Pub Date : 2021-10-11DOI: 10.1177/00377686211046640
Elazar Ben-Lulu, J. Feldman
This ethnography analyzes three Israeli Reform Jewish rituals as manifestations of interreligious hospitality. The Daniel Reform congregation invites Muslim residents of Jaffa to participate in rituals incorporating Arabic and Muslim clergy and prayers. The egalitarian and pluralistic Jewish symbols and narratives promote neighborly relationships. Nevertheless, some participants’ responses reaffirm popular suspicions and prejudices, which the ceremony seeks to overcome. Interreligious hospitality here is not so much an act of theological reconciliation, but a political act also directed toward other actors – like the Israeli right-wing and Israeli society, which grant the Orthodox a monopoly on Judaism. While the shared ritual practice offers a dialogical model that engages broader publics through doing, the analytic frame of hospitality sensitizes us to the importance of space and language in the power relationships of hosts and guests. It helps explain the challenges to the messages of coexistence, which the rituals are designed to confirm.
{"title":"Reforming the Israeli–Arab conflict? Interreligious hospitality in Jaffa and its discontents","authors":"Elazar Ben-Lulu, J. Feldman","doi":"10.1177/00377686211046640","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211046640","url":null,"abstract":"This ethnography analyzes three Israeli Reform Jewish rituals as manifestations of interreligious hospitality. The Daniel Reform congregation invites Muslim residents of Jaffa to participate in rituals incorporating Arabic and Muslim clergy and prayers. The egalitarian and pluralistic Jewish symbols and narratives promote neighborly relationships. Nevertheless, some participants’ responses reaffirm popular suspicions and prejudices, which the ceremony seeks to overcome. Interreligious hospitality here is not so much an act of theological reconciliation, but a political act also directed toward other actors – like the Israeli right-wing and Israeli society, which grant the Orthodox a monopoly on Judaism. While the shared ritual practice offers a dialogical model that engages broader publics through doing, the analytic frame of hospitality sensitizes us to the importance of space and language in the power relationships of hosts and guests. It helps explain the challenges to the messages of coexistence, which the rituals are designed to confirm.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"69 1","pages":"3 - 21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45793235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article, we discuss personal moments of our respective ethnographic research on Guatemalan Pentecostalism and Afro-Cuban religiosity. Through our own involvement, we expose the approaches of the two religious forms, the former working by way of exorcism and the latter by way of endorcism. Guatemalan Pentecostal exorcism works by a radical expulsion of the previous non-Pentecostal past to strictly convert the person. Afro-Cuban endorcism, on the other hand, endorses the past, present, and future, as it accepts a simultaneity and multiplicity of ‘influences’. No ‘demon’ is perceived, as in the case of Pentecostalism, no ‘idolatry’ is detected and, instead of conversion, what occurs is a cumulative incorporation of multiple initiations. Our approach, we argue, as also inspired by theories of ‘radical participation’ and ‘symmetrisation’, affords a useful vantage point to engage with fine ethnographic nuances of a proliferation of comparative symmetries in the study of religiosity.
{"title":"Pentecostal exorcism and Afro-Cuban endorcism: ‘Radical participation’ and the proliferation of symmetries","authors":"Manuela CantÓn-Delgado, Anastasios Panagiotopoulos","doi":"10.1177/00377686211043715","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211043715","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we discuss personal moments of our respective ethnographic research on Guatemalan Pentecostalism and Afro-Cuban religiosity. Through our own involvement, we expose the approaches of the two religious forms, the former working by way of exorcism and the latter by way of endorcism. Guatemalan Pentecostal exorcism works by a radical expulsion of the previous non-Pentecostal past to strictly convert the person. Afro-Cuban endorcism, on the other hand, endorses the past, present, and future, as it accepts a simultaneity and multiplicity of ‘influences’. No ‘demon’ is perceived, as in the case of Pentecostalism, no ‘idolatry’ is detected and, instead of conversion, what occurs is a cumulative incorporation of multiple initiations. Our approach, we argue, as also inspired by theories of ‘radical participation’ and ‘symmetrisation’, affords a useful vantage point to engage with fine ethnographic nuances of a proliferation of comparative symmetries in the study of religiosity.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"582 - 599"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48188754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-08DOI: 10.1177/00377686211032966
Misha Hoo
The emergence of New Age spirituality in Western cultures during the 1960s and 1970s has been described as a rejection of traditional values, fuelled by disillusionment with the Christian church and a feeling of alienation in mainstream social and work environments. While New Age has been characterised as a ‘turning away’ from dominant cultural ideologies, there is comparatively less discussion about what New Age actors are ‘turning towards’ in their pursuit of subjective spirituality. Research from Australia demonstrates that individuals were primarily searching for deeper meaning and looking for spiritual answers when they first engaged with New Age pursuits. In addition, social and intergenerational transmission are both important factors in the cultivation of New Age spirituality.
{"title":"New Age in Australia: Social transmission and the quest for meaning","authors":"Misha Hoo","doi":"10.1177/00377686211032966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211032966","url":null,"abstract":"The emergence of New Age spirituality in Western cultures during the 1960s and 1970s has been described as a rejection of traditional values, fuelled by disillusionment with the Christian church and a feeling of alienation in mainstream social and work environments. While New Age has been characterised as a ‘turning away’ from dominant cultural ideologies, there is comparatively less discussion about what New Age actors are ‘turning towards’ in their pursuit of subjective spirituality. Research from Australia demonstrates that individuals were primarily searching for deeper meaning and looking for spiritual answers when they first engaged with New Age pursuits. In addition, social and intergenerational transmission are both important factors in the cultivation of New Age spirituality.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"600 - 617"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48745448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-06DOI: 10.1177/00377686211032775
B. Vermander
Starting from a historical reflection on the concept of hybridization, and in particular on its circulation between natural and social sciences, this contribution attempts to identify some of the processes by which cereal rituals are reformulated when the relevance of associated representations and practices is eroded. Among other examples, it mobilizes the case of millet rituals in Taiwan, modified by the introduction of rice cultivation and then by Christianization. The last section revisits the concepts and approaches used in the field so as to better balance theoretical rigor and imagination in the study of the transformations that continue to affect the meaning given to cultivation and food practices.
{"title":"L’expérience de l’hybride. Cultures céréalières et croisements spirituels","authors":"B. Vermander","doi":"10.1177/00377686211032775","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211032775","url":null,"abstract":"Starting from a historical reflection on the concept of hybridization, and in particular on its circulation between natural and social sciences, this contribution attempts to identify some of the processes by which cereal rituals are reformulated when the relevance of associated representations and practices is eroded. Among other examples, it mobilizes the case of millet rituals in Taiwan, modified by the introduction of rice cultivation and then by Christianization. The last section revisits the concepts and approaches used in the field so as to better balance theoretical rigor and imagination in the study of the transformations that continue to affect the meaning given to cultivation and food practices.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"491 - 508"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45157088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-01DOI: 10.1177/00377686211039072
Olga Breskaya, G. Giordan, Siniša Zrinščak
Religious freedom is among the most contested concepts in contemporary societies. Though it is guaranteed by international human rights treaties and represents one of the main pillars of democratic societies, its protection and implementation are far from being unambiguous and have become increasingly contested. Usually defined simultaneously as freedom of religion and freedom from religion, tensions arise from the very first definition of religion and how the individual right of religious freedom is introduction
{"title":"Introduction: Religious freedom: between governance and social perception Introduction: Liberté religieuse : entre gouvernance et perception sociale","authors":"Olga Breskaya, G. Giordan, Siniša Zrinščak","doi":"10.1177/00377686211039072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211039072","url":null,"abstract":"Religious freedom is among the most contested concepts in contemporary societies. Though it is guaranteed by international human rights treaties and represents one of the main pillars of democratic societies, its protection and implementation are far from being unambiguous and have become increasingly contested. Usually defined simultaneously as freedom of religion and freedom from religion, tensions arise from the very first definition of religion and how the individual right of religious freedom is introduction","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"263 - 281"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46206526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-03DOI: 10.1177/00377686211032769
Else Demeulenaere, Sveta Yamin-Pasternak, D. Rubinstein, A. Lovecraft, Stefanie M. Ickert‐Bond
Spiritual connections to the natural world are fundamental to Micronesian worldviews. Structured interviews gathered ethnoecological information about Serianthes. The kosmos-corpus-praxis conceptual framework analyzed spirituality surrounding this leguminous tree and its connection with Indigenous cosmology, traditional knowledge, and practices. We can summarize the results as follows: (a) interspecies relationships expressed through rituals and oral history guide ethnobotanical practices in Belau (Palau) and Wa’ab (Yap); (b) the tree is critically endangered on Guåhan (Guam) and Luta (Rota). In Luta, the tree is celebrated as a flagship species for endangered plant recovery, while the last Guåhan tree has become a rallying point for spiritual resistance when its habitat became threatened by military plans to construct a firing range; (c) spirituality is a fundamental value for island communities; and (d) traditional knowledge holders and scholars strive to work together toward a co-production of knowledge, using spirituality as a fundamental principle toward respectful and sustainable biocultural conservation.
{"title":"Indigenous spirituality surrounding Serianthes trees in Micronesia: Traditional practice, conservation, and resistance","authors":"Else Demeulenaere, Sveta Yamin-Pasternak, D. Rubinstein, A. Lovecraft, Stefanie M. Ickert‐Bond","doi":"10.1177/00377686211032769","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211032769","url":null,"abstract":"Spiritual connections to the natural world are fundamental to Micronesian worldviews. Structured interviews gathered ethnoecological information about Serianthes. The kosmos-corpus-praxis conceptual framework analyzed spirituality surrounding this leguminous tree and its connection with Indigenous cosmology, traditional knowledge, and practices. We can summarize the results as follows: (a) interspecies relationships expressed through rituals and oral history guide ethnobotanical practices in Belau (Palau) and Wa’ab (Yap); (b) the tree is critically endangered on Guåhan (Guam) and Luta (Rota). In Luta, the tree is celebrated as a flagship species for endangered plant recovery, while the last Guåhan tree has become a rallying point for spiritual resistance when its habitat became threatened by military plans to construct a firing range; (c) spirituality is a fundamental value for island communities; and (d) traditional knowledge holders and scholars strive to work together toward a co-production of knowledge, using spirituality as a fundamental principle toward respectful and sustainable biocultural conservation.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"548 - 561"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48743005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-03DOI: 10.1177/00377686211030806
Denis Monnerie
The yearly first fruit ceremony for yams has been described in most societies of Kanaky New Caledonia. In the far north of the country, however, Arama society’s special feature is that a few weeks before the yam ceremony a small ceremony is held which revolves around the fruit of a tree, the nôôle. This ceremony concerns ad hoc collectives of people acting together. Classically in Kanaky New Caledonia, the yam ceremony concerns a localized social configuration, here the Great House and its ancestors. It is made up of four hamlets conceptualized as Houses organized by an order of precedence. This ceremony also concerns kinship groups (and relations with the Catholic Church). This article analyses both ceremonies in relation to their environments, to horticulture and to their sequential unfoldings. Its perspective is a dynamic, processual description of aspects of the Kanak world construed as a socio-cosmic space and system.
{"title":"L’igname et le fruit du nôôle. Plantes, animaux, personnes et collectifs dans le système socio-cosmique d’Arama (Kanaky Nouvelle-Calédonie)","authors":"Denis Monnerie","doi":"10.1177/00377686211030806","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211030806","url":null,"abstract":"The yearly first fruit ceremony for yams has been described in most societies of Kanaky New Caledonia. In the far north of the country, however, Arama society’s special feature is that a few weeks before the yam ceremony a small ceremony is held which revolves around the fruit of a tree, the nôôle. This ceremony concerns ad hoc collectives of people acting together. Classically in Kanaky New Caledonia, the yam ceremony concerns a localized social configuration, here the Great House and its ancestors. It is made up of four hamlets conceptualized as Houses organized by an order of precedence. This ceremony also concerns kinship groups (and relations with the Catholic Church). This article analyses both ceremonies in relation to their environments, to horticulture and to their sequential unfoldings. Its perspective is a dynamic, processual description of aspects of the Kanak world construed as a socio-cosmic space and system.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"509 - 528"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48188931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-16DOI: 10.1177/00377686211014720
A. Possamai, Alphia Possamai-Inesedy
Habermas coined the term post-secularism to reflect a time period in which religions are given a more central part in social and political life. Even if there is more openness to religion, many religious groups would claim that Western societies are nevertheless still dominated by secularism and want to ensure that freedom of religion and belief remain protected and promoted. This article explores the recent Australian Religious Freedom Review as a case study of the social tension between freedom for and from religion to argue that we might have moved beyond a post-secular sphere in this country. In this phase, what is meant by freedom of religion has shifted from a focus in having all religious groups being able to freely practice their faith to a focus by some mainstream religions to remain free to discriminate on the basis of their faith.
{"title":"Freedom of Religion in post-secular Australia","authors":"A. Possamai, Alphia Possamai-Inesedy","doi":"10.1177/00377686211014720","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211014720","url":null,"abstract":"Habermas coined the term post-secularism to reflect a time period in which religions are given a more central part in social and political life. Even if there is more openness to religion, many religious groups would claim that Western societies are nevertheless still dominated by secularism and want to ensure that freedom of religion and belief remain protected and promoted. This article explores the recent Australian Religious Freedom Review as a case study of the social tension between freedom for and from religion to argue that we might have moved beyond a post-secular sphere in this country. In this phase, what is meant by freedom of religion has shifted from a focus in having all religious groups being able to freely practice their faith to a focus by some mainstream religions to remain free to discriminate on the basis of their faith.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"359 - 374"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00377686211014720","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46463143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-21DOI: 10.1177/00377686211021004
J. Richardson
This article discusses places and historical circumstances where religious freedom is generally protected by governments, including their judicial systems, and contrasts this with examples where such is not the case. Societal conditions contributing to religious freedom derived from theorizing on the ‘sociology of religious freedom’ are discussed, focusing on the characteristics of legal systems. Included is an application of sociology of law theories concerning how minority religious groups sometimes prevail in legal battles, followed by discussion of ‘judicialization of religious freedom’ concept. International legal systems and organizations that promote religious freedom are briefly described before discussing recent developments in the United States involving conflicts between the Supreme Court and Congress as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), with its generally strong record concerning religious freedom. Russia and China, where religious freedom is severely limited or virtually nonexistent, demonstrate conditions not conducive to religious freedom, causing minority faiths to suffer severe consequences.
{"title":"The judicialization of religious freedom: Variations on a theme","authors":"J. Richardson","doi":"10.1177/00377686211021004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211021004","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses places and historical circumstances where religious freedom is generally protected by governments, including their judicial systems, and contrasts this with examples where such is not the case. Societal conditions contributing to religious freedom derived from theorizing on the ‘sociology of religious freedom’ are discussed, focusing on the characteristics of legal systems. Included is an application of sociology of law theories concerning how minority religious groups sometimes prevail in legal battles, followed by discussion of ‘judicialization of religious freedom’ concept. International legal systems and organizations that promote religious freedom are briefly described before discussing recent developments in the United States involving conflicts between the Supreme Court and Congress as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), with its generally strong record concerning religious freedom. Russia and China, where religious freedom is severely limited or virtually nonexistent, demonstrate conditions not conducive to religious freedom, causing minority faiths to suffer severe consequences.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"375 - 391"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00377686211021004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47798210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-21DOI: 10.1177/00377686211014725
Damon Mayrl, Dahlia Venny
Despite a recent trend toward the judicialization of religious freedom (JRF), both historical experience and theoretical considerations suggest ‘dejudicialization’ is likely at some point. Yet, dejudicialization has provoked a little comment, and even less theorization, among social scientists studying religious freedom. This article conceptualizes the dejudicialization of religious freedom (DRF) in institutionalist terms, examines the structural forces that have facilitated JRF, and considers whether and how they may be waning in recent years. We argue conditions favorable toward dejudicialization in general, and DRF more specifically, are already emerging; highlight recent developments consistent with such a turn; and develop a typology of the forms that DRF may take.
{"title":"The dejudicialization of religious freedom?","authors":"Damon Mayrl, Dahlia Venny","doi":"10.1177/00377686211014725","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686211014725","url":null,"abstract":"Despite a recent trend toward the judicialization of religious freedom (JRF), both historical experience and theoretical considerations suggest ‘dejudicialization’ is likely at some point. Yet, dejudicialization has provoked a little comment, and even less theorization, among social scientists studying religious freedom. This article conceptualizes the dejudicialization of religious freedom (DRF) in institutionalist terms, examines the structural forces that have facilitated JRF, and considers whether and how they may be waning in recent years. We argue conditions favorable toward dejudicialization in general, and DRF more specifically, are already emerging; highlight recent developments consistent with such a turn; and develop a typology of the forms that DRF may take.","PeriodicalId":46442,"journal":{"name":"Social Compass","volume":"68 1","pages":"342 - 358"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00377686211014725","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44180949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}