Pub Date : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090106
T. Cooper
This article examines discussions of missionaries penned by anthropologists and existing in disciplinary consciousness. Questions of alterity, distance and sameness, the potentially exploitative effects of ethnography, and the uncomfortable colonialist underpinnings of both missionary and anthropological pasts come to the fore in these texts. Drawing on a wealth of journal articles, ethnographic monographs, and edited volumes, I identify, describe, and analyze six predominant discourses on missionaries, including anthropological depictions of missionaries as foils (Discourse One), as intermediaries (Discourse Two), and as present in good or bad manifestations (Discourse Three). Other threads constitute missionaries as data (Discourse Four), conceive of them as methodological ancestors and ethnographic colleagues (Discourse Five), or identify them reflexively as both anthropologists and Christians (Discourse Six). I suggest that missionaries serve as an archetypical foil against which the anthropological discipline emerges. Missionary ethnographers are for anthropologists a necessarily uncanny, repressed, productive other.
{"title":"A Discursive Analysis of a Century of Anthropological Writings on Missionary Ethnographers","authors":"T. Cooper","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090106","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines discussions of missionaries penned by anthropologists\u0000and existing in disciplinary consciousness. Questions of alterity, distance and sameness,\u0000the potentially exploitative effects of ethnography, and the uncomfortable colonialist\u0000underpinnings of both missionary and anthropological pasts come to the fore in these\u0000texts. Drawing on a wealth of journal articles, ethnographic monographs, and edited\u0000volumes, I identify, describe, and analyze six predominant discourses on missionaries,\u0000including anthropological depictions of missionaries as foils (Discourse One), as\u0000intermediaries (Discourse Two), and as present in good or bad manifestations (Discourse\u0000Three). Other threads constitute missionaries as data (Discourse Four), conceive\u0000of them as methodological ancestors and ethnographic colleagues (Discourse Five),\u0000or identify them reflexively as both anthropologists and Christians (Discourse Six). I\u0000suggest that missionaries serve as an archetypical foil against which the anthropological\u0000discipline emerges. Missionary ethnographers are for anthropologists a necessarily\u0000uncanny, repressed, productive other.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"100 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73623239","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090105
J. Fischer
The Hebrew term ‘kosher’ means ‘fit’ or ‘proper’ and signifies foods conforming to Jewish dietary law (kashrut). Kosher biotechnical production is subject to elaborate rules that have warranted regulation over the last two decades. This article shows how kosher regulation works in biotech production. I argue that while existing studies of kosher production and regulation have emerged mostly from within business studies and the food sciences, the broader institutional picture and the personal relationships between certifiers and businesses that frame these procedures are not yet well understood. Based on empirical research and interaction with biotech companies, I provide an ethnography of how transnational governmentality warrants a product as ‘kosher’ and thereby helps to format and standardize the market. This article builds mainly on fieldwork conducted at the world’s largest producer of enzymes, Novozymes, based in Denmark, which is certified by the leading global kosher certifier, the Orthodox Union.
{"title":"Kosher Biotech","authors":"J. Fischer","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090105","url":null,"abstract":"The Hebrew term ‘kosher’ means ‘fit’ or ‘proper’ and signifies foods conforming\u0000to Jewish dietary law (kashrut). Kosher biotechnical production is subject to elaborate\u0000rules that have warranted regulation over the last two decades. This article shows\u0000how kosher regulation works in biotech production. I argue that while existing studies\u0000of kosher production and regulation have emerged mostly from within business studies\u0000and the food sciences, the broader institutional picture and the personal relationships\u0000between certifiers and businesses that frame these procedures are not yet well understood.\u0000Based on empirical research and interaction with biotech companies, I provide\u0000an ethnography of how transnational governmentality warrants a product as ‘kosher’\u0000and thereby helps to format and standardize the market. This article builds mainly on\u0000fieldwork conducted at the world’s largest producer of enzymes, Novozymes, based in\u0000Denmark, which is certified by the leading global kosher certifier, the Orthodox Union.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86548926","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090103
E. Giumbelli
This text proposes a conceptual discussion and a preliminary analysis of a specific situation. In a Brazilian town, a monument representing a Catholic saint has been proposed as a project of ‘religious tourism’. Some of the literature on this subject is examined in order to delineate a perspective that, instead of pointing out its contradictions or ambiguities, allows us to follow the encounters between religion and tourism in their multiple possibilities and meanings. The Brazilian monument is analyzed in order to demonstrate how three different visions converge on it: that of the state, that of the Catholic Church, and that of a group of ‘pilgrims’. In considering these perspectives, the goal is to understand how the various concepts relate to practices of tourism that offer structure and frameworks to promote religious and secular projects.
{"title":"Religious Tourism","authors":"E. Giumbelli","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090103","url":null,"abstract":"This text proposes a conceptual discussion and a preliminary analysis of a\u0000specific situation. In a Brazilian town, a monument representing a Catholic saint has\u0000been proposed as a project of ‘religious tourism’. Some of the literature on this subject is\u0000examined in order to delineate a perspective that, instead of pointing out its contradictions\u0000or ambiguities, allows us to follow the encounters between religion and tourism\u0000in their multiple possibilities and meanings. The Brazilian monument is analyzed in\u0000order to demonstrate how three different visions converge on it: that of the state, that of\u0000the Catholic Church, and that of a group of ‘pilgrims’. In considering these perspectives,\u0000the goal is to understand how the various concepts relate to practices of tourism that\u0000offer structure and frameworks to promote religious and secular projects.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86999710","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090104
S. George
Scholars have noted the variety of ideological and religious perspectives present in the Tea Party movement. This study addresses why both religious and nonreligious individuals may be involved in the Tea Party despite its cultural connection to ‘traditional’ conservative Christianity. The article explores Tea Party participation and commitment, arguing that group membership is sustained by the party’s ability to create interaction rituals reflective of Christian culture as an acknowledgement of American Christian values. The Tea Party frames its ideology as sacred, thereby establishing group commitment and cohesion. As a result, it is capable of attracting constituents from inside and outside of the Religious Right. By validating the experiences of others and creating a system of interdependency, the Tea Party has the potential to create group solidarity leading to collective action and exceptional political influence.
{"title":"Interaction Rituals and Religious Culture in the Tea Party","authors":"S. George","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090104","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars have noted the variety of ideological and religious perspectives\u0000present in the Tea Party movement. This study addresses why both religious and nonreligious\u0000individuals may be involved in the Tea Party despite its cultural connection to\u0000‘traditional’ conservative Christianity. The article explores Tea Party participation and\u0000commitment, arguing that group membership is sustained by the party’s ability to create\u0000interaction rituals reflective of Christian culture as an acknowledgement of American\u0000Christian values. The Tea Party frames its ideology as sacred, thereby establishing\u0000group commitment and cohesion. As a result, it is capable of attracting constituents\u0000from inside and outside of the Religious Right. By validating the experiences of others\u0000and creating a system of interdependency, the Tea Party has the potential to create group\u0000solidarity leading to collective action and exceptional political influence.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"842 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090104","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72437703","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/arrs.2018.090102
L. Woodhead, J. Richardson, M. Percy, C. Wessinger, E. Barker
I wish I had been present at the 1993 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) when Professor Eileen Barker delivered her subversive presidential address: “The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!” I imagine that not all audience members were delighted. The address lives up to its billing, driving a cart and horses through pervasive positivistic assumptions in the study of religion and ushering in a very different approach. I will not pretend that it changed my life the first time I read it, but I have gone back to it time and again, and it continues to illuminate and inspire.
{"title":"Portrait","authors":"L. Woodhead, J. Richardson, M. Percy, C. Wessinger, E. Barker","doi":"10.3167/arrs.2018.090102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2018.090102","url":null,"abstract":"I wish I had been present at the 1993 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of\u0000Religion (SSSR) when Professor Eileen Barker delivered her subversive presidential address:\u0000“The Scientific Study of Religion? You Must Be Joking!” I imagine that not all audience members\u0000were delighted. The address lives up to its billing, driving a cart and horses through pervasive\u0000positivistic assumptions in the study of religion and ushering in a very different approach.\u0000I will not pretend that it changed my life the first time I read it, but I have gone back to it time\u0000and again, and it continues to illuminate and inspire.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87750257","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090109
Marie Daugey
In Kabye society, the commonest sacrificial rites include a device that may prompt celebrants to question their own ritual practice. As in other West African societies, the acceptance or refusal of an offering by a divinity is read in the death throes of the first chicken to be sacrificed. If the fowl does not die in the expected position, the ceremony is interrupted. Celebrants scrutinize the execution of the rite to identify the mistake that led to the sacrifice’s refusal, and they submit their hypothesis to the divinity. However, the resumption of the rite is not conditioned by the correction of the mistake. It is often sufficient that officiants recognize and reassert the rule that they should have followed. The case of a bull sacrifice demonstrates how the celebrants’ self-critical practice may promote a ritual effectiveness in connection with the dialogical and pragmatic nature of the rite.
{"title":"The Death Throes of Sacrificed Chicken","authors":"Marie Daugey","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090109","url":null,"abstract":"In Kabye society, the commonest sacrificial rites include a device that may\u0000prompt celebrants to question their own ritual practice. As in other West African societies,\u0000the acceptance or refusal of an offering by a divinity is read in the death throes\u0000of the first chicken to be sacrificed. If the fowl does not die in the expected position,\u0000the ceremony is interrupted. Celebrants scrutinize the execution of the rite to identify\u0000the mistake that led to the sacrifice’s refusal, and they submit their hypothesis to the\u0000divinity. However, the resumption of the rite is not conditioned by the correction of\u0000the mistake. It is often sufficient that officiants recognize and reassert the rule that they\u0000should have followed. The case of a bull sacrifice demonstrates how the celebrants’ self-critical\u0000practice may promote a ritual effectiveness in connection with the dialogical\u0000and pragmatic nature of the rite.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82554923","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090112
Nicolas Sihlé
Tantrists, non-monastic religious specialists of Tibetan Buddhism, constitute a diffuse, non-centralized form of clergy. In an area like Repkong, where they present a high demographic density, large-scale supra-local annual ritual gatherings of tantrists are virtually synonymous with, and crucial for, their collective existence. In the largest of these rituals, the ‘elders’ meeting’ is in effect an institutionalized procedure for evaluating the ritual performance, its conditions and effects, and, if necessary, for adjusting aspects of the ritual. At a recent meeting, the ‘elders’ decided to abandon a powerful and valued but violent and problematical component of the ritual, due to its potential detrimental effects on the fabric of social relations on which the ritual depends for its continued existence. Thus, a highly scripted, ‘liturgy-centered’ ritual (per Atkinson) can be adapted to the social context. The specialists of these textual rituals demonstrate collectively an expertise that extends into the sociological dynamics surrounding the ritual.
{"title":"Assessing and Adapting Rituals That Reproduce a Collectivity","authors":"Nicolas Sihlé","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090112","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090112","url":null,"abstract":"Tantrists, non-monastic religious specialists of Tibetan Buddhism, constitute\u0000a diffuse, non-centralized form of clergy. In an area like Repkong, where they present a\u0000high demographic density, large-scale supra-local annual ritual gatherings of tantrists\u0000are virtually synonymous with, and crucial for, their collective existence. In the largest of\u0000these rituals, the ‘elders’ meeting’ is in effect an institutionalized procedure for evaluating\u0000the ritual performance, its conditions and effects, and, if necessary, for adjusting aspects\u0000of the ritual. At a recent meeting, the ‘elders’ decided to abandon a powerful and valued\u0000but violent and problematical component of the ritual, due to its potential detrimental\u0000effects on the fabric of social relations on which the ritual depends for its continued\u0000existence. Thus, a highly scripted, ‘liturgy-centered’ ritual (per Atkinson) can be adapted\u0000to the social context. The specialists of these textual rituals demonstrate collectively an\u0000expertise that extends into the sociological dynamics surrounding the ritual.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90256018","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090111
Jens Kreinath, Refika Sarıönder
The Alevi cem is a communal ritual that is performed weekly among members of a major religious minority in Turkey. Although formerly celebrated exclusively in rural village communities, this ritual became publicly accessible at the end of the 1980s when Alevi cultural associations were opened in the urban centers of Turkey. Since it was made public, the cem has undergone significant changes in the internal dynamics of its performance and in the formal design of its liturgy. By addressing multiple audiences in its urban milieu, the performance of the cem reveals moments of ritual reflexivity. Based on ethnographic research at a cultural association in Istanbul, this article focuses on a cem performance that led to ruptures and mishaps in the presentation of some ritual acts. We analyze the ritual leader’s response to these incidents and the theoretical implications of this account for the study of ritual reflexivity.
{"title":"Dynamics of Ritual Reflexivity in the Alevi Cem of Istanbul","authors":"Jens Kreinath, Refika Sarıönder","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090111","url":null,"abstract":"The Alevi cem is a communal ritual that is performed weekly among members\u0000of a major religious minority in Turkey. Although formerly celebrated exclusively in\u0000rural village communities, this ritual became publicly accessible at the end of the 1980s\u0000when Alevi cultural associations were opened in the urban centers of Turkey. Since it\u0000was made public, the cem has undergone significant changes in the internal dynamics of\u0000its performance and in the formal design of its liturgy. By addressing multiple audiences\u0000in its urban milieu, the performance of the cem reveals moments of ritual reflexivity.\u0000Based on ethnographic research at a cultural association in Istanbul, this article focuses\u0000on a cem performance that led to ruptures and mishaps in the presentation of some\u0000ritual acts. We analyze the ritual leader’s response to these incidents and the theoretical\u0000implications of this account for the study of ritual reflexivity.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"118 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89121287","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 : 2018-09-01DOI: 10.3167/ARRS.2018.090107
Khaled Furani
Anthropologists have recently shown an increasing concern with secular formations. This exploratory article inquires into the secular formation of anthropology itself by initiating an examination of its relation to theology, deemed anthropology’s disciplinary Other. I argue for recognizing a complex relation, whereby anthropology in some ways forgets theology, in others sustains it, and in still others invites critique by it. Analyzing anthropology from its theological edges may reinvigorate awareness of its ethical dimensions as a secular enterprise, as well as help measure its distance from (or proximity to) dominant projects, such as the Enlightenment and the nation-state, which were crucial for its founding in the modern world. An anthropology critically curious about its inherited alienation from theological modes of reasoning may not only become better at investigating the possibilities that cultural forms can take, but also become aware of new forms that the discipline could itself take.
{"title":"Secular Routes and Theological Drifts in Modern Anthropology","authors":"Khaled Furani","doi":"10.3167/ARRS.2018.090107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3167/ARRS.2018.090107","url":null,"abstract":"Anthropologists have recently shown an increasing concern with secular formations. This exploratory article inquires into the secular formation of anthropology itself by initiating an examination of its relation to theology, deemed anthropology’s disciplinary Other. I argue for recognizing a complex relation, whereby anthropology in some ways forgets theology, in others sustains it, and in still others invites critique by it. Analyzing anthropology from its theological edges may reinvigorate awareness of its ethical dimensions as a secular enterprise, as well as help measure its distance from (or proximity to) dominant projects, such as the Enlightenment and the nation-state, which were crucial for its founding in the modern world. An anthropology critically curious about its inherited alienation from theological modes of reasoning may not only become better at investigating the possibilities that cultural forms can take, but also become aware of new forms that the discipline could itself take.","PeriodicalId":42823,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Society-Advances in Research","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89357785","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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