Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0020
Heather Kelley
This essay examines the practice and theatrical representation of augury, or divination by birds, in ancient Greece. It analyzes depictions of augury in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, Sophocles’s Theban cycle, and Aristophanes’s The Birds, among other plays, and asserts that birds’ unique relationship with—and close proximity to—the gods afford them meaningful insights that humans would do well to heed. The work ultimately invites contemporary readers to see value in the messages gleaned from birds’ flight, sounds, and movements, and argues that humans who discredit and dismiss the knowledge of birds often face catastrophic outcomes, as demonstrated by so many of the characters in these plays.
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Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.v
David Mason
As I write these words, I am in a bar in the middle of New Delhi, India. There’s chicken pakora on the plate at my elbow. Some shock-green, mint chutney in a little bowl. There’s cricket on the TV. Sachin Tendulkar is waving at the camera from his retired place in the stands. The major metro stop from which I disembarked a half hour back is at Rajiv Chowk, named for one of India’s prime ministers, who was assassinated in 1991. Just outside, I spent several minutes listening to a man who identified himself as Bhagat Singh explain how his shop helps regional craftspersons.1 At this moment, the bar’s soundtrack is Maren Morris’s “My Church.”“Can I get a hallelujah?” Morris wails.I don’t know this song. I’m not a country music fan. The “hallelujah” and “amen” in the chorus caught my attention, in this space where I would expect “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast” or “Mundian To Bach Ke.” Almost as quickly as I realize what I’m hearing, I don’t mind saying, I find myself a little choked up. Just a little.Some of the lyrics from Morris’s tune, for those who, like me, don’t know them:Can I get a hallelujah?Can I get an amen?Feels like the Holy Ghost running through yaWhen I play the highway FMI find my soul revivalSinging every single verseYeah, I guess that’s my church2I’ve invested at least half a career, at this point, in studying the ways in which religion emerges and flows through circumstances and still the irruption of religion can strike me as marvelously strange. Morris finds it, her song says, in music from her car stereo. As she courses down the road, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams sanctify her moment, charge it with a quality that her words can’t avoid casting as religious. It’s “holy redemption,” she says, or, rather, sings—the styled noise coming out of her car’s speakers and the call to sing with it that she can’t resist.I’m at the very, very end of eight months in northern India. Four days from the moment of this sentence’s composition, I will get on a Korean Air flight for the USA via Seoul. Assuming that the legendary fog that falls on Delhi in January is light enough that the plane can take off, I’ll be back in the USA the day after that. Presumably, I’ve been doing research, these many months. I have a research topic, certainly. And I had some research plans. But plans are contingent on what fog will allow.A few months back, I was on a beach in Mumbai as giant Ganesha figures were carried into the water, pushed way out to sea, and swamped. I was on Chandni Chowk in a dense crowd of thousands of others on India’s Independence Day. I walked alongside an all-day Rath Yatra procession through Ahmedabad and I jostled with the dense crowd carrying taziyeh up into Jor Bagh Karbala in Delhi. I watched days of Ramlila performances, one daily episode after another, at several different locations in Delhi and in Varanasi, and I crashed a few Durga Pujas in Chittaranjan Park. I was present for a stupendous, noisy abhishek in Vrindavan. I saw a cosplay
当我写这些话的时候，我正在印度新德里市中心的一家酒吧里。我手肘边的盘子里有鸡肉沙拉。在一个小碗里放一些鲜绿色的薄荷酸辣酱。电视上有板球比赛。Sachin Tendulkar在看台上退休的位置向镜头挥手。半小时后，我下车的主要地铁站是拉吉夫·乔克(Rajiv Chowk)，以印度总理之一的名字命名，他于1991年被暗杀。就在外面，我花了几分钟听一个自称巴格特·辛格(Bhagat Singh)的人解释他的商店是如何帮助当地工匠的此时此刻，酒吧的背景音乐是玛伦·莫里斯的《我的教堂》。“我能得到哈利路亚吗?”莫里斯哭泣。我不知道这首歌。我不是乡村音乐迷。副歌中的“哈利路亚”和“阿门”引起了我的注意，在这个空间里，我期待的是“Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast”或“Mundian To Bach Ke”。几乎就在我意识到我在听什么的时候，我不介意说，我发现自己有点哽咽了。只会一点点。莫里斯歌曲中的一些歌词，对于那些像我一样不知道的人来说:我能听到哈利路亚吗?能给我一个阿门吗?当我在高速公路上演奏时，我发现我的灵魂复活了，唱着每一首诗，是的，我想那就是我的教堂，我已经投入了至少一半的职业生涯，在这一点上，研究宗教是如何在环境中出现和流动的，但宗教的侵入仍然会让我感到非常奇怪。她的歌里说，莫里斯在她的汽车音响里找到了它。当她沿着这条路走下去的时候，约翰尼·卡什和汉克·威廉姆斯把她的时刻神圣化了，用一种她的语言无法避免地赋予她宗教色彩的品质。她说，这是“神圣的救赎”，或者更确切地说，是唱歌——从她的汽车扬声器里传出的那种风格的噪音，以及她无法抗拒的与之一起唱歌的召唤。我在印度北部待了八个月。从这句作文的那一刻起四天，我将乘坐大韩航空公司经由首尔飞往美国的航班。假设1月份德里传说中的大雾足够轻，飞机可以起飞，我将在那之后的第二天回到美国。这几个月来，我大概一直在做研究。当然，我有一个研究课题。我有一些研究计划。但计划取决于雾的情况。几个月前，我在孟买的一个海滩上，看到巨大的象头神雕像被抬到水里，被推到海里，被淹没。在印度独立日那天，我在Chandni Chowk上，和成千上万的人挤在一起。在艾哈迈达巴德，我跟在一整天的拉特亚特拉游行队伍旁边走着，在德里的乔巴格卡尔巴拉，我和拿着塔兹耶的人群挤在一起。我在德里和瓦拉纳西的几个不同地点观看了几天拉姆利拉的表演，每天一集接一集，我还在奇塔兰詹公园(Chittaranjan Park)参加了几场杜尔加礼拜。我在温达文参加了一场盛大而喧闹的阿比舍克。我看到了一个角色扮演比赛。当然，我经过了一群来自印度和其他地方的游客，他们在纪念碑前自拍。我做了一些空中瑜伽。我和共产主义者一起在街头表演。我去潜水了。说我已经玩了8个月的游戏并不是错误的——我希望这听起来不是那么轻率。这是一种非常严肃的工作，我们在教堂里、寺庙里、海滩上、旧汽车里、旧公路上、纪念碑前、舞台上、新德里的酒吧里演出。莫里斯称她的歌唱教堂是对沉重世界的逃避，我没有权利说它不是。但我想说的是，歌唱、祈祷、加工、淹没，甚至是摆动丝绸和潜水，构成了莫里斯那美妙而沉重的世界的精彩部分。总之，在2022年，我花了很多时间在人们认真从事玩世界的生活。是的，我想那是我的教堂。
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Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0001
Tyrone Grima, C. Colombo
“The Human Quest for Meaning” is a critical analysis of a theatre project and its post-performance webinars held to discuss the thematic of the production. The theoretical framework of this project investigates in a qualitative manner to what extent a performance can serve as a medium to facilitate dialogue on existentialist issues. The article juxtaposes this study against a literature review embedded in the Christian and non-Christian framework of existentialist philosophy. It proceeds by elucidating further on the methodology endorsed. Taking as a basis the production Agnes of God, the aim was to create a platform of dialogue between theists and atheists. This objective is studied through interviews and questionnaires held with the actors, the academics who gave keynote speeches in two webinars, and the audience members. The insights allowed the researchers to delve deeper into the question that this project is asking through an in-depth analysis.
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Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0054
David Mason
{"title":"The Ramlila of Kheriya: A Conversation with Molly Kaushal","authors":"David Mason","doi":"10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0054","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29827,"journal":{"name":"Ecumenica-Performance and Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46956492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0076
C. Sundt
{"title":"The Long Goodbye","authors":"C. Sundt","doi":"10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0076","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29827,"journal":{"name":"Ecumenica-Performance and Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49022552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0041
Kristýna Ilek
This essay explores the spiritual and performative practice of ancestor worship as revisited by Czech-Vietnamese queer artist Lê Thị Hoài. The essay unpacks the power dynamics at stake in Lê Thị’s practice and introduces spirituality as a challenge to established power hierarchies. Lê Thị’s artistic work is inspired by her experience of the entanglements, complexities, and conflicts that her heritage—personal, cultural, social, and political—brings to her. The essay draws on Julietta Singh’s rethinking of “mastery” to interpret Lê Thị’s work as “unmasterful.” It looks at the symbolism, form, material, and function in Lê Thị’s work and juxtaposes the contradictory political, social, and economic beliefs that she strives to overcome. The author argues that the subversiveness of performative revision of traditional rituals is constituted through not only challenging an established system of values but also bringing to the forefront the ambiguity between the politics of private and public spaces and understanding spiritual force as an equal element in the art piece.
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Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0083
Natalie McCabe
{"title":"Alias Grace; Not of Woman Born: Representations of Caesarean Birth in Medieval and Renaissance Culture; Abortion Politics; Mothering Rhetorics","authors":"Natalie McCabe","doi":"10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/ecumenica.16.1.0083","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29827,"journal":{"name":"Ecumenica-Performance and Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43292384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/ecumenica.15.2.0187
Elaine Schnabel
{"title":"Breaking Up With Jesus","authors":"Elaine Schnabel","doi":"10.5325/ecumenica.15.2.0187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/ecumenica.15.2.0187","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29827,"journal":{"name":"Ecumenica-Performance and Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45006724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo","authors":"Y. Fukushima","doi":"10.4324/9780203701836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203701836","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29827,"journal":{"name":"Ecumenica-Performance and Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43102330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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