Olivier Servais

Chargé de cours invité
Professeur ordinaire

SSH/ESPO -- Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication

SSH/ESPO/PSAD -- Ecole des Sciences politiques et sociales / Louvain School of Political and Social Sciences

SSH/IACS -- Institute for the Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies (IACS)

SSH/ESPB -- Faculty of Economics, Social and Political Sciences and Communication Saint-Louis (ESPB)

SSH/RSCS -- Institut de recherche Religions, spiritualités, cultures, sociétés

Doyen (ESPO)

Postmail address

ESPO
Place Montesquieu 4/L2.05.01
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve

olivier.servais@uclouvain.be
doyen-espo@uclouvain.be

Personal website

http://uclouvain.academia.edu/OlivierServais

IACS

Phone

+32 10 47 42 42

ESPO -- Décanat ESPO

Secretary Phone

+32 10 47 85 94

Diploma

Year	Label	Educational Organization
1994	Bachelier spécialisé en théologie	Université catholique de Louvain
1994	Licencié en histoire	Université catholique de Louvain
1996	DEA en Anthropologie religieuse et histoire des religions	Université Paris-Sorbonne : Paris IV
1998	Bachelier canonique en théologie	Centre sèvres : Facultés jésuites de Paris
2003	Docteur en sciences sociales: anthropologie	Université catholique de Louvain

Together with Jacinthe Mazzocchetti, I am the academic referent for the university certificate "Mental Health in Social Context".

Courses

Name	ID
The psycho-anthropology of social and collaborative media	BCOMU2202
Anthropology of Symbolic systems : Religion, Nature and Virtual Worlds	LANTR2020
Séminaire de tutorat des jurys en anthropologie	LANTR2095
Séminaire d'Anthropologie du Numérique : technologie, jeux vidéos et mondes virtuels	LANTR2115
Anthropology: of the observation to the theory	LPOLS1113
The History of Debates in Sociology and Anthropology	LPOLS1316
Practical Research Seminars in Sociology and Anthropology	LPOLS1326
Study Skills Seminar in Sociology	LSOCA1125
Renfort mémoire - ESPO	LSSHE2000
Anthropologie des mutations contemporaines	MSHUM1117

: Anthropologist and historian, I am a regular academic at the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie prospective.

My research focuses on four main areas: the anthropology of symbolic systems, the anthropology of nature and the environment, the anthropology of digital cultures and the epistemology of anthropology.

1. The first axis is concerned with worldviews and cosmologies, but also with the interactions between these 'visions', with strategies of transformation, as well as with tactics of resistance and adaptation. In short, symbolic mutations, including religious and political mutations, are at the heart of my work. My current work focuses on the links between populism and digital, the mutual reinforcement of authoritarian political systems in democracy and the massive use of social networks and more broadly the deployment of a digital society. A sub-axis has long been concerned with the question of death, illness and healing.

The second and third axes go deeper into fields related to the first.

2. The second axis analyses conceptions of nature and the environment, but also conflicts in the representation and use of nature. From this point of view, environmental crises are a privileged object of my research. Resistance by local residents to changes in their environment, and more particularly the way in which they reappropriate a modified environment, or place themselves on the fringes of the system, has been the subject of particular attention since 2009. This work includes an interest in the return of localism and the renewed affirmation of local identities, the question of risks.

3. The third axis, devoted to virtual worlds, is interested in the deployment of a dominant technical culture and focuses its interests on massively multiplayer games and the 'online' sociality of practitioners. Multiple themes are linked to this object: players' commitment, participants' multi-identification, relative belonging to mediated collectives, or new semantic creations. In short, in a broader sense, it is this emerging "virtual" socialisation that holds my attention and the practices of resistance. I am also interested in online rituals, deviant practices or reappropriations. In this framework, I work on groups on the margins (hackers, cyber-resistance, virtual poachers), and communities in withdrawal from the world (hermits, groups on the margins, religious groups in rupture), or in withdrawal from the digital world.

4. Finally, the last axis, transversal to the laboratory, is that of the epistemology of anthropology. Three fields of expertise can be highlighted: audiovisual anthropology, the relationship between history and anthropology, and a concrete application, missionary ethnography.

In my work I use three main research methods in a complementary way: participant observation, documentary and archival sources, the comprehensive interview, and collective methods.

Some of my research has involved more structured approaches such as group analysis. Similarly, I occasionally combine qualitative data with quantitative surveys by questionnaire or more exhaustive censuses.

I conduct ethnographic fieldwork mainly in Canada, Belgium, the Philippines, Mauritius and in several virtual worlds.

Finally, I participate or coordinate research projects in Europe, Americas, Africa, Asia, and in several virtual universes.

JournalArticle

2022

Gbenonsi, Gloria Yawavi ; Labat, Aline ; Oleffe, Amandine ; Jidovsteff, Boris ; Servais, Olivier ; Vermeulen, Nicolas ; Paul, Elisabeth. Factors Associated With COVID-19 Vaccination Among Individuals With Vaccine Hesitancy in French-Speaking Belgium. In: JAMA Network Open, Vol. 5, no. 9, p. e2234433 (2022). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.34433.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/265129

2021

Servais, Olivier ; Allen, Chloé ; Sacco, Muriel. Non, les jeunes n 'ont pas été égoïstes pendant la crise du Covid-19. In: Politique. Revue belge d'analyse et de débat, Vol. 118, no.Décembre, p. 64-69 (2021).

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/275301

2021

Visibilités digitales du religieux. In: Recherches en communication, Vol. 53 (2021-11-03). doi:10.14428/rec.v53i53.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/253122

2021

Catellani, Andrea ; Douyère, David ; Servais, Olivier. Visibilités digitales du religieux. Introduction. In: Recherches en communication, Vol. 53, p. 1-10 (2021-11-03). doi:10.14428/rec.v53i53.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/253123

2020

Bouillon, F. ; Laugrand, Frédéric ; Servais, Olivier. Aléas de l’enquête et rebonds de l’ethnographe. In: Ethnographiques.org, (2020) (Accepté/Sous presse).

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/230534

2020

Incidents heuristiques. Aléas de l’enquête et rebonds de l’ethnographe. In: ethnographies.org (Accepté/Sous presse).

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/230494

2020

Religieux et Digital : Nouvelles conceptualisations en mondes francophones / Religious and the digital : New conceptualizations in the French-speaking world. In: Social Compass, Vol. 67, no.4, p. 505-575 (December 2020). doi:10.1177/0037768620950212.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/240112

2020

Douyère, David ; Catellani, Andrea ; Servais, Olivier. Religieux et digital : nouvelles conceptualisations en mondes francophones. In: Social Compass, Vol. 67, no. 4, p. 505-518. doi:10.1177/0037768620950212.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/240116

Monography

2024

Servais, Olivier ; Simon, Lionel. Disasters, indigenous knowledge and resilience. A comparative perspective from Asia, Karthala: Paris, 2024 (Accepté/Sous presse).

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/257197

2024

Déconfiner l'Europe, éd. Hermesse, Julie ; Servais, Olivier (L'Europe s'écrit), Karthala: Paris, 2024. 978-2-38409-091-4. 296 p.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/283394

2021

Ethnographies du catholicisme contemporain, éd. Servais, Olivier ; Meintel, Deirdre ; Aubourg, Valérie (Hommes et Sociétés), Karthala: Paris, 2021. 978-2-8111-2513-4. 265 p.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/249162

2020

Servais, Olivier. Dans la peau des gamers. Anthropologie d'une guilde de World of Warcraft, 1st (Continent digital), Karthala: Paris, 2020. 978-2-8111-2630-8. 343 p.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/249161

2020

Servais, Olivier. Jeux video, nouvel opium du peuple ? , Karthala: Paris, 2020. 9782811127213.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227537

2020

Hermesse, Julie ; Laugrand, Frédéric ; Mazzocchetti, Jacinthe ; Servais, Olivier ; Laurent, Pierre-Joseph ; Vuillemenot, Anne-Marie. Masquer le monde. Pensées d’anthropologues sur la pandémie, academia, Academia: Louvain, 2020. 978-2-8061-0537-0. 177 p.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/230886

BookChapter

2024

Servais, Olivier ; Allen, Chloé ; Sacco, Muriel. Les jeunesses au temps de la covid en Europe. Analyse des modes de transgression de l'ordre sanitaire.. In: Hermesse, Julie et Servais, Olivier, Déconfiner l'Europe, Karthala: Paris, 2024, p. 23-56. 978-2-38409-091-4.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/284872

2024

Hermesse, Julie ; Servais, Olivier. Observations ethnographiques en confinement. La Covid-19, catalyseur anthropologique des structures sociales et des imaginaires. In: Hermesse, Julie & Servais, Olivier, Déconfiner l'Europe (L'Europe s'écrit; 1), Karthala: Paris, 2024, p. 7-22. ISBN : 978-2-38409-091-4.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/283414

2024

Simon, Lionel ; Servais, Olivier. Presentation: Disasters, indigenous knowledge and resilience. A comparative perspective from Asia. In: Simon, Lionel, Olivier Servais, Disasters, indigenous knowledge and resilience. A comparative perspective from Asia, Karthala: Paris, 2024 (Accepté/Sous presse).

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/257203

2023

Servais, Olivier. La Sociabilité en ligne : Communautés et guildes. In: Genvo Sébastien, Philippette Thibault, Introduction aux théories des jeux videos (Jeu-Play-Speel; 7), Presses Universitaires de Liège: Liège, 2023, p. 215-223. 978-2-87562-362-1.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/275300

2023

Servais, Olivier. The “Muslim Mali” Game: Revisiting the religious-security-post-colonial nexus in Malian popular culture . In: Victoria Bernal, Katrien Pype, Daivi Rodima-Taylor, CRYPTOPOLITICS Exposure, Concealment, and Digital Media (ANTHROPOLOFGY OF MEDIA; 12), Berghahn Books, 2023, p. 97-128. 9781805390299.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/275299

2021

Servais, Olivier ; Aubourg, Valérie ; Meintel, Deirdre. Introduction. In: AUBOURG Valérie, MEINTEL Deirdre, SERVAIS Olivier (dir.), Ethnographies du catholicisme contemporain (Hommes et Sociétés), Karthala: Paris, 2021, p. 265. 978-2-8111-2513-4.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/249164

2021

Servais, Olivier. L'émergence d'un catholicisme urbain et minoritaire en Belgique : le cas bruxellois. In: AUBOURG Valérie, MEINTEL Deirdre, SERVAIS Olivier (dir.), Ethnographies du catholicisme contemporain (Hommes et Sociétés), Karthala: Paris, 2021, p. 37-48. 978-2-8111-2513-4.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/249165

2020

Servais, Olivier. Big Bang Sanitaire et déni funéraire. In: Hermesse, Julie, & Alii, Masquer le monde. Pensée d'anthropologues sur la pandémie, Academia: Louvain-La-Neuve, 2020, p. 133-158. 978-28061-0537-0.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/235319

2020

Servais, Olivier. La production écrite du terrain virtuel: Du Big Data qualitatif . In: Charlier B., Grard C., Laugrand F., Laurent PJ, Simon S., Ecritures anthropologiques (Investigation d'Anthropologie prospective), Academia: Louvain-la-Neuve, 2020. 978-2-8061-0471-7.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227539

2019

Servais, Olivier. De l'objet religieux à distance à l'engagement à objectiver sa subjectivité. In: Krumenacker Yves, Sciences humaines, foi et religion (Constitution de la modernité; 13), Classiques Garnier: Paris, 2019, p. 213-223. 978-2-406-08287-3.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/220018

2019

Servais, Olivier. Digital Religion. In: Adam Possamai, Anthony J. Blasi, The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, SAGE: London, 2019. 9781473942202.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227544

2019

Servais, Olivier. Ethnography. In: Adam Possamai, Anthony J. Blasi, The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, SAGE: London, 2019. 9781473942202.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227542

2019

Servais, Olivier. Invisible Religion. In: Adam Possamai, Anthony J. Blasi, The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, SAGE: London, 2019. 9781473942202.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227546

2019

Servais, Olivier. Jacques Leclercq. In: Adam Possamai, Anthony J. Blasi, The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, SAGE: London, 2019. 9781473942202.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227543

2019

Servais, Olivier ; Laugrand, Frédéric. Missionisation. In: Adam Possamai, Anthony J. Blasi, The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, SAGE: London, 2019. 9781473942202.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227547

2019

Servais, Olivier. On Line ethnography. In: Adam Possamai, Anthony J. Blasi, The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, SAGE: London, 2019. 9781473942202.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/227545

2019

Servais, Olivier. Ouvertures sur la Chine. In: Paul Servais et Arnaud Join-Lambert, in Trajectoires missionnaires en Asie Orientale, Presses universitaires de Louvain: Louvain-la-Neuve, 2019, p. 389-394. 978-2-87558-803-6.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/220021

2019

Servais, Olivier. transformation numérique des ritualités. In: Chanson Philippe, Cakpo, Eric, Misson du rite et rites en mission. Des années 1960 à aujourd'hui. (Histoires des mondes chrétiens), Karthala: Paris, 2019, p. 79-104. 978-2-8111-2663-6.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/220016

2019

Servais, Olivier. ‘No life’ Eschatology: The Incorporation and Avatarisation of Digital Eremitism. In: A. Nixon, A. Possomai, The digital Social (Religion and society; 69), De Gruyter: Berlin, 2019, p. 195-215A. Nixon, A. Possomai, The digital Social, De Gruyter, 2019:. 978-3-11-049789-2.

http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/220022