Project description
Revealing the ‘hidden histories’ of Saharan Christians
The EU-funded SAVIJU project will investigate the unexplored topic of Saharan Christians, in order to show the polysemy of contemporary religious dynamics in Sahara-Sahel through the unusual prism of oral poetry, the most prestigious nomadic art. Since Christian churches often use television, radio and the internet to disseminate messages and increase their congregation numbers, most research to date is focused on religious transformations and media. SAVIJU will review events from the perspective of the Christian Saharan populations persecuted in the 2012-2015 Mali conflict and fled to the capital cities of Niger and Mali. It will trace the 'hidden histories' of Saharan Christians, and test the hypothesis that conversions are a reaction to the jihadism to which local populations have been subjected.
Objective
xMy project aims to study the connections between Muslim-to-Christian religious conversions, the Saharan pastoral minorities (Tuareg, Berabish, Chaanba, Kunta) in Mali and in Niger and the post-conflict situation in Sahel through the unusual prism of oral poetry. The various Christian churches use television, radio, the mobile phone and the internet to spread their messages and thus increase their congregations. As a result, an impressive number of studies focuses on religious transformations and media, on the appropriation of technologies by religious groups or on popular arts and religions in Africa.3 But at present, qualitative research on the intersection of African Christianity and Saharan oral poetry, considered as the most relevant and prestigious nomadic art, is extremely limited. SAVIJU focuses on a cross-cutting object, Saharan Christian poetics, which presents the characteristic of not being traumatic, unlike the questions by which issues concerning Sahel are generally investigated (migration, humanitarian crises, jihadism etc.). SAVIJU aims at offering an alternative view of the recent conflict in Mali (2012-2015) by recounting events from the point of view of the Christian Tuareg persecuted populations, living as forced refugees in the capital cities of Niger and Mali. The challenge of this project is to write the “hidden histories” of Saharan Christians and to revise the common narrative of the Sahara as uniquely Islamic. The hypothesis that the project has set out to verify is that these conversions constitute a reaction to the jihadism to which the local populations have been subjected, not only because of the occupation of their lands and the forced application of Sharia law but also because of the effects it has had on every-day family-life.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- humanities arts
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering information engineering telecommunications mobile phones
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion religions christianity
- social sciences sociology demography human migrations
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.