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

沉思和社会承诺。西非修道院，跨国网络和另类经济。对非洲基督教的人类学研究在很大程度上忽略了修道生活。拟议的项目希望提请注意这样一个事实，即修道院研究不仅可以揭示非洲基督教鲜为人知的方面，而且还可以对理解非洲社会变革进程和关于全球化的辩论作出重要贡献。研究项目的核心是一个悖论：沉思的秩序旨在逃避社会规范。然而，为了能够作为一个社区在物质上生存，他们成功地发展了其他经济形式，与他们的环境相互作用，建立跨国网络或融入其中。这种相互作用是研究项目的重点。在对三个西非国家不同修会进行分析的基础上，采用人类学研究的形式，对布基纳法索、加纳和塞内加尔这三个精确的局部地区的修道网络、修道经济和社会变迁进行研究。之所以选择这些国家，是因为它们有着广泛的宗教景观：不同形式的伊斯兰教，不同类型的福音化，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。这种对尼姑或僧侣以及他们所处的社会政治环境的跨国分析，将揭示人们对社会过程的见解，这些社会过程几乎没有被考虑过，比如经济活动的新形式。与将修道院视为传统约束现状机构的流行观点相反，该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认为是现代化的传播者和象征，比如学校或医疗设施。修道院还没有被认为是现代经济活动的场所，如果不是资本主义类型的经济活动的话。在这个项目中，西非的当代修道院作为基于宗教价值观的替代经济模式的测试场所进行了研究。修道院是否可以被解释为非洲社会可持续发展的先驱或模式，至少在社会的某些方面？这个问题概括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.