Multipolar religious production: old and new trends

CALL FOR PAPERS

ECAS 2013 – 5th European Conference on African Studies June 27-29 Lisbon

Panel 171: Multipolar religious production: old and new trends
The age of European imperial rule in Africa brought forth an accrued complexity in the cultural and historical roles played by religion, as the impact of colonialism on African societies and the effects of counter-hegemonic struggles also carved out the post-colonial landscape of African religions. On the other hand, the religious circulation between Africa and other continents has a long history with new trends in the current era. The transatlantic slave trade and European colonial rule resulted in the travelling of religious ideas, practices and symbols from and to Africa. Taking this complex narrative into account, our panel intends to discuss and compare historical and contemporary forms of religious production within African societies as well as the circulation of religions to and from Africa, looking at how they are distributed and made sense of. We aim to address some of the following issues:
– Colonial policies towards religions and their effects in post-colonial settings.
– Strategies of integration/transformation/survival of local and traditional religions in new African cultural and political contexts. – New forms of south-south and north-south religious circulation.
– Processes of religious globalization in Africa; African religious transnationalism, understood in its plurality and complex inscription in global networks; local impacts of global religions; ethnic and other factors that weighed on the transnational diffusion of religious customs and ideas.

Convenors
Linda van de Kamp (Tilburg University)
Clara Mafra (State University of Rio de Janeiro)
Marina Pignatelli (Technical University of Lisbon – Political and Social Sciences Institute)
Mário Machaqueiro (CRIA/FCSH-UNL)
http://www.nomadit.co.uk/ecas/ecas2013/panels.php5?PanelID=2334