Contemplation and social commitment. West African monasteries, transnational networks and alternative economies.

思考和社会承诺。西非修道院、跨国网络和替代经济：对非洲基督教进行的人类学研究在很大程度上忽视了修道院生活。拟议的项目希望提请注意这样一个事实，即修道院研究不仅有助于了解非洲基督教鲜为人知的方面，而且还可以为了解非洲社会的社会变革进程和关于全球化的辩论作出重要贡献。该研究项目的核心是一个悖论：该组织的目标是远离社会规范。然而，为了能够作为一个社区在物质上生存，他们成功地发展了替代经济形式，与他们的环境互动，建立跨国网络或融入其中。这种互动是研究项目的重点。在对三个西非国家不同宗教教派进行分析的基础上，对布基纳法索、加纳和塞内加尔这三个特定地区的寺院网络、寺院经济和社会变化进行了人类学研究。这些国家之所以被选中，是因为它们有着广泛的宗教景观：不同形式的伊斯兰教，不同类型的福传，不同形式的天主教传播，以及不同形式的社会多元化和国家宽容。这种对尼姑或僧侣及其活动的社会政治背景的跨国分析，将揭示人们对社会进程的见解，这些进程几乎没有被考虑过，比如新的经济活动形式。与人们普遍认为的寺院是受传统束缚的限制现状的机构相反，本项目将分析它们与现代社会的相互作用。非洲的基督教机构长期以来被视为现代化的传播者和象征，如学校或卫生设施。修道院还没有被认为是一个现代的地方，如果不是资本主义类型的经济活动。本项目将西非的当代修道院作为试验基于宗教价值观的替代经济模式的场所。修道院能否被解释为非洲社会，至少是部分社会可持续发展的先驱或典范？这个问题概括了这个项目想要追求的目标。

Contemplation and social commitment. West African monasteries, transnational networks and alternative economies.The anthropological research carried out on Christianity in Africa has largely neglected the monastic life. The proposed project would like to draw attention to the fact that monasterial research not only throws light on little known aspects of Christianity in Africa, it can also make an important contribution to the understanding of the processes of social change and debates on globalization in African societies. At the core of the research project is a paradox: The contemplative orders aim to live in retreat from the norms of society. However, in order to be able to survive materially as a community, they successfully develop alternative economic forms, interact with their environment, and build transnational networks or integrate into them. This interaction is the focus of the research project. Based on the analysis of different religious orders in three West-African countries, it takes the form of anthropological studies on monastic networks, the monastic economy and social change in precise localized areas: Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal. These states were selected because they have a broad spectrum of religious landscapes: different forms of Islam, different types of evangelization, a different spread of Catholicism and also different forms of social pluralism and state tolerance. This cross-country analysis of the nuns or monks and the social-political contexts in which they operate, will uncover insights into social processes that have been hardly considered, such as new forms of economic activity. Contrary to a popular belief, that looks upon monasteries as tradition-bound restraining status quo institutions, this project will analyze their interaction with the modern society. Christian institutions in Africa have long been considered as propagators and symbols of modernity, such as schools or health facilities. Monasteries were not yet considered as places of a modern, if not capitalist type of economic activity. Contemporary monasteries in West Africa are examined in this project as places of testing alternative patterns of economy based on religious values. Can monasteries be interpreted as pioneers or model for sustainable development in African societies, at least in parts of society? This question summarizes what this project wants to pursue.