The introduction to this special issue argues that in many countries in southern Africa a new phase in the entanglement between the religious and the political has set in. Increasingly, activists in political fields are borrowing from religious registers of discourse and practice, while conversely, activists in the religious domain are adopting discourses and practices originating in the political domain. We suggest that this religiopolitical activism is simultaneously the product of a climate of profound social change and an important transformative force within it. In order to do justice to the complex dynamics of southern African religiopolitical activism in its manifold manifestations, we draw on the concept of ‘family resemblances’. This allows us to examine how the boundaries between religious and political registers are made the object of situated social negotiations. The family resemblances explored in this special issue range from religiopolitical activists’ habitus and their communication strategies via religious leaders’ self-positionings in relation to the political, to the creation of specific religiopolitical spaces.

中文翻译：

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行动中的家族相似之处

本期特刊的导言认为，在南部非洲的许多国家，宗教与政治之间的纠缠已经进入了一个新阶段。政治领域的活动家越来越多地借鉴宗教的话语和实践，而相反，活动家在宗教领域正在采用起源于政治领域的话语和实践。我们认为，这种宗教政治激进主义同时是深刻社会变革气氛和其中重要变革力量的产物。为了公正地看待南部非洲宗教政治激进主义在其多种表现形式中的复杂动态，我们借鉴了“家族相似性”的概念。这使我们能够研究宗教和政治登记册之间的界限如何成为情境社会谈判的对象。本期特刊探讨的家庭相似之处包括宗教政治活动家的习惯和他们通过宗教领袖在政治方面的自我定位的沟通策略，以及特定宗教政治空间的创造。