Research project
Christian missions and societies in the Middle East: organizations, identities, heritagization (XIXth-XXIth centuries)
The project re-examines the role of the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox missionaries in the cultural and social developments of the Middle East and their interactions with the indigenous communities, from the nineteenth century until today. It seeks to discover and retrace such ‘entangled histories’ for the first time in an integral perspective, going beyond the different national narratives. It envisages a study of the missionary phenomenon and the reactions of the different indigenous communities from a historical and regional perspective.
- Duration
- 2017 - 2021
- Partners
ANR Agence nationale de la recherche
EFR Ecole française de Rome
FSCIRE Bologna Fondazione per le Science Religiose Giovanni XXIII
IFEA Istanbul Institut français d’Etudes anatoliennes
IFAO Cairo Institut français d’archéologie orientale
IFPO Amman Institut français du Proche Orient
Through an historical and anthropological approach, this multidisciplinary collaborative project focuses on the interactions between Europe and the Middle East, throws light on their historical roots.
As the collaboration gathers together experts on European and Arabic history (both from historical, anthropological and religious backgrounds), all the participants will benefit from deeper insights into both regions in order to understand the various encounters. Moreover, approaching the questions of modernity, secularism and religion, which are all crucial to the question of confesionalisation, from both European and Arab perspectives, will help to realize their complex and multi-layered meaning.
Based on several unknown European and Middle Eastern archives, it analyses these fundamental interactions in different case studies in Egypt, contemporary Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Jordan.
The project is subdivided into four subprojects (S). S1 will address
the study of the relationship between missionaries and political powers from a regional and global perspective; S2 will focus on the influences of the missions on the redefinition of denominational boundaries; S3 will envisage their role in the construction of male and female models, both Christian and Muslim; S4 will clarify their influence in the development of the knowledge of local societies and the sacred topography of the Holy Land in the Middle East, as well as phenomena of reappropriation and heritagization that resulted from these interactions.
This project will benefit from the expertise of two other granted research projects:
- Engaging Europe in the Arab World: European missionaries and humanitarianism in the Middle East (1850-1970)’, Leiden/ IISMM/ IEG Mainz (Nov. 2015-Oct 2018)
- Temps des conflits / temps des migrations: Réflexions sur les catégories et la généalogie des migrations au Moyen-Orient’, ANR and IFPO (2015-2019)
Principal investigators
dr. Karène Sanchez Summerer, UD, Leiden University
dr. Philippe Bourmaud, Associate Professor, Lyon III University and IFEA Istanbul
dr. Séverine Gabry-Thienpont, researcher, IFAO, Cairo
Prof. Alberto Melloni, FSCIRE, Bologna
dr. Norig Neveu, researcher,IFPO (Institut français du Proche Orient), Amman and Jerusalem
Output
- Conference ‘In partibus fidelium. Ecumenism and knowledge of the Oriental Christianity in missions to the Middle East mission (18th to 20th)’; and workshop ‘Missions and confessionalisation’; in collaboration with the research group ‘Division, Conflict, Cohabitation and Unity: Christian Churches in the Middle East (18th- 20th)’
- Special Journal issue ‘Missions and confessional borders 19th-21th c.’
- Conferences in Cairo / Amman ‘Dynamics of power and knowledge production. The role and the challenges of Christian missions in the local process of sacred spaces heritagization’
- 20 researchers’ field trips in the Middle East
- Doctoral/ PhD school, Rome, ‘Interconnected history of missions, colonization and globalization processes’
- Final Conference, Rome, ‘The Social and cultural influences of Christian missions on local Middle Eastern societies; the gender issue’ + special Journal issue
- Book, ‘Revisited History of the Christian missions in the Middle East since the end of the XIXth century’
Associated researchers
Prof. dr. Heather Sharkey, University of Pennsylvania
Prof. dr. Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, INALCO Paris
Prof. dr. Heleen Murre-van den Berg, IVOC Radboud University Nijmegen
dr. Armand Aupiais, IFEA
dr. Elena Astafieva, researcher, CNRS, CERCEC Paris
dr. Vittorio Berti, FSCIRE
dr. Géraldine Chatelard, IFPO
dr. Marc Dugas, IFPO
dr. Gaétan Du Roy, Université catholique de Louvain
dr. Aurélien Girard, Associate Professor, Cerhic, Université de Reims
dr. Marie Levant, FSCIRE
dr. Paolo Maggiolini, Assistant Professor, ISPI (Istituto per gli Studi di politica Internazionale), Milan
dr. Falestin Naili, IFPO
dr. Maria Antonia Paiano, Università degli Studi di Firenze
dr. Annalaura Turiano, researcher, IREMAM/INALCO
dr. Chantal Verdeil, Associate Professor, Institut universitaire de France and INALCO