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Religious Politics and Political Religion: Christian Nationalism in Contemporary Zambia

宗教政治与政治宗教：当代赞比亚的基督教民族主义

基本信息

批准号：
ES/N017412/1
负责人：
Naomi Haynes
金额：
$ 17.03万
依托单位：
University of Edinburgh
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2017 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FN017412%2F1
关键词：
Religious Politics Political Religion Christian

项目摘要

There can be no doubt that we live in a world where religion has taken on a great deal of political importance. The rise of Hindu nationalism in India, debates about the Christian character of the European Union, and the implementation of Sharia law in several Nigerian states all point to the fact that famous social scientific predictions that secularism would follow modernity have not come to pass. These examples, as well as numerous others from across the globe, raise some important questions: What are the political effects of religious nationalism? How do changes in the political status of a religion impact ritual life, belief, and practice? Is it possible for a religious state to protect the rights of all of its citizens, including those that fall outside the religious boundaries it creates? And, perhaps most fundamentally, what role should religion play in public life?This project explores these broad questions through a specific case study: Zambia, the only African country to make a state-sponsored declaration that it is a Christian nation. "The declaration," as it is often called, has recently become a source of concern for international bodies like the UN, as it raises questions about the rights of sexual and religious minorities. The declaration is also a source of debate among Zambian Christians. Although for some, especially Pentecostals, the declaration represents an agreement with God that protects Zambia, other Christians have argued that it hinders the church's capacity for political critique.Empirical data on these debates, including a careful examination of what it means for Zambians from different backgrounds to live in a self-proclaimed Christian nation, will provide a picture of the realities of religious nationalism in a different context to that which we are used to seeing, as academic discussions of this topic have typically focused on the Islamic world or the secular West. The Zambian case therefore provides a fresh perspective on established debates. This is important not only because it expands academic knowledge, but also because it provides the public with stronger evidence for decision-making about the future role of religion in public life. In Zambia, these decisions will be made through a referendum to approve a new constitution, and with it the declaration. The UK is also facing important decisions about the public role of religion, for instance in debates about assisted suicide. Research on the declaration therefore has implications for public debate both in Zambia and at home in the UK.In order to understand Christian nationalism in Zambia, this project employs a mixture of established ethnographic tools and innovative, community-based methodologies. Given the role of media in shaping the public's idea of the nation, I pay particular attention to the way that political actors, church leaders, and ordinary Zambians engage with newspapers, television, and radio, as well as new media like blogs and online news sites. I will explore these issues through focus group discussions of news broadcasts, as well as a series of call-in radio shows that will allow the Zambian public to drive the direction and content of my research. This project will also engage with the discussions of Christian nationalism emerging from the religious sphere through ethnographic research in two churches. Finally, data will be collected through interviews with Zambian citizens whose rights are most obviously threatened by the declaration, namely members of religious and sexual minority communities. Following initial fieldwork in Zambia, I will collaborate with scholars working in other post-colonial countries in which Christianity plays a prominent role in state politics to develop a comparative picture of Christian nationalism in the Global South. This project will pave the way for a larger comparative study of religion and political economy.

毫无疑问，我们生活在一个宗教在政治上具有重要意义的世界。印度印度教民族主义的兴起，关于欧盟基督教性质的争论，以及伊斯兰教法在尼日利亚几个州的实施，都表明了一个事实，即著名的社会科学预言——世俗主义将跟随现代性而来——并没有实现。这些例子，以及来自世界各地的许多其他例子，提出了一些重要的问题：宗教民族主义的政治影响是什么？宗教政治地位的变化如何影响仪式生活、信仰和实践？一个宗教国家是否有可能保护所有公民的权利，包括那些不属于其宗教界限的公民的权利？也许最根本的问题是，宗教在公共生活中应该扮演什么角色？本项目通过一个具体的案例研究来探讨这些广泛的问题：赞比亚是唯一一个由国家赞助宣布其为基督教国家的非洲国家。人们常说的“宣言”最近引起了联合国等国际机构的关注，因为它提出了有关性少数群体和宗教少数群体权利的问题。这份宣言也引发了赞比亚基督徒之间的争论。尽管对一些人，尤其是五旬节派教徒来说，这份宣言代表着与上帝达成的协议，上帝保护了赞比亚，但其他基督徒认为，这份宣言阻碍了教会进行政治批评的能力。这些辩论的经验数据，包括对来自不同背景的赞比亚人生活在一个自称为基督教的国家意味着什么的仔细审查，将提供一幅不同背景下的宗教民族主义现实的图景，因为这一主题的学术讨论通常集中在伊斯兰世界或世俗的西方。因此，赞比亚的案例为既定的辩论提供了一个新的视角。这一点很重要，不仅因为它扩展了学术知识，还因为它为公众就宗教在公共生活中的未来角色做出决策提供了更有力的证据。在赞比亚，这些决定将通过全民公决来批准新宪法，并随之宣布。英国也面临着关于宗教的公共角色的重要决定，例如在关于协助自杀的辩论中。因此，对该宣言的研究对赞比亚和英国国内的公共辩论都有影响。为了了解赞比亚的基督教民族主义，该项目采用了既有民族志工具和创新的基于社区的方法。鉴于媒体在塑造公众对国家的看法中所扮演的角色，我特别关注政治人物、教会领袖和普通赞比亚人与报纸、电视、广播以及博客和在线新闻网站等新媒体的互动方式。我将通过新闻广播的焦点小组讨论，以及一系列电台访谈节目来探讨这些问题，这些节目将允许赞比亚公众推动我研究的方向和内容。该项目还将通过两个教堂的民族志研究，参与对宗教领域中出现的基督教民族主义的讨论。最后，将通过采访权利最明显受到宣言威胁的赞比亚公民，即宗教和性少数群体的成员来收集数据。在赞比亚进行最初的实地考察之后，我将与在其他后殖民国家工作的学者合作，在这些国家中，基督教在国家政治中发挥着重要作用，以形成全球南方基督教民族主义的比较图景。这个项目将为更广泛的宗教和政治经济的比较研究铺平道路。