CFP International workshop Thinking the Role of Religion in Social and Humanitarian Action
Bonjour,
Je me permets de faire circuler l’appel à candidatures pour les journées d’études « (Re)Thinking the Role of Religion in Social and Humanitarian Action: Preaching in a Transnational Approach. Middle East (19th-21rst Centuries) »: predicmo.hypotheses.org/2498#more-2498.
Ces journées seront organisées par E. Moeller (Université de Marbourg), N. Neveu (CNRS, IREMAM), K. Sanchez Summerer (Université de Groningue) et A. Turiano (IREMAM, Aix-Marseille Université) les 18 et 19 juin 2026, au centre Centre Marc Bloch de Berlin.
Bien cordialement,
Norig Neveu
(Re)Thinking the Role of Religion in Social and Humanitarian Action: Preaching in a Transnational Approach. Middle East (19th-21rst Centuries)
Research on welfare and humanitarianism in the Middle East has experienced a renewed interest over the past two decades (Watenpaugh, 2015; Ruiz De Elvira, 2019; Naïli, Napolitano, Piraud-Fournet, 2022). They are notably marked by a growing interest in the role of faith-based actors in assisting refugee populations or those considered vulnerable (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2011). Long focused on international actors and the transnational dimensions of aid – Christian missions (Sanchez Summerer & Okkenhaug, 2020), Protestant organizations such as the Near East Relief (Rodogno, 2022; Bourmaud, 2020), or transnational Islamic associations (Bellion-Jourdan, 2002; Benthall, 2016) -, recent studies increasingly turn their attention to the role of local actors. Works on the Red Crescent (Moeller, 2016), Islamic NGOs (Challand, 2008), church-related organizations (Rioli, 2020; Neveu, 2023), and charitable associations (Turiano, 2021; Fallas, 2023) seek to move beyond the Eurocentric approaches that long dominated the history of humanitarianism, showing instead how these structures often constitute the first networks of solidarity and relief on the ground.
This burgeoning historiography highlights the crucial role played by religious institutions and faith-based actors in humanitarian and social action in the Middle East (Paulmann & Moeller, 2023) – whether churches (Chatelard, 2011; Bava, 2018; Neveu, 2022; Levant, 2022), Muslim clerics, faith-based NGOs, or charitable associations (Pierret, 2011; Ruiz de Elvira, 2019). Numerous studies have examined the close links between preaching, charity, and humanitarian action (Bellion-Jourdan, 2002), notably through the analysis of certain Christian organizations for which social engagement constitutes a privileged vehicle for the dissemination of religious discourse. In this regard, Fatiha Kaouès refers, in the case of Protestant organizations in Lebanon, to a form of « social and humanitarian evangelization » (Kaouès, 2011).
However, despite the richness of this body of work, few studies adopt a diachronic approach that would make it possible to analyse these dynamics over the long term and to grasp their reconfigurations. Research often remains segmented by confession or denomination, overlooking dynamics of contact, mimicry, and even competition between religious traditions. Moreover, the material and performative dimension of preaching remains largely underexplored, even though the material turn in the study of religion provides relevant tools for examining it.
By adopting a broad definition of preaching – understood as a device aimed at « (re)making people believe, » embodied in the presence of an individual or a group within a given territory in order to form or strengthen a community of believers – this workshop seeks to explore the links between preaching and socio-humanitarian action in the contemporary Middle East. From a Weberian perspective, preaching develops in a context of religious crisis, which distinguishes it from the mere care of souls. Consequently, contexts of social and humanitarian crises appear as privileged sites for understanding this constitutive device of faith experiences, beyond the sole framework of the sermon or religious discourse. The chosen approach is deliberately cross-cutting: it brings Islam, Judaism, and Christianity into dialogue, while situating the Middle East within a global perspective. Indeed, many of the actors and institutions involved maintain close ties with European, American (Granick, 2021), or other international partners and funders. These non-Middle Eastern actors will therefore also be taken into account.
A number of questions will guide the discussions: How does preaching accompany and shape social and humanitarian action? In what forms and according to which modalities does it unfold? How does it influence the understanding and implementation of aid? Conversely, how do the logics and mechanisms of assistance shape preaching? How are these forms of discourse received by the « beneficiaries » – whether believers or not – in camps, parishes, or community centers? What reconfigurations do these interactions bring about in terms of religious authority and legitimacy? Three main lines of inquiry are proposed. Three main areas of reflection are proposed:
1. Actors and (Re)Deployments
This line of inquiry will focus on the ways in which religious authorities and faith-based actors (associations, churches, NGOs) have become involved in the field of social and humanitarian aid and have adapted their preaching to the populations concerned. From the 1950s-1960s onwards, many Christian missions established in the Middle East increasingly turned toward social and humanitarian action, in response to the conflicts and population displacements affecting the region. In order to carry out this work, they often founded associations and NGOs. This process of « NGO-ization, » which is not specific to Christian missions, invites reflection on the various forms of redeployment of faith-based actors, as well as on the new modalities of preaching that accompany this shift. The role of the Muslim Brotherhood in welcoming Palestinian refugees after 1948-particularly in the areas of health and education-although omnipresent in Christian missionary sources, for example, remains insufficiently documented. One may also ask whether new actors of preaching emerge, and whether new « vocations » appear in times of crisis. In contexts of upheaval, how is the place of religion itself being reconfigured?
2. Discursive Registers
A second line of inquiry will focus on the discursive forms of preaching. Humanitarian and charitable organizations, as well as faith-based actors, draw on multiple registers that invoke the notion of crisis: the crisis of the social body, linked to migration and the dispersion of believers, as well as the moral crisis. Presentations will examine these discursive registers of preaching with attention to the targeted audiences : the faithful, religious hierarchies, or donors. Among these registers, eschatology is a central example: how are conflicts, civil wars, or economic and ecological crises presented as divine punishment? The community of believers is then constituted as both a bulwark and a remedy against the crisis. What content do the sermons convey? Do they aim to reassure, to pacify, or to mobilize donors, volunteers, and participants ? How does preaching interact with – or even overlap – other modes of action such as advocacy, mediation, or lobbying ? The discussions will also address linguistic, translation, and dissemination issues, as well as the tools and platforms used to convey these messages, notably online.
3. Materialities and Constraints
A third area of inquiry will focus on the materiality and staging of preaching, that is, its performances within relief and assistance frameworks. Where do these preachings take place, and which spaces-material or immaterial-do they occupy or establish? From places of worship to dispensaries, from classrooms to digital platforms for humanitarian communication, and from camp sites to online applications, all of these settings serve as potential stages for preaching. This theme will also consider how preaching materializes through donations, raffles, lotteries, or other forms of fundraising, depending on the targeted beneficiaries. What are the practical modalities-financial and logistical-of these operations? Moreover, it will examine how to connect, on an international scale, the various performative spaces through which mobilization strategies around a common cause are deployed, from donors to the faithful. Finally, the issue of constraint will be addressed, particularly by analyzing how confinement and encampment logics contribute to redefining the spaces and media of preaching.
Workshop and venue
18-19 June 2026 (Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, Germany)
Organisers
Esther Moeller (University of Marburg), Norig Neveu (CNRS, IREMAM), Karène Sanchez Summerer (University of Groningen) Annalaura Turiano (IREMAM, Aix-Marseille University)
Submission Guidelines
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the workshop, the organizers encourage submissions from researchers across various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and must be accompanied by a brief biographical and bibliographical note of no more than one page. Both documents should be submitted as a single PDF file to anr.predicmo@gmail.com by February 1, 2026. In preparation for a special issue of a journal, selected contributors will be invited to submit a first draft of their article (20,000-30,000 characters) prior to the workshop, no later than June 1, 2026. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered in full or in part, subject to final confirmation of funding. Chargée de recherche CNRS, IREMAM [1720098080477] M.M.S.H. BATIMENT 01,5 Rue du Château de l’HorlogeBP 647, Aix-en-Provence, 13094 T +33442524386 C norig.NEVEU@univ-amu.fr<mailto:norig.NEVEU@univ-amu.fr>
Je me permets de faire circuler l’appel à candidatures pour les journées d’études « (Re)Thinking the Role of Religion in Social and Humanitarian Action: Preaching in a Transnational Approach. Middle East (19th-21rst Centuries) »: predicmo.hypotheses.org/2498#more-2498.
Ces journées seront organisées par E. Moeller (Université de Marbourg), N. Neveu (CNRS, IREMAM), K. Sanchez Summerer (Université de Groningue) et A. Turiano (IREMAM, Aix-Marseille Université) les 18 et 19 juin 2026, au centre Centre Marc Bloch de Berlin.
Bien cordialement,
Norig Neveu
(Re)Thinking the Role of Religion in Social and Humanitarian Action: Preaching in a Transnational Approach. Middle East (19th-21rst Centuries)
Research on welfare and humanitarianism in the Middle East has experienced a renewed interest over the past two decades (Watenpaugh, 2015; Ruiz De Elvira, 2019; Naïli, Napolitano, Piraud-Fournet, 2022). They are notably marked by a growing interest in the role of faith-based actors in assisting refugee populations or those considered vulnerable (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2011). Long focused on international actors and the transnational dimensions of aid – Christian missions (Sanchez Summerer & Okkenhaug, 2020), Protestant organizations such as the Near East Relief (Rodogno, 2022; Bourmaud, 2020), or transnational Islamic associations (Bellion-Jourdan, 2002; Benthall, 2016) -, recent studies increasingly turn their attention to the role of local actors. Works on the Red Crescent (Moeller, 2016), Islamic NGOs (Challand, 2008), church-related organizations (Rioli, 2020; Neveu, 2023), and charitable associations (Turiano, 2021; Fallas, 2023) seek to move beyond the Eurocentric approaches that long dominated the history of humanitarianism, showing instead how these structures often constitute the first networks of solidarity and relief on the ground.
This burgeoning historiography highlights the crucial role played by religious institutions and faith-based actors in humanitarian and social action in the Middle East (Paulmann & Moeller, 2023) – whether churches (Chatelard, 2011; Bava, 2018; Neveu, 2022; Levant, 2022), Muslim clerics, faith-based NGOs, or charitable associations (Pierret, 2011; Ruiz de Elvira, 2019). Numerous studies have examined the close links between preaching, charity, and humanitarian action (Bellion-Jourdan, 2002), notably through the analysis of certain Christian organizations for which social engagement constitutes a privileged vehicle for the dissemination of religious discourse. In this regard, Fatiha Kaouès refers, in the case of Protestant organizations in Lebanon, to a form of « social and humanitarian evangelization » (Kaouès, 2011).
However, despite the richness of this body of work, few studies adopt a diachronic approach that would make it possible to analyse these dynamics over the long term and to grasp their reconfigurations. Research often remains segmented by confession or denomination, overlooking dynamics of contact, mimicry, and even competition between religious traditions. Moreover, the material and performative dimension of preaching remains largely underexplored, even though the material turn in the study of religion provides relevant tools for examining it.
By adopting a broad definition of preaching – understood as a device aimed at « (re)making people believe, » embodied in the presence of an individual or a group within a given territory in order to form or strengthen a community of believers – this workshop seeks to explore the links between preaching and socio-humanitarian action in the contemporary Middle East. From a Weberian perspective, preaching develops in a context of religious crisis, which distinguishes it from the mere care of souls. Consequently, contexts of social and humanitarian crises appear as privileged sites for understanding this constitutive device of faith experiences, beyond the sole framework of the sermon or religious discourse. The chosen approach is deliberately cross-cutting: it brings Islam, Judaism, and Christianity into dialogue, while situating the Middle East within a global perspective. Indeed, many of the actors and institutions involved maintain close ties with European, American (Granick, 2021), or other international partners and funders. These non-Middle Eastern actors will therefore also be taken into account.
A number of questions will guide the discussions: How does preaching accompany and shape social and humanitarian action? In what forms and according to which modalities does it unfold? How does it influence the understanding and implementation of aid? Conversely, how do the logics and mechanisms of assistance shape preaching? How are these forms of discourse received by the « beneficiaries » – whether believers or not – in camps, parishes, or community centers? What reconfigurations do these interactions bring about in terms of religious authority and legitimacy? Three main lines of inquiry are proposed. Three main areas of reflection are proposed:
1. Actors and (Re)Deployments
This line of inquiry will focus on the ways in which religious authorities and faith-based actors (associations, churches, NGOs) have become involved in the field of social and humanitarian aid and have adapted their preaching to the populations concerned. From the 1950s-1960s onwards, many Christian missions established in the Middle East increasingly turned toward social and humanitarian action, in response to the conflicts and population displacements affecting the region. In order to carry out this work, they often founded associations and NGOs. This process of « NGO-ization, » which is not specific to Christian missions, invites reflection on the various forms of redeployment of faith-based actors, as well as on the new modalities of preaching that accompany this shift. The role of the Muslim Brotherhood in welcoming Palestinian refugees after 1948-particularly in the areas of health and education-although omnipresent in Christian missionary sources, for example, remains insufficiently documented. One may also ask whether new actors of preaching emerge, and whether new « vocations » appear in times of crisis. In contexts of upheaval, how is the place of religion itself being reconfigured?
2. Discursive Registers
A second line of inquiry will focus on the discursive forms of preaching. Humanitarian and charitable organizations, as well as faith-based actors, draw on multiple registers that invoke the notion of crisis: the crisis of the social body, linked to migration and the dispersion of believers, as well as the moral crisis. Presentations will examine these discursive registers of preaching with attention to the targeted audiences : the faithful, religious hierarchies, or donors. Among these registers, eschatology is a central example: how are conflicts, civil wars, or economic and ecological crises presented as divine punishment? The community of believers is then constituted as both a bulwark and a remedy against the crisis. What content do the sermons convey? Do they aim to reassure, to pacify, or to mobilize donors, volunteers, and participants ? How does preaching interact with – or even overlap – other modes of action such as advocacy, mediation, or lobbying ? The discussions will also address linguistic, translation, and dissemination issues, as well as the tools and platforms used to convey these messages, notably online.
3. Materialities and Constraints
A third area of inquiry will focus on the materiality and staging of preaching, that is, its performances within relief and assistance frameworks. Where do these preachings take place, and which spaces-material or immaterial-do they occupy or establish? From places of worship to dispensaries, from classrooms to digital platforms for humanitarian communication, and from camp sites to online applications, all of these settings serve as potential stages for preaching. This theme will also consider how preaching materializes through donations, raffles, lotteries, or other forms of fundraising, depending on the targeted beneficiaries. What are the practical modalities-financial and logistical-of these operations? Moreover, it will examine how to connect, on an international scale, the various performative spaces through which mobilization strategies around a common cause are deployed, from donors to the faithful. Finally, the issue of constraint will be addressed, particularly by analyzing how confinement and encampment logics contribute to redefining the spaces and media of preaching.
Workshop and venue
18-19 June 2026 (Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, Germany)
Organisers
Esther Moeller (University of Marburg), Norig Neveu (CNRS, IREMAM), Karène Sanchez Summerer (University of Groningen) Annalaura Turiano (IREMAM, Aix-Marseille University)
Submission Guidelines
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the workshop, the organizers encourage submissions from researchers across various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and must be accompanied by a brief biographical and bibliographical note of no more than one page. Both documents should be submitted as a single PDF file to anr.predicmo@gmail.com by February 1, 2026. In preparation for a special issue of a journal, selected contributors will be invited to submit a first draft of their article (20,000-30,000 characters) prior to the workshop, no later than June 1, 2026. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered in full or in part, subject to final confirmation of funding. Chargée de recherche CNRS, IREMAM [1720098080477] M.M.S.H. BATIMENT 01,5 Rue du Château de l’HorlogeBP 647, Aix-en-Provence, 13094 T +33442524386