HomeThe Dynamics of Ritual and Embodiment in Contemporary Religion and Spirituality
The Dynamics of Ritual and Embodiment in Contemporary Religion and Spirituality
Dynamiques rituelles et corporalité dans les religiosités et spiritualités contemporaines
Methodological and theoretical issues
Enjeux méthodologiques et théoriques
Published on Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Abstract
Within the framework of International Society for the Sociology of Religion 36th Conference (12 July - 15 July 2021), this panel aims to explore and discuss methodological and theoretical issues related to ethnographic research on sensory and bodily experiences in contemporary religion and spirituality. This panel invites scholars to present their contributions that include sensoriality as a central aspect of their research, either as a methodological tool (completing classical methodologies); or as a theoretical perspective to approach sensory settings and bodily (inter-)actions.
Announcement
International Society for the Sociology of Religion 36th Conference (12 July - 15 July 2021)
Presentation
This panel rises methodological and theoretical issues related to the ethnographic research on sensory and bodily experiences in contemporary religions and/or spiritualities. Since the 1960s, sociology has taken into account the fundamental changes in the social forms of religion. An increasing number of individuals claim to be spiritual or identify as more spiritual than religious instead of, or as opposed to, the traditional notion of religion. However, we may observe a parallel and vibrant development of these new spiritualities alongside persistent traditional social forms of religion, even while neither of these poles are perceived as being merely static. Instead of regarding these trends as opposing, we instead identify those common features that reflect general tendencies in today’s societies. We argue that a perspective on the body is both crucial and deeply promising for understanding the current religious landscape. Rather than a macro perspective on social institutions, this panel will focus upon the micro scale of bodily (inter-)actions in both new spiritual movements as well as other religious trends /communities. Numerous studies consider corporal aspects of religious rituals and worship do exist. Within the field of the aesthetics of religion, Birgit Meyer (2011; 2012) for example introduced the category of “sensational forms” for analyzing embodied features of religious experience and expression. In reflexive anthropological trends, “sensory ethnography” has developed recently (Pink 1999; Classen 1997; Howes 1991; Sparkes 2003). It is aimed at “creating new paths in academic debate through the theoretical exploration of sensory experience, perception, sociality, knowing, knowledge, practice and culture” (Pink 1999). This panel aims to explore and discuss methodological and theoretical issues related to ethnographic research on sensory and bodily experiences in contemporary religion and spirituality. This panel invites scholars to present their contributions that include sensoriality as a central aspect of their research, either as a methodological tool (completing classical methodologies); or as a theoretical perspective to approach sensory settings and bodily (inter-)actions.
Submission
The call for papers will run until 28 February 2021.
Session Conveners
- Farahmand Manéli - Université de Fribourg/CIC
- Grandjean Alexandre - Université de Lausanne
- Papaux Maxime - Université de Fribourg
Subjects
- Modern (Main category)
- Society > Sociology
- Mind and language > Religion
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology
- Society > History > Social history
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Methods of processing and representation
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Corpus approaches, surveys, archives
Date(s)
- Sunday, February 28, 2021
Keywords
- body, ritual, embodiment, religion, spiritualité, spiritualitiy, new age, corps, rituel, corporalité, méthode, methodology, esthétique, esthetic, sensoriel, sensorial
Contact(s)
- Papaux Maxime
courriel : maxime [dot] papaux [at] unifr [dot] ch - Farahmand Manéli
courriel : maneli [dot] farahmand [at] gmail [dot] com
Information source
- Maxime Papaux
courriel : maxime [dot] papaux [at] unifr [dot] ch
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« The Dynamics of Ritual and Embodiment in Contemporary Religion and Spirituality », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, https://calenda.org/836270
