Article ID: CBB520173626

The Spirits of the Great Green Wall in Senegal: Spirituality, Ecology, and Secularization (2021)

unapi

This article offers an ethnographic study of the involvement of a controversial modern Japanese religious movement, Sukyo Mahikari, within the state-led pan-African reforestation project known as the Great Green Wall. The author argues that the members’ environmental efforts against desertilcation and climate change bring together so-called ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ actors. She shows how the oflcial recognition of Sukyo Mahikari as a valuable partner of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Senegal blurs the boundaries between the political, environmental, and religious spheres thanks to a ‘working misunderstanding’, an expression coined by Marshal Sahlins, thereby overcoming different framings in their relation to nature. This contribution examines the conditions that have facilitated the simultaneous secularization and spiritualization of ecology in the Senegalese context.

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Citation URI
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Authors & Contributors
Waide, Robert
Becci, Irene
Monnot, Christophe
Wernli, Boris
Gervais, Mathieu
Roberts, Jason P.
Concepts
Environmental sciences
Ecology
Science and politics
Forests and forestry
Environmentalism
Science and religion
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
Australia
New Guinea
Indonesia
Switzerland
Poland
Institutions
United States. Forest Service
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