List Editor: Jeremy Rich
Editor's Subject: CFP: AFRIQUE CONTEMPORAINE, Moral economy and transformations of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author's Subject: CFP: AFRIQUE CONTEMPORAINE, Moral economy and transformations of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
Date Written: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Date Posted: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:45:57 -0600
*CALL FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS*
*The quarterly journal AFRIQUE CONTEMPORAINE *
*Moral economy and transformations of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa*
Planned publication date: late Summer 2009
*The quarterly journal *Afrique contemporaine* is preparing a special
edition on current transformations of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. The
overarching idea of this edition will be to question how moral economy is
enabling and framing these changes.*
*Question the dynamics of current changes in Sub-Saharan Islam:*
At the present time, we are seeing profound transformations within the
Sub-Saharan Islamic world that are appearing in a multitude of different
ways: the arrival of new generations, the formation of new Islamic elites
(intellectuals and academics with a Western-style education, links between
territories), the positioning of elites and associations, in various forms,
with respect to social and political domains. These changes are operating at
both local and global levels: they work through networks that cover
interconnected territories and mobilise tools with extensive outreach
(media, Internet). As a result of these transformations actors (preachers,
pilgrims, etc.) and objects ("Islamic trinkets and books") are circulating
widely.
Recent publications from international research have reported on these
transformations and highlighted their global-local linkage. The original
approach of this issue will be to examine the dynamics of such
transformations, as these are all too rarely analysed by researchers and
experts of Sub-Saharan Islam.
What is making these changes in Islam possible? How are they being carried
out? *How*, or in other words *through what mechanisms*, is Sub-Saharan
Islam being reorganised?
Given the heightening economic and financial exchanges at play in this
changing Islamic landscape, we are proposing a specific entry point into the
subject: in what way do these economic and financial exchanges impact on
Islamic transformations in Sub-Saharan Africa, and, conversely, how are the
socio-technical networks of Islam structuring and channelling the financial
and economic flows? Yet the analysis of the economic and financial dynamics,
will not be the core issue of this edition. The approach to "the
transformations of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa" will instead be from the
angle of Islam's moral economy, through the actors' modes of economic
organisation (for example, levying and redistributing *zakat*, the networks
and links between merchants and actors of Islam), its social anchoring
(associations, movements, mosque management committees, women's
organisations), its access to public space (means of crossing from the
private to the public sphere, links and relations with the State).
What we are supposing in our approach is that the transformations in Islam
and its development are furthered by a moral economy (in the sense of a
moralisation of the economy). In the approach proposed, the moral economy
perspective in no way constitutes a fixation on financing, but rather a way
of understanding how radios, television programmes, preachers' travelling,
Arabic or Koranic lessons function and how all these activities are
financed. Now that the myth of Saudi generosity has been debunked, the
articles will look for answers in the social workings of this economy and
investigate how these activities, which are not specific to the religious
sphere, have become enabling economic drivers.
*An interdisciplinary approach, at different levels of analysis*
The analytical framework will be underpinned by three research principles:
(1) an interdisciplinary approach (2) that frames the present within
long-term trends (3) and traces the interconnections between global and
local dimensions.
The geographical scope should not present a constraint: geographical areas
of sub-Saharan Africa may be taken into account without necessarily covering
the whole territory. The studies, however, should be territorialized, in
that they must be based on original field data, which the author will try to
relate to territories that are more or less distantly linked up –
intra-state or cross-border linkages.
The author will place his/her analysis within the perspective of the
existing literature, avoid traditional stereotypes and rule out (1) the
"Islamic threat" (or at least put this into the perspective of more
structuring social movements), and (2) the idea of an "all-encompassing
brotherhood ".
*Submission of papers*
The papers for this special edition should contain between 25 000 and 40 000
characters (including spaces). They may be submitted in either French or
English and include copyright-free tables and maps. Please submit a summary
of at least 700 words outlining the proposed paper before the 10th of
January 2009. The articles and/or summaries may be sent electronically to
Leonardo Villalon (villalon@africa.ufl.edu), Jean-Louis Triaud (
jean-louis.triaud@orange.fr) and afrique-contemporaine@afd.fr, or by post to
: 5, rue Roland Barthes, 75012 Paris. We will send you a reply within 10
days. For any questions concerning this dossier, please contact the review's
editorial staff at: + 33 1 53 44 34 90.
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