HomeReligious Conversions. Believing and Doing on the Move in the Mediterranean Area

Religious Conversions. Believing and Doing on the Move in the Mediterranean Area

Conversions religieuses. Croire et faire en mouvement dans l’espace méditerranéen

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Published on Friday, May 31, 2024

Abstract

This issue looks at religion in terms of its ability to mobilise institutions, groups and individuals around plural dynamics that contribute to the redefinition of the religious field itself. It looks at religious conversion through the prism of multidirectional and communicating trajectories, ’bifurcations’ in which movements of diversions, decentering and return to the self come together. Religious conversion is understood here beyond the dualistic categorisation of rupture and continuity. This leads us to think of it not simply as an opaque process of religious disaffiliation and affiliation, but as a movement from self to self, involving a constant tension of negotiation between reconfiguration of the ways in which people believe and do religion, and the significance of the identities and sensibilities of individuals in a given social environment.

Announcement

Argument

Religious conversion is a complex, polysemous and polymorphous phenomenon that highlights the issue of religious and social mobility over time. At the junction of an individual process and a collective phenomenon, it constitutes a cross-disciplinary research subject that sheds light on the dynamics and modalities of belonging, religious ’bricolage’ and the issues involved in its spatial articulation (Hervieu- Léger, 1999). Depending on how you look at it, religious conversion can be seen as an ’entry’ or an ’exit’ that translates the movement from a ’before’ to an ’after’. How can we express the intensity of these ’passages’ ? Is it a clear-cut, all-encompassing break, a gradual, adapted mutation, or a fragmented, blurred recomposition of religious belief and practice ?

This issue looks at religion in terms of its ability to mobilise institutions, groups and individuals around plural dynamics that contribute to the redefinition of the religious field itself (Dirèche, 2011). It looks at religious conversion through the prism of multidirectional and communicating trajectories, ’bifurcations’ (Le Pape, 2009) in which movements of diversions, decentering and return to the self come together. Religious conversion is understood here beyond the dualistic categorisation of rupture and continuity. This leads us to think of it not simply as an opaque process of religious disaffiliation and affiliation, but as a movement from self to self, involving a constant tension of negotiation between reconfiguration of the ways in which people believe and do religion, and the significance of the identities and sensibilities of individuals in a given social environment. Moreover, conversion goes beyond religious (dis)affiliation and may consist in ’flirting’ with a new frame of reference, group and/or discursive tradition (Asad, 2017 [1986]). Sometimes conversion means (re)discovering an ’inherited’ and/or fantasized tradition. It can also involve redefining an (a)religious vision of the world without adhering to a prescribed praxis. Conversely, it can involve redefining practices while extricating oneself from a religious vision of the world inspired by dogmas.

State religion versus secularism, forms of secularisation or the return of religion, religious policy in contemporary societies raises questions about the interactions between the legal framework, the institutionalization of religion and the players in the social field (Sbaï, 2019). How do the process of conversion and the assignment of ’convert’ fit together when religion is associated with a minority or majority group in a given area : an expression of protest or marginalisation, a lever for social integration or ascendancy ? It is around the tension between the ’visibility’ and ’invisibility’ of conversion that our discussion is based. While conversion can be thought of as a process that lies within the individual’s inner self, faith and belief, making it (in)visible responds to collective and social considerations that blur the boundary between public and private dimensions (Boissevain, 2014).

Paying particular attention to spatialities, this dossier aims to contribute to research on past and present religious conversions - without temporal restrictions - in the Mediterranean space by proposing a cross-study (Despotis, Löhr, 2022 ; Norton, 2019 ; Boissevain &Le Pape, 2014 ; Marzouki, Roy, 2013 ; Garcia-Arenal, 2001 ; Guiral-Hadziiossif, 2000). Looking at religious conversions over a long period of time and in a variety of areas is intended to help us better understand the complexity of the phenomena of the return to religion and the departure from it. With this in mind, this dossier takes a broad view of religion, encompassing ’entries’ and ’exits’ from monotheisms, minority or marginal religions, rites and denominations, as well as forms of agnosticism and atheism, i.e. religious exits.

The diachronic approach aims to bring together historical, sociological, anthropological and legal research through the use of new archives, observations from unpublished field surveys and legal material on religious conversions in these areas. This ambition does not, however, ignore the constraints that may arise from conducting fieldwork and accessing archives, but proposes to include them as an element of reflection in this issue. Whether in the Maghreb, Southern European or Middle Eastern contexts, interviewing minority faith groups can also result in respondents refusing to participate in the objectification process out of mistrust or fear engendered by forms of social/political pressure, linked to negative representativeness or security measures.

Similarly, observations and interviews with respondents who perceive themselves to be on the margins lead to discourse modelling, image control and the construction of a coherent discursive logic. This legitimises the conversion process but overlooks sensitive points and subtleties, taboos such as, for example, the rejection or coexistence of more or less informal "ex"-identities (Ebaugh, 1988). So how do we deal with the silences of conversion ? What do field observations tell us about the place given to the objectification of self-narratives in the social science writing process ? How can we conduct a field survey and/or access archives while overcoming the mistrust and/or refusal of respondents to participate, the state authorisation regime and the administrative constraints that ensue (Hadj- Moussa, 2019) ?

This issue therefore uses conversions as an entry point to consider the disparate intensities, reconfigurations and contemporary uses of religion (Lamine, 2024). It aims to contribute to thinking about the ways in which conversions are (in)visible by focusing on three themes : media coverage, and the dynamics and practices that result from it in the cultural field and in everyday life, at local level and in intimate spheres.

Axis 1 : Media coverage. The stakes, politics and discourse of conversion

In order to examine the effects on political, religious and social mobilisations (Angey, Fer, Vildard, 2021 ; Martin, Suire, 2016 ; Le Pape, Laakili, Mossière, 2017), the first theme aims to account for the dynamics and issues specific to the reception and media treatment of conversion. How are the different scales of narratives and reception of conversion superimposed, intertwined and distinguished in different media spaces (mainstream media, digital platforms, social networks, vlogs) ? This theme has a dual perspective, the first being dedicated to the communication strategies of converts in the media. The second is concerned with the media’s treatment of conversion insofar as it can be the subject of politicised, polemical or inclusive, apologetic or disqualifying media coverage (Kaoues, 2020 ; Le Pape, 2014 ; Dirèche, 2011 ; Abécassis, 2000). Thus, we welcome contributions that examine the very nature of this treatment, the underlying issues, its mechanisms and the channels through which it is disseminated and received.

In the Maghreb, strategies for mobilising the media can be observed - on television or online via private media in particular . These strategies are used by certain evangelical religious leaders to make their voice and vision heard. Before they chose to speak out publicly, converts to evangelicalism were first made visible by the (public) media through a demonisation campaign in 2004 (Dirèche, 2009). This campaign led to the 2006 ordinance governing the collective exercise of religions other than Muslims, which prohibits proselytising towards Muslims. In 2008, the American pastor Hugh Johnson was expelled from Algeria and others from Morocco in 20103 . Other expulsions had already taken place in the past, such as that of fifteen foreigners belonging to Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1969 (Le Tourneau, 1969). In addition, the media’s exposure of certain religious minorities, as in the case of the Ahmadis, has not only given them exposure they had not sought, but also enabled them to be included as a subject for academic research (Zemirli, 2018). This observation can also be extended to the various countries of the Arab world, including Egypt, which has in the past experienced controversy surrounding conversions (Abécassis, 2001) and whose current events bear witness to a media saturation around spectacular cases that reveal tensions and denominational tensions (Kaoues, 2014). If we look at Albania and its multi-faith configuration, the media relay of the religious does not allow itself such quarrels and tries to maintain a calm public image of the links between the Christian and Muslim communities (Fuga, 2005). In this context, what resources are mobilised and what are the adaptation and communication strategies involved in conversion within a social milieu, a "community of attestation ", an institution or a wider public (Heurtin, Michel, 2021) ?

This area also focuses on the use of social networks and streaming platforms, where religious words, images and actions are conveyed throughout a variety of styles, formats and adapted content. These productions and uses contribute to new forms of interaction and leadership. They propose ways of being, doing and believing that (also) mediatise the stories and figures of conversion with which users identify. On his social networks, the French MMA fighter and influencer Cédric Doumbé shares a story of conversion, live chats with his followers and talks about his religious beliefs and practices on a daily basis. It can also be seen with influencer Paloma Ruiz de Almodóvar, who lays claim to a certain Andalusian heritage in Granada. Moreover, many of the videos available feature preachers urging the faithful to make an orthodox use of social networks. So how are digital and interactive media redefining the dissemination and image of conversion, just as they are opening up new spaces for religious expression ?

We therefore welcome all contributions dealing with the presence of the issue of conversion in the media and, more specifically, an analysis of the communication policies implemented by converts, the media treatment of the various information relays (private, denominational, national) and the reception of this media issue at different levels (local, regional, national).

Axis 2 : Investing in the cultural field. Production, promotion, mediation

For converts, the production of a biographical narrative aims to translate and legitimise their new religious affiliation, and is an integral part of the conversion process itself. How can we observe the ’seductive’ aspect of the conversion story ? These narratives are social constructions that must also be integrated into a wider contextualised whole, of which religion is only a prism, a mode of presentation (Angey, Fer, Vildard, 2021 ; Le Pape, 2015). How are these writings of the self embodied in the cultural field ?

Far from being confined to charitable and social work, the effects of conversion lead converts to join or create spaces for religious mediation, depending on the skills available - liturgical language teaching workshops, calligraphy or adapted denominational teaching. These activities mobilise their pre- existing commitments while giving them a new direction within the host community. As well as contributing to the social cohesion of the group, they develop a role as mediators and a growing symbolic capital within the community. These mediums can also take the form of cultural goods and encompass the literary field - essay, biography, novel -, the artistic field - cinema, theatre, calligraphy, dance, sacred song and music - and/or the digital field - webseries, YouTube channels and vlogs, Instagram and X (Twitter) accounts, Facebook pages or podcasts. In this way, self-narratives and conversion narratives ’enter the scene’ and adopt the contours of literary, cinematographic, documentary or digital productions4.

In addition to these forms of self-writing, converts produce cultural goods that mediate their new religious affiliation. These widely disseminated cultural products can act as a reference, an inspiration or even a model for others to follow, and can thus raise questions about new forms of religious identification, expression and normativity. Incidentally, what about the gendered dimension of these writings of the self ?

This area therefore welcomes contributions on the relationship between the conversion process and cultural production. It aims to examine the way in which those involved in conversion use the cultural field to express their approach, communicate their aspirations and promote the (new) modes of representation that motivate them. In other words, we are looking at the dynamics of production, modes of action and transfers in the cultural field on the one hand, and the capacity of the cultural field to model, promote and constrain the logics of cultural production on the other. These logics underpin disparate regimes of public discourse that call into question the notion of freedom of expression, and cannot do without politics in view of the constraints and consequences of promoting a (minority) religion in a given context. In such cases, how can these forms of expression be accommodated ?

Axis 3 : Everyday life. Local, family and intimate scales

The effects of conversion go beyond the religious sphere and invite us to decentralise our conception of its boundaries, which are often intertwined and mobilised in other areas of the social world (Martin, Suire, 2016). However, while conversion mechanisms often respond to considerations outside the religious sphere, they cannot totally exclude the religious, dogmatic and doctrinal dimension. We would like to look at the way in which we place the cursor for analysing conversions between the agentivity of the actors, the force that the group can exert on converts in everyday life and their interactional nature. The third theme of this issue includes contributions dealing with the lived, everyday dimension of religious conversion in the intimacy of the home, through the prism of the intimate, family and marital sphere. The aim is to read the effects of conversion, first for the converts themselves and then for those around them, in terms of everyday socialisation (Simona, 2022). The goal is to take account of adaptation strategies and the reconfigurations observed, but also of the significance of the links that pre-dates conversion through ordinary practices, uses of the body and religious materialities (Bentrar, 2021 ; Cohen, Mottier, 2016).

On a local scale and depending on the space and time, the policies and logic of collective or mass conversions can be instructive in terms of the links between religious identity, human mobility and social condition. For example, at the time of the so-called Reconquista, the Catholic Monarchs pursued a coercive policy of converting Jewish and Muslim minorities to Catholicism and then expelling around 300,000 Moriscos between 1609 and 1614. How were the Jewish and Morisco communities and families, established for generations in Toledo, Granada and Valencia, affected in their daily lives, their activities and their social and religious lives ? How did the Mudéjars subsequently develop strategies for accommodating and concealing their religious identity and practices between the public and private spheres ? Family and everyday history can also reveal the effects of conversion at an individual level, depending on age and social mobility (Poutrin, 2016, 2023). During the Ottoman period, these logics also led us to consider the socio-economic configurations of the history of Albanian peasants, insofar as converting to Islam enabled Catholics and Orthodox to gain access to fertile land and avoid having to migrate to mountainous regions (Fuga, 2005). From another perspective, the action of the Jesuit missionaries leading to the baptism of 62 Alawite villagers in the north of Mount Lebanon in 1931 raises questions about the interweaving of religion with social and political organisation on a local and daily scale (Verdeil, 2010). How, then, are we to think about the role and effects of collective conversions in villages’ social organisation within the religious and political margins ?

In countries where the application of family law is influenced by the religious affiliation of individuals, how does the conversion process of one of the couple’s members impacts the issue of divorce rights, child custody or inheritance (Bernard-Maugiron, Dupret, 2012) ? In short, the legal and social effects of their conversion need to be considered. In France, while these issues are not addressed from a strictly legal point of view, they can be tackled by the sociology of the family, focusing in particular on the links established between conversion, matrimonial strategies, family relationships and ties (Puzenat, 2015).

Similarly, the promotion of "gender equality, backed by the ’civilising mission’, has commonly served to legitimise colonial policies and missionary endeavours throughout the world" (Fer, Malogne-Fer, 2015, p. 16). In the Maghreb countries, it is combined with "recurrent criticism of Islam as a set of cultural, social and family structures that are particularly conservative and repressive towards women" (Fer, Malogne-Fer, 2015, p. 16). Moreover, it is often women who are the first to be targeted by converters, as they are considered to be more susceptible to demonic forces (so they need to be saved more quickly) and to be "good relays" for conversion (they can in turn become effective preachers). Similarly, how do these mothers, pillars of the nuclear family, pass on this new religious culture to their children, and how do the children appropriate it as they grow older ?

This is how the notion of emancipation is mobilised by preachers as an attractive feminist discourse. It is also used by female converts themselves to overcome gendered role allocations - presence in the public space, daily mobility, domestic violence, liberalisation of speech in relation to sexuality or an exclusively male office. Beyond strictly religious practices, what about the ordinary social practices of newly converted individuals ? How important are family relationships and obligations in the adaptation strategies put in place to accommodate, or even circumvent, the new religious prescriptions ? Finally, in what ways, depending on the context and situation, do local and religious norms reinforce each other or, on the contrary, conflict ?

Submission guidelines

Proposals for articles (from 400 to 600 words) in French or English, accompanied by several bibliographical references and a short biography of the authors, should be sent using on line form

by 30 June 2024

  • Contributors will be informed by mid-July 2024 at the latest.
  • Contributions must be written according to the journal’s standards and are due no later than 6 January 2025. Editorial recommendations to authors can be found at this link.
  • Article reviews will be sent back to authors between April and June 2025.
  • Publication of the issue is scheduled for December 2025.

Coordination committee

Review editor : Loïc Le Pape, politiste, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CESSP, Paris, France

  • Samir Abdelli, Doctorant en histoire contemporaine à l’EHESS au sein du CETOBaC.
  • Kheloudja Amer, Doctorante en sociologie à Nantes Université au laboratoire du CENS
  • Zohra Aziadé Zemirli, Docteure en droit comparé de l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

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Abecassis Frédéric, 2001, « Conversion religieuse et identités nationales en Égypte durant la première moitié du XXe siècle », in Garcia-Arenal Mercedes(dir.), Conversions islamiques, identités religieuses en Islam méditerranéen, Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, p. 259-299.

Angey Gabrielle, FER Yannick, VILDARD Martial (dir.), 2021, « (Se) convertir. Les ressorts institutionnels de la transformation biographique », Genèses, n° 124.

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Bentrar Djamel, 2021, Jeunes et conversion religieuse radicale : entre corps façonné et désempathie : le cas d’une ville de l’ouest de la France, Thèse de Sociologie, Le Mans Université, https://theses.hal.science/tel-04145508.

Bernard-Maugiron Nathalie, Dupret Baudoin (dir.), 2012, Ordre Public et droit musulman de la famille. En Europe et en Afrique du Nord, Paris, IRD éditions/Bruylant.

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Despotis Athanasios, LÖHR Hermut (eds.), 2022, Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, Leiden, Brill.

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Direche Karima, 2011, « Mondialisation des espaces néo-évangéliques au Maghreb. Controverses religieuses et débats politiques », Méditerranée, 116, p. 59-65.

Fer Yannick, MALOGNE-FER Gwendoline, 2015, Femmes et pentecôtismes. Enjeux d’autorité et rapports de genre, Paris, Labord et Fides.

Fuga Artan, 2005, « Médias albanais entre Églises et mosquées », Diogène, vol. 210, no. 2, p. 59-72.

Garcia-Arenal Mercedes(ed.), 2001, Conversions islamiques. Identités religieuses en Islam méditerranéen, Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose.

Guiral-Hadziiossif Jacqueline, 2000, « Les conversions des juifs à l’islam et au christianisme en Méditerranée, XIe-XVe siècles », in Bresc Henri (éd.), Mutations, identités en Méditerranée. Moyen Âge et époque contemporaine, Paris, Éditions Bouchène.

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Heurtin Jean-Philippe, Michel Patrick (dir.), 2021, La conversion et ses convertis. Production et énonciation du changement individuel dans le monde contemporain, Paris, Centre Maurice Halbwachs-Politika.

Kaoues Fatiha, 2014, « Conversions religieuses et mutations sociales en Égypte, enjeux et perspectives », in Boissevain Katia, Le Pape Loïc (dir.), « Les conversions religieuses en Méditeranée : dynamiques entre engagements individuels et cadre institutionnels », Cahiers d’études du religieux. Recherches interdisciplinaires, Numéro spécial, https://doi- org.ezproxy.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/10.4000/cerri.1381.

Kaoues Fatiha, 2018, « Les convertis évangéliques face à l’islam d’État en Algérie », Critique internationale, vol. 80, n° 3, p. 135-154.

Lamine Anne-Sophie (dir.), 2024, Au-delà du séparatisme et de la radicalisation, Marseille, Diacritiques Éditions.

Le Pape Loïc, 2009, « 12. “Tout change, mais rien ne change”. Les conversions religieuses sont- elles des bifurcations ? » in Grosset Michel, Bessin Marc, Bidart Claire (dir.), Bifurcations. Les sciences sociales face aux ruptures et à l’événement, Paris, La Découverte, p. 212-223.

Le Pape Loïc, 2014, “Peut-on convertir un espace ? Le cas des mobilisations « salafistes » à l’université de La Manouba (Tunis)”, Cahiers d’études du religieux. Recherches interdisciplinaires, Numéro spécial, https://doi-org.ezproxy.u-bordeaux- montaigne.fr/10.4000/cerri.1397.

Le Pape Loïc, 2015, Une autre foi. Itinéraires de conversions en France : juifs, chrétiens et musulmans, Aix-en-Provence, Presses Universitaires de Provence.

Le Pape Loïc, LAAKILI Myriam, MOSSIERE Géraldine, 2017, « Les convertis à l’islam en France, entre liens originels et recompositions croyantes », Ethnologie française, vol. 47, no. 4, p. 637-648.

Le Tourneau Roger, 1969, « Chronique politique-Algérie », Annuaire de l’Afrique du Nord, 1969.

Martin Philippe, SUIRE Éric (éds.), 2016, Les Convertis : parcours religieux, parcours politiques, Paris, Éditions Garnier.

Marzouki Nadia, ROY Olivier (dir.), 2013, Religious Conversions in the Mediterranean World, Londres, Macmillan.

Norton Claire (dir.), 2019, Conversion and Islam in the Early Modern Mediterranean, Londres, Routledge.

Poutrin Isabelle, 2012, Convertir les Musulmans, Espagne, 1491-1609, Paris, Presses universitaires de France.

Poutrin Isabelle, 2023, Les convertis du Pape. Une famille de banquiers juifs à Rome au XVIe siècle, Paris, Seuil.

Puzenat Amélie, 2015, Conversions à l’islam. Unions et séparations, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

Sbaï Jalila, 2019, La politique musulmane de la France. Une mission chrétienne ? 1911-1954, Paris, CNRS Éditions.

Simona Roberto, 2022, Conversions religieuses et liberté. Regards croisés entre christianisme et islam, Lausanne, Antipodes.

Verdeil Chantal, 2010, « Une “révolution sociale dans la montagne” : la conversion des Alaouites par les jésuites dans les années 1930 », in Heyberger Bernard, Madinier Rémy (dir), L’Islam des marges : mission chrétienne et espaces périphériques du monde musulman, XVIe-XXe siècles, Paris, EHESS Éditions, p. 81-105.

Zemirli Zohra Aziadé, 2018, Le statut juridique des minorités religieuses en Algérie, Thèse de doctorat de droit comparé, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Places

  • Année du Maghreb, MMSH, Iremam, 5 rue du Château de l'Horloge
    Aix-en-Provence, France (13)

Date(s)

  • Sunday, June 30, 2024

Keywords

  • religion, conversion, mediterranée

Contact(s)

  • L'Année du Maghreb L'Année du Maghreb
    courriel : lannee [dot] dumaghreb [at] gmail [dot] com

Reference Urls

Information source

  • Sabine Partouche
    courriel : sabine [dot] partouche [at] univ-amu [dot] fr

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Religious Conversions. Believing and Doing on the Move in the Mediterranean Area », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Friday, May 31, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/11r6p

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