The Spirits of the Great Green Wall in Senegal
Spirituality, Ecology, and Secularization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.40149Keywords:
Sukyo Mahikari, Great Green Wall, reforestation, ecology, Secularization, SenegalAbstract
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.
References
Ba, Mame-Penda. 2012. ‘La diversité du fondamentalisme sénégalais’, Cahiers d’études africaines 206-207: 575-602. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.17099.
Beckford, James A. 2003. Social Theory and Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Chapple, Christopher K. 2010. ‘Jaïnisme, non-violence et écologie’, in Dominique Bourg and Philippe Roch (eds.), Crise écologique, crise des valeurs ? Déls pour l’anthropologie et la spiritualité (Genève: Labor et Fides): 221-31.
Cruise O’ Brien, Donald. 1992. ‘Le contrat social sénégalais à l’épreuve’, Politique africaine 45: 9-20.
Cruise O’Brien, Donald, Momar-Coumba Diop, and Mamadou Diouf. 2002. La construction de l’Etat au Sénégal (Paris: Karthala).
Descola, Philippe. 2005. Par-delà nature et culture (Paris: Gallimard).
Dessi, Ugo. 2013. ‘Greening Dharma’: Contemporary Japanese Buddhism and Ecology’, JSRNC 7.3: 334-55. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i3.334.
Dia, Abdoulaye, and Robin Duponnois. 2010. Le projet majeur africain de la Grande Muraille Verte. Concepts et mise en œuvre (Paris: IRD). Doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.irdeditions.2106.
———. 2012. Grande Muraille Verte. Capitalisation des recherches et valorisation des savoirs locaux (Paris: IRD). Doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.irdeditions.3247.
Favret-Saada, Jeanne. 1977. Les mots, la mort, les sorts (Paris: Gallimard).
Fynes, R.C.C. 1996. ‘Plant Souls in Jainism and Manichaeism: The Case for Cultural Transmission’, East and West 46.1-2: 21-44.
Gottlieb, Roger S. 2006a. A Greener Faith. Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176483.003.0003.
———. 2006b. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195178722.001.0001.
Guèye, Cheikh. 2002. Touba. La capitale des mourides (Paris/Dakar: Karthala, IRD, Enda).
Hervieu-Léger, Danièle (ed.). 1993. Religion et écologie (Paris: Cerf).
Mahikaritai website: http://www.mahikaritaiafrique.org.
Les Echos de la GMV. 2018. N°001. Online: https://www.grandemurailleverte.org/.
Louveau, Frédérique. 2011. ‘The Environmentalism of a Japanese Religious Movement in Senegal: From Healing to Environmental Management through Sukyo Mahikari’, Cahiers d’Etudes africaines 204.4: 739-68. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.16839.
———. 2012. Un prophétisme japonais en Afrique de l’Ouest. Anthropologie religieuse de Sukyo Mahikari (Bénin, Côte d’Ivoire, Sénégal, France) (Paris: Karthala).
Nobutaka, Inoue. 1991. ‘Recent Trends in the Study of Japanese New Religions’, in Inoue Nobutaka (ed.), New Religions. Contemporary Papers in Japanese Religion (Tokyo: Kokugakuin University): 4-24.
Pons, Philippe. 1993. ‘Japon: un attachement sélectif à la nature’, in Dominique Bourg (ed.), Les sentiments de la nature (Paris: La Découverte): 31-46. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3917/dec.bourg.1993.01.0031.
Sahlins, Marshall. 1979. ‘L’apothéose du capitaine Cook’, in Michel Izard and Pierre Smith (eds.), La Fonction symbolique: essais d’anthropologie (Paris: Gallimard): 307-43.
Seck, Abdourahmane. 2010. La question musulmane au Sénégal. Essai d’anthropologie d’une nouvelle modernité (Paris: Karthala).
Taylor, Bron. 2010. Dark Green Religion. Nature Spirituality and Planetary Future (Berkeley: University of California Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520944459.
———. 2016. ‘The Greening of Religion Hypothesis (Part One): From Lynn White, Jr and Claims That Religions Can Promote Environmentally Destructive Attitudes and Behaviors to Assertions They Are Becoming Environmentally Friendly’, JSRNC 10.3: 268-305. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v10i3.29010.
Taylor, Bron, Gretel Van Wieren, and Bernard Zaleha. 2016. ‘The Greening of Religion Hypothesis (Part Two)’, JSRNC 10.3: 306-78. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v10i3.29011.
Tuan, Yi-Fu. 1968. ‘Discrepancies between Environmental Attitude and Behaviour: Examples from Europe and China’, Canadian Geographer 12.3: 176-91. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1968.tb00764.x.
Van Gennep, Arnold. 1909. Les rites de passage (Paris: Nourry).
Villalon, Leonardo A. 1995. Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal: Disciples and Citizens in Fatick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511598647.
Watanabe, Masao. 1974. ‘The Conception of Nature in Japanese Culture’, Science 183.4122: 279-82. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.183.4122.279.
White, Lynn Townsend Jr., 1967, ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’, Science 155.3767: 1203-207. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203.
