Papers by Patrick Desplat
Hidden schemes and suspicious constructions. Inversive moments of occult infrastructures in Madagascar
Religion, state & society, May 23, 2024
Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology
Aer the world came into the grip of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Madagascar suddenly moved ... more Aer the world came into the grip of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Madagascar suddenly moved into the spotlight of global media attention. Backed up by low incident rates and no deaths, the president of Madagascar announced in April that local scientists had found a cure for COVID-19. During a TV broadcast, he sipped from a bottle dubbed Covid-Organics (CVO) and heralded the herbal concoction as a remedy for the global crisis. e World Health Organization (WHO), however, reacted with scepticism and cautioned against the drink because no evidence of its effectiveness had been proven. e announcement of CVO and the response of the WHO sparked new hearsay in Madagascar and on social media alike. Some focused on the marginalisation and exploitation of Africa by global health organisations. Others assumed hidden intentions of the Malagasy government. Many buzzes questioned the ingredients of the herbal drink or that CVO was just another political stage act with a hidden agenda. This article takes rumours about conspiracies and other hidden schemes about CVO as a starting point to scrutinize how Malagasy debunk a state-inflicted infodemic. I argue that these narratives are not about an epistemic void that needs to be filled but, instead, about knowing too much about an ongoing drama to take a single, even hopeful, political act at face value. More specifically, I engage with suspicion as the driving force to decipher political acts as manipulative populism. Rumours and conspiracy theories are part of everyday discourses in Madagascar, and the challenges of navigating fact and fiction became a habitual practice that highlights the normalisation of socioeconomic crises over the last five decades.
Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, 2022
After the world came into the grip of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Madagascar suddenly moved... more After the world came into the grip of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Madagascar suddenly moved into the spotlight of global media attention. Backed up by low incident rates and no deaths, the president of Madagascar announced in April that local scientists had found a cure for COVID-19. During a TV broadcast, he sipped from a bottle dubbed Covid-Organics (CVO) and heralded the herbal concoction as a remedy for the global crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO), however, reacted with scepticism and cautioned against the drink because no evidence of its effectiveness had been proven. The announcement of CVO and the response of the WHO sparked new hearsay in Madagascar and on social media alike. Some focused on the marginalisation and exploitation of Africa by global health organisations. Others assumed hidden intentions of the Malagasy government. Many buzzes questioned the ingredients of the herbal drink or that CVO was just another political stage act with a hidden agenda. This article takes rumours about conspiracies and other hidden schemes about CVO as a starting point to scrutinize how Malagasy debunk a state-inflicted infodemic. I argue that these narratives are not about an epistemic void that needs to be filled but, instead, about knowing too much about an ongoing drama to take a single, even hopeful, political act at face value. More specifically, I engage with suspicion as the driving force to decipher political acts as manipulative populism. Rumours and conspiracy theories are part of everyday discourses in Madagascar, and the challenges of navigating fact and fiction became a habitual practice that highlights the normalisation of socio-economic crises over the last five decades.
Facing Familiar Strangers and Potential Friends: Rumours of Betrayal, Ambiguous Friendships and the Dangers of Poison in Urban Madagascar
Journal of Southern African Studies
Islamische Gelehrte zwischen Text und Praxis : Wandlungsprozesse im Islam am Beispiel von Kenia, Ostafrika
Muslime in Äthiopien - Die Heiligenverehrung in Harar in Auseinandersetzung mit islamischen Reformströmungen
Africa Spectrum, 2002
Changes in Islam are decisively shaped through external contacts. In a process of innovation and ... more Changes in Islam are decisively shaped through external contacts. In a process of innovation and appropriation certain elements are transferred, modified or rejected by local Muslim communities. Accordingly the spectrum of different forms of faith and practices which can be found in Ethiopia, can be understood in a historical way. The author uses the Muslim community of Harar as an example for the continuity of the veneration of saints in an urban context. The stability of this practice depends on a complex interaction of socio-economic factors. However, this practice has recently been subject to further debates. With the revolution of 1991 the formerly repressive attitude of the Ethiopian state to religion became more liberal and the global connection became the determining element for Muslims in Ethiopia. New Islamic movements provoked disputes about the 'real' Islam, which in particular regard the religious practice of the veneration of saints as non-Islamic. Up to now th...
“Heard about the Good-Deed-Sayers?” Islam and everyday conversations on religious difference in Harar, Ethiopia
In this article, I take the absence of public religious debates, sermons and of displays of piety... more In this article, I take the absence of public religious debates, sermons and of displays of piety as a starting point to explore the ambiguous ways in which people in the Ethiopian city of Harar express religious difference through everyday talk. Drawing on two specific social situations, daily morning strolls and afternoon cāt 1 chewing sessions, I illustrate that Harari men claim, maintain and strengthen religious affiliation and difference through acts of exclusion and self-identification in the form of chit-chat, gossip and artful narratives. Given that Harar is considered an important centre of Islam at the Horn of Africa, I frame the religious issues at stake in relation to changes in the religious and political landscape of Ethiopia since the nineteen-nineties that have influenced religious discord and triggered strong identity politics among ethnic groups in the city. Against this background, I investigate social consequences and strategies of avoidance among Harari men who ...
Äthiopien: Diaspora am Horn von Afrika?
Ethiopian Muslims and the Horn of Africa
Muslim Ethiopia, 2013
Capacities, Constraints, New Ways of Living
Muslim Ethiopia, 2013
Muslims in Ethiopia
Muslim Ethiopia, 2013
Islam, Identity, and Reform
Muslim Ethiopia, 2013
Africa
In this article, I examine the fear of others’ envy among young students and graduates in the por... more In this article, I examine the fear of others’ envy among young students and graduates in the port city of Mahajanga, Madagascar. Although the city provides a favourable environment in relation to the economy, employment and general well-being, many young people from middle-class milieus worry that their aspirations will remain unfulfilled because of envious peers who resent them for any advantage they might have gained. While malicious envy is most expected within close social relations in which social comparison and competition are prevalent, most social actors respond to this threat with tactical practices of secrecy that arguably help to secure an individual's well-being and shield them from unsocial behaviour. I scrutinize these micro-politics of life projects, social comparison, increasing inequalities and a rising sense of mutual mistrust. Yet, I depart from approaches that frame envy as a human condition that socially produces either a prosocial levelling mechanism or a ...
Muslim Ethiopia: The Christian Legacy, Identity Politics, and Islamic Reformism
Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations
Evaluation of conformal coatings for future spacecraft applications
... Fine 38 /im diameter wires were ultrasonic-ally welded to adjacent internal package aluminium... more ... Fine 38 /im diameter wires were ultrasonic-ally welded to adjacent internal package aluminium ... and bond lengths were essentially equal for each package and coating under evaluation. ... original smooth, bright surface changed to one possessing a dull, orange-peel-like appear ...
Against Wahhabism? Islamic Reform, Ambivalence, and Sentiments of Loss in Harar
Prayer in the city: the making of Muslim sacred places and urban life
Muslims in Ethiopia: The Christian Legacy, Identity Politics, and Islamic Reformism
Muslim Ethiopia, 2013
Introduction Representations of Space, Place-making and Urban Life in Muslim Societies
The Making of Muslim Sacred Places and Urban Life, 2012
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Papers by Patrick Desplat