religions. It will address the frequent request of actors of the civil/political society (NGO, embassies, development programs) to have a more precise idea on the growing importance of the religious facts in today African cultures.

- Scientific seminar of starting up of January 5th, 2012
- Creation of the web site
- Publications:
BA Mame-Penda, 2012, “La diversité du fondamentalisme sénégalais. Elements pour une sociologie de la connaissance.”, Cahiers d’études africaines, n° 206-207: 575-602.
. Brégand, Denise, “Circulation dans les “communautés” musulmanes plurielles du Bénin. Catégorisations, auto-identifications.”, Cahiers d’études africaines, n° 206-207: 471-492.
. Languewiesche, Katrin, ” Émancipation et obéissance: Religieuses catholiques au Burkina Faso durant un siècle.” Autrepart, n°61 (1) : 117-136.
. Samson, Fabienne, 2012, (dir.) L’Islam au delà des catégories, Cahiers d’études africaines , n° 206-207
. SAMSON Fabienne, 2012, « Introduction : La question des classifications en islam », in « L’islam, au-delà des catégories », numéro spécial n°206-207 Les Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines.
. Saint-Lary, Maud, 2012, “Du wahhabisme aux réformismes génériques. Renouveau islamique et brouillage des identités à Ouagadougou.”, Cahiers d’études africaines , n° 206-207: 449-470
. Saint-Lary, Maud, 2012, “Quand le droit des femmes se dit à la mosquée. Les voies islamiques d’émancipation au Burkina Faso”, Autrepart n°61 (1) : 137-155.
. Vitale, Mara, 2012, “Trajectoires d’évolution de l’islam au Burkina Faso”, Cahiers d’études africaines , n° 206-207:367-388

Carried by the Center of African Studies to Paris (CEAF-IRD/EHESS) in association with the university of Gaston Berger of Saint Louis (Senegal), the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and the University of Abomey-Calavi of Cotonou (Benin), Priverel program will constitute a new team of 18 European, American and African researchers, stemming from six different disciplines (anthropology, sociology, history, science politics, demography and economy). Its objective, using quantitative as well as qualitative approaches, will respond to a central question: what are the norms promoted by the religious actors (Christians and Muslims) on the believers, in three West-African countries (Senegal, Burkina Faso and Benin). To consider so the private/intimate religious practices of the individuals will help to understand the real or fictitious impact of the religion in the public sphere.
In Africa as elsewhere since twenty years, the religious activisms know an increasing importance: followers and leaders use the public sphere to diffuse norms, to correct practices and to inculcate moral values, in order to reactivate the believers’ faith, to transform their vision of the world and to impulse new forms of solidarity. Our time is one of religious reform, of re-enchantment of societies, and these dynamics create a fragmentation of the authorities, an intensification of the religious competitions and a greater empowerment of the believers. It becomes necessary to understand the impact which these forms of religious activisms have on the social worlds and to try to estimate the interiorization of new religious norms by the believers in their individual and family practices and in their confessional lives. It is what Priverel will do: it will question these dynamics on the side of their reception.
The innovative character of this program is to study the efficiency and the penetration of norms in the everyday life of the believers. It is actually the only tools that we can use to understand the logics of reappropriation/diversion of the messages produced in the public sphere. This analytical sliding of the public towards the private dimension will be discussed in three West-African countries where Catholic, Protestant and Muslim religions are represented in different proportions. This triple comparison will reveal the complexity of the religious dynamics in a changing Africa. In each of these countries, four themes will be privileged: the place of these religious activisms in the domestic sphere (normalization of the family life, conflicts related to the conversion); the religion as (economic, sanitary) resource in front in a context of socio-economic crisis; the religion as object of valorization of the “social juniors” (young people, women); the religion as a way of finding pragmatic salute (logics of religious transhumances/accumulations). The expected results will concern the economic, legal, identical and pragmatic religious dimensions, showing how religion becomes a guarantee of social, medical and economic security in crisis context; but also a possible way of social benefit, injecting in the everyday life and the identity of the new adepts a new socio-political ideal. Beyond the three countries and the religious divisions, this study will consider the militant dimensions common to the different religions. It will address the frequent request of actors of the civil/political society (NGO, embassies, development programs) to have a more precise idea on the growing importance of the religious facts in today African cultures.