Religious Encounters and Social Dynamics in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso's religious landscape, where traditional, Muslim and Christian religions intersect, is part of a social and historical context spread over several centuries marked by a diversity that has been studied by researchers for a long time. As the security situation deteriorates in recent years in the Sahel region, the religious question is increasingly being redefined and put at the forefront of the Burkinabè socio-political scene.
This collective work offers readers a synthesis of the knowledge accumulated by researchers over the past decades on the different religions and the social dynamics associated with them to shed light on the management of the country's religious diversity and coexistence without masking the tensions and conflicts being experienced. The first part describes the religious movements and currents present to underline the centrality of religion in understanding social change.
In the second part, the interactions between religions are questioned through transversal themes and questions, such as education, demography, politics, faith-based NGOs, the historicity of the notion of jihad or the use of new information and communication technologies. Recent socio-political dynamics in Burkina Faso are undoubtedly redefining religious boundaries, while at the same time taking place in a context historically and socially marked by diversity.
This book sheds light on the current question of how to manage this diversity through examples of religious coexistence spread over several centuries, without masking the new tensions and conflicts emerging.