2019 ARBEITSPAPIER – WORKING PAPER 184 Katrin Langewiesche A review of 60 years of scholarship on religions in Burkina Faso ARBEITSPAPIERE DES INSTITUTS FÜR ETHNOLOGIE UND AFRIKASTUDIEN WORKING PAPERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND AFRICAN STUDIES AP IFEAS 184/2019 Herausgegeben von / The Working Papers are edited by: Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Forum 6, D-55099 Mainz, Germany. Tel. +49-6131-3923720; Email:
[email protected]; http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/92.php Geschäftsführende Herausgeberinnen/ Managing Editors: Konstanze N’Guessan (
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[email protected]) Copyright remains with the author. Zitierhinweis / Please cite as: Langewiesche, Katrin (2019): A review of 60 years of scholarship on religions in Burkina Faso. Arbeitspapiere des Instituts für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Working Papers of the Department of Anthropology and African Studies of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), 184. Langewiesche, Katrin: A review of 60 years of scholarship on religions in Burkina Faso. Abstract Knowledge about religion is currently regularly summoned and discussed in highly politicised debates on social cohesion in both Europe and Africa. The European Union's request for a review of the academic literature on religion in Burkina Faso fits this social context and proves the concern and need to anchor concrete actions and political decisions in a long-term academic reflection that goes beyond the moment of "radicalisation". The article, in a chronological manner, presents the academic literature from the initial studies on religions in Burkina Faso in the late 1950s to the present and according to the different subjects covered.