Repenser la catégorisation religieuse à partir du Bénin, terre du vodun

On 5 December, I presented a paper with Fiacre Anato entitled "Repenser la catégorisation religieuse à partir du Bénin, terre du vodun" at the workshop L'Afrique des religions à l'épreuve des chiffres et des catégorisations at the Université Paris Cité.

Our research examined the dynamics of religious categorisation in contemporary Benin, where official statistics suggest a decline in Vodun practices, while field observations reveal its continued vitality through widespread dual religious affiliation.

We analysed how recent state-led promotion of Vodun through initiatives such as "Vodun Days" highlights the tensions between statistical marginalisation and cultural valorisation.

The paper shows how Benin's religious landscape challenges conventional categorisations, with many people navigating fluidly between different religious traditions, despite official statistics enforcing single religious affiliations.

This work contributes to broader discussions on religious measurement and categorisation in Africa, while highlighting the limitations of current quantitative approaches in capturing complex religious realities.