SDD · Spirits of Displacement and Diaspora
„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“
- Период
- 2017-10-01 → 2020-09-30
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 269 858 €
- Участници
- 2
- Схема
- MSCA-IF-GF
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Миграцията и разселяването на общността Гнава от Мароко показват как промяната на средата влияе върху техните музикални и религиозни ритуали. Разбирането на тези процеси помага на градските планисти да ограничат социалните конфликти и да защитят правото на уязвимите групи да останат в домовете си.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Spirits of Displacement and Diaspora
Urban displacement and transnational migration scatter communities over wider territories, forcing them to adapt their cultural tools to new environments. As planetary gentrification and climate catastrophe produce an increase in displacement everywhere, it is crucial to understand what are the social and political impacts of these spatial transformations. SDD analyzed ethnographically the displacement and diaspora of the Moroccan Gnawa, a religious brotherhood that practices rituals of spirit possession through music, performance, and myth. The Gnawa network emerged as a practice of recreating community bonds after the displacement of Western African people brought to Morocco in slavery in the XVI century. Nowadays, while Gnawa music is declared immaterial heritage by the UNESCO, many members of the brotherhood are forced to leave the gentrified old city centers and move to new peripheral neighborhoods; other members migrate to Europe, where they struggle to be recognized as artists or ritual healers. SDD shows how some specific spatial arrangements are crucial for communities such as the Gnawa, and how cultural transformations and the disruption that these communities undergo when they are displaced or migrate can spill over to religion and politics. Vernacular practices tied to specific spaces or spatial arrangements such as the Gnawa, thus, should be taken into account by contemporary urban planning, to avoid an increase of conflicts and of anti-social behavior and ideologies. The awareness of these structural changes should encourage policy-makers to prevent displacement, and to defend the 'right to stay put' for vulnerable sectors of society.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
Spirit possession cults puzzle Western observers, particularly when they appear in supposedly secular urban environments. Muslim migrants from North Africa, seeking to establish new lives in Southern Europe, have to negotiate the continuity of such ritual practices with the constraints and expectations imposed on them by their new social contexts. But the legitimacy of these cults is contested also in their homeland, where they face increasing pressures by religious fundamentalism. Space and its organization, especially in urban settings, play an important part in these disputes. In Morocco, spirits are thought to reside in particular places, such as tombs, sanctuaries, or street corners. How do possession cults continue to be practiced when spirits’ spaces of residence have to be abandoned or undergo demolition? This research compares the continuities and ruptures in cult performances as the spaces that host them are affected by both forced displacement and voluntary diasporic migration. I will observe the resettlement of a slum in Casablanca, and compare it with two Southern European neighborhoods where Moroccan practitioners of spirit cults struggle to maintain their specific version of Islam in multicultural, post-colonial and post-secular urban settings, exposed to disruptive processes such as gentrification. By applying an ethnographic methodology to comparative urbanism, I aim to shed light on how different spatial transformations affect ritual performances that are meant to protect communities from social disintegration. I argue that different urban policies on both sides of the Mediterranean mutually reinforce, resulting in an overall transformation of cultural practices in transnational communities. Examining how migrants adapt localized ritual practices such as spirit possession cults to increasingly transient urban settings, furthers our understanding of the spatial and cultural dimensions that enable or prevent integration.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER · LeicesterКоординаторОбединеното кралство
- PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE · CambridgeСъединени щати
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз