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

沉思和社会承诺。西非修道院、跨国网络和替代经济。对非洲基督教的人类学研究在很大程度上忽视了修道院的生活。拟议的项目希望提请注意这样一个事实，即修道院研究不仅揭示了基督教在非洲鲜为人知的方面，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。这项研究项目的核心是一个悖论：沉思秩序的目标是生活在远离社会规范的环境中。然而，为了能够作为一个共同体在物质上生存，他们成功地发展了替代经济形式，与他们的环境互动，并建立或融入了跨国网络。这种相互作用是研究项目的重点。在分析三个西非国家不同宗教秩序的基础上，采用人类学的形式对僧侣网络、僧侣经济和社会变化进行研究，这些地区包括布基纳法索、加纳和塞内加尔。这些州之所以被选中，是因为它们拥有广泛的宗教景观：不同形式的伊斯兰教、不同类型的福音派、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所处的社会政治背景的跨国分析，将揭示对几乎没有考虑过的社会过程的洞察，例如新形式的经济活动。与普遍认为寺庙是受传统约束的现状机构相反，这个项目将分析它们与现代社会的互动。长期以来，非洲的基督教机构一直被视为现代性的宣传者和象征，如学校或卫生设施。修道院还没有被认为是现代的，如果不是资本主义类型的经济活动的地方。本项目考察了西非的当代修道院，将其作为测试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可持续发展的先驱或典范，至少在社会的某些部分如此？这个问题总结了这个项目想要追求的东西。

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.