CALL FOR PAPERS
JOURNAL DES ANTHROPOLOGUES
Subjects and objects of religion in a global world
Annie Benveniste, Nicole Khouri, Yves Lacascade, Monique Selim
Since the late1980’s,many formsof"religiosity"have beenexpressed in the public space, in contrast withold recurringdebates focusing on the relationshipsbetween religionand politics(state, institutions), betweenreligion andsociety or between religionand its ownreligious contents. Thesenew forms of religiositydo not concern the threemonotheistreligionsonlybut all other systems of faith.Paradoxically,in some cases,the increasingsecularization ofpoliticsand societieswas accompanied bya significantpresence of menand especiallywomen in communitiesof faith,freed from traditionalforms of religious authority,Politics and religion no longercoexist anywhere and get separated.
Furthermore, we observe a permanent globalization movement of salvationproducts builton their deculturalization.It does not concern onlythose belonging to theafterlife world but also to the actual world: body and spirit discipline, techniques of spiritualities for a globalized market, moralization ofbehaviors and practices, promises of rebirth and rediscovery of meaning, links withthe ecological apocalypseand salvation, new forms of pilgrimages and "religious" meetings, travels of gurus and televangelists, halal,kosherandhealthyfood market…
The conjunction of thesetwo phenomena gives rise to newforms of religiosity.Neo-fundamentalismswould be their mostfrequent and coherent expressions, but notthe only ones.
Most of the time,theseformsofreligiositypresent inallcontemporarysocietieshave been analyzedeitherintermsofdisplacementofsocio-economicand political problemsconnectedtothecrisis(oftheState,ofnationalinstitutions,of economy)towardsareligiousexpressionoftheactors,orintermsofconstruction of their identity bytheactors themselves,because they give them meaning and even dignityand emancipation(especially to women)inacontextofglobalization,failingstatesandcrisis.Thissecondtypeofinterpretationshadto fight against aculturalistand communitarian prejudice,conveyedbysocial sciencesbecause of their relation totheparticular historyoftheconstructionofNation States,republicsandtheirlinkswiththeideologyof“secularity”.
The actors,theirreligiosityandtheideologyof“secularity”
How can weget rid of thecultural biasaffecting social sciences,political decisionsandthe mediaand free the actors from their interiorized self-fulfillingprophecy? We will choose contributionswhere theactorsare analyzed through the linkbetween their religiouschoicesand thedemocraticstandard:
- the actors,theircapacityofreflexivitydisconnected from a spontaneouslink withatransmittedreligiousculture;theirtrajectories,theirwayof livingtheirfaith,of rediscoveringit,of expandingitandof appropriatingitor,on the contrary,of separating from it;theways ofrationalizationtheydefendandtheirways to escape apossibleghetto should be linked with
- therevisitedrelations betweenthefreedomofreligious beliefsandthenorm ofa“democratic”expressionofthecitizens.
In some societies,aconception of secularitythat encloses religionin the private sphereignoresthe newlogicalchoices of religiosities, and plays a great part in the development of aphobicand exclusiveline,which losessight of the complexity ofbelievers’ choices,attitudes andpracticestoday.
Men’s and women’s “radicalization” here and elsewhere?
Sincethemiddleofthe1980’s, and sometimes evenearlier, researchers(sociologists,anthropologists andpolitical scientists) have been engaged with such topics as "suburbs",newreligious affiliations, unemployment,the riseof extreme rightgroups and fronts, urban policies andmunicipal institutions...and the links between these topics.
- From1985to2015, whatis recurrent? Andwhat is new? Where are researchesrealized from? Only from "the West"which considersSeptember 11th2001 as a rupture or from everywhere else as well?
Following theUnited States,Europegaveagreatimportancetotheunderstanding andtheanalysisofthedramatic change fromaMuslim religiosity,consideredasliteral and communitybased (Tablighis,Salafists),towards a radical,offensiveandglobalaffiliation,justifyingthespectacular actionsofa handful ofJihadiststo the detriment ofEuropean Muslim populations. This turnaroundled tosecurity policiesreinforcing theexistentialsecurityofthe citizenswhich were applied inafully amnesicway,taking no interestineventsandanalysesofsimilarfactswhichhad already affected allthecentral or peripheralMuslim majoritiessocieties.
- Whatlinks canbe established betweenteenagersbornin European societies, probably in search ofsocializationand meaning,havingexperienceddelinquenttransgression orprison andtheir currentattraction toso-calledradical groups,different fromthose of the previous phase, as they arenowembodiedinthe orderof apseudo"Islamic" State established on a territory, exploiting resources, building ministries, an army, laws, ruling indigenous populations who were involved in the conflicts that had bloodstained the middle east societies from the mid of 1975?
- Where andhow does the"radicalization"of actors(mosques,charismaticmediators, prisons, web, networks) occur? How to analyze trajectories of European jihadists, coming back fromDaech? What about monitoring devices and reintegration programs? What does the comparative of analyses of different jihadists coming from Western or Eastern Europe, from Middle-East or Asia bring in terms of social, professional belongings and of religious offer?
- Whatplace should we giveto women radical vocations, those of Salafist, Ultra-orthodox Jewish, fundamentalist Hindu or, among others, evangelist women?
Contributionsrelatedtothe different pointssuggestedinthiscallareexpected. They should deal withcurrent religiosities and allow forIslamto be taken out of itsreifying exclusivenessso as to feedan anthropological perspectiveonthe present global world.A world where religious identityhasbecomeacapitalist good, among other ones; a good that can be picked up indigitalsupermarketsof ideal products, andeasily replaced as often as it is considered worn-out, subjectivelyhelplessorobjectivelyinoperative.
Abstracts (between 1000 and 1500 words) should be sentby mail before September1st2015, (with a copy to the Journal des anthropologues editorial staff: )to the following coordinators :
Benveniste Annie:
Lacascade Yves :
Khouri Nicole :
SelimMonique :
The full articles, if accepted, (40000 typed characters including spaces) are awaitedbefore February 1st 2016.
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