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Paper short abstract:

Tone Eurythmy choreography & performance is typified by formally constituted transformations of music elements & structure to movement form and structure. We describe the process, relating it to anthroposophical notions of structural transformation & human agency - overlooked by earlier anthropology

Paper long abstract:

As practised in Waldorf (Steiner) schools and the related anthroposophical movement, the art of Eurythmy includes, as core to Tone Eurythmy, a process of choreographing and then performing what is represented in musical scores through bodily movement. Those movement forms are not, however, random; nor are they reflective of idiosyncratic emotional responses to music. Rather, they are explicitly choreographed on the basis of an understanding that particular musical elements and structures are readily transformable into specific movement forms - in other words, that musical structure is transformable into structures of movement. That understanding reflects, in turn, an understanding, fundamental to anthroposophy, that the whole universe, including the universe of time, is structured in ways that can be seen as transformations from one level and context to another. The paper describes the kinds of music-to-movement transformations that are produced in the processes of eurythmic choreography and performance of a selection of musical scores. It uses those to illustrate how the transformative principle is applied in Tone Eurythmy. And it reflects on the extent to which human agency is understood, from an anthroposophical perspective, to be able to effect such structural transformations, something that was absent in earlier anthropological work on structural transformations in and of symbolic systems.

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Paper short abstract:

The paper will address patients’ and healers’ changing notions of body and soul as reflected in my study of spiritual healing and patients with medically unexplained symptoms and the significance of patients’ spiritual bodily sensed experiences in relation to a healing process.

Paper long abstract:

As a consequence of the Cartesian dualism body and soul have for a long time been conceived of as separate entities of a different nature. These notions of body and soul are changing. This is especially evident in New Age concepts of body and self, illness and healing as it is also reflected in my study of spiritual healing and patients with medically unexplained symptoms on which this paper is based.

The paper will address the following questions: What are the characteristics of patients' and healers' changing notions of body and self? How do patients link body and spirit and what does it mean in relation to a healing process? With a point of departure in on the one hand patients' and healers' notions of body and self, illness and healing and on the other hand patients' experiences of 'the sacred in the body' I want to argue that when bodily sensed spiritual experiences take on a personal meaning it opens a possibility for 'religious sceptics' to believe in the existence of a spiritual world playing an important role in relation to the healing process.

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Paper short abstract:

This presentation traces different conceptions of body, soul, the Self and the Other among mediumistic healers in Germany as well as in anthropology and argues for a phenomenology of otherness which is grounded in the assumption of an otherness of experience itself and which promises a new understanding of bodily experiences in religious contexts.

Paper long abstract:

Unusual bodily experiences are often the decisive factor for conversion and the main reason for faith among the contemporary mediumistic healers in Germany I have researched. Their practices are often oriented towards evoking perceptions outside ordinary ways of experiencing. The interpretation of such experiences leads to questions concerning the conceptualizing of the body and the soul, and thus "the Self" as well as leading to the question of the relation between "the Self" and "the Other".

The emic discourse of the mediums as well as the etic discourse of anthropologists about experiences in religious contexts ocillates between finding the origin of such experiences inside and outside the Self. On the one hand "Spirits", "Energies" and similar things are seen as autonomous entities affecting the Self, while on the other hand they are seen as having originated in the Self through projections of the unconcious or through imagination.

Even some phenomenological approaches which actually aim to conceptualize experiences beyond dichotomies such as inner and outer or the Self and the Other, like the much cited approach of Thomas Csordas, tend to entangle themselves in such dichotomies and tend to trace back experiences of the Other as having originated in the Self.

This presentation traces different emic and etic conceptions of body, soul, the Self and the Other and, against this background, argues for a phenomenology of otherness which is grounded in the assumption of an otherness of experience itself and which promises a new understanding of bodily experiences in religious contexts.

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Paper short abstract:

The notions of body and soul are present in the contemporary representations of occult forces. I will explore the different manners of these representations, related to body and soul, and which are their impacts on the urban population of Bangui the capital city of Central African Republic.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I would like to argue the importance of the « body » and the « soul » in the representations of witchcraft and occult practice in contemporary urban context of Bangui (Central African Republic). The stories of steeling and selling some parts of the body or even the body (especially the soul), of zombies, of vampires, of Mamy-Wata, of crocodile man and of others "figures of the imaginary" (Tonda, 2005) are omnipresent in different parts of the sub-Saharan Africa. The population of African cities are living in a permanent spiritual insecurity (Ashforth, 2005), in the fear of being abducted, taken away or "eaten" by the actors of this occult night world.

Through the study of this imaginary, by using some examples of my recent fieldwork in Bangui, I will investigate firstly the relation of body/soul and the occult imaginary. I will point out that the concepts of the body and the soul are closely related to the representations of the occult forces (witchcraft). Finally, I will argue that the significations and representations of body and soul have been reinterpreted, readjusted and transformed by introducing in the discourse of witchcraft the notions of power, consumption, production, exchange and wealth.

TONDA, J., 2005, Le Souverain moderne. Le corps du pouvoir en Afrique centrale (Congo, Gabon), Paris, Karthala, 2005, 297 p.

ASHFORTH, A., 2005, Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa. The University of Chicago Press

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the existential dimensions of walking the Camino de Santiago for modern pilgrims re-inventing, and not just recovering, a medieval pilgrimage route as they reinvigorate their own life trajectories.

Paper long abstract:

In studying the body in religion, pilgrimage is a privileged site for contemplating embodiment and lived religion. Pilgrims buck the trend of dwindling numbers characterizing the recent decline in mainstream religious worship. The Camino de Santiago, once the third most popular shrine in Medieval Christianity, has reclaimed much of its previous glory. By adopting a phenomenological method, this paper contends, researchers can chart the boundaries along which pilgrims travel, exploring the edges of their faith and the ground of their being, wherein the body becomes a language in itself and walking a form of rhetoric, a 'strong poetics' (Harold Bloom). In the contemporary recovery of this pilgrimage route as therapeutic movement, I suggest, the 'suffering soul' can craft for itself a wounded body capable of manifesting the ills of a dimly perceived 'improvised life' (Clifford Geertz). Such a life, I conclude, does not require words to give it shape, but the immediacy of a body in the midst of struggle to give it direction.

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Drawing on material from Muslim East Java, the paper concentrates on the assumed connections of the body and the soul of human persons with the otherwise invisible and imperceptible sacred, and builds upon a series of narrative experiences of revelation by people who have come to be endowed with the capacity to heal humanity’s many ailments so as to conceptualise processes of corporeal becoming and transformation.

Paper long abstract:

Central to several forms of Sufi cosmological conceptions is the concept of nur Muhammad, the light of Muhammad, emanating from God and allowing for the communication and transfer of divine knowledge to humanity. This light is thought of as descending on especially pious persons who have through impeccable character, exemplary deeds and ascetic practice, progressed far enough upwards the path towards unity with God. Drawing on material from Muslim East Java, the paper concentrates on the assumed connections of the body and the soul of human persons with the otherwise invisible and imperceptible sacred, and builds upon a series of narrative experiences of revelation by people who have come to be endowed with the capacity to heal humanity's many ailments so as to conceptualise processes of corporeal becoming and transformation.

The inception of divine light into the human is portrayed in highly dramatic tone and usually follows upon many trials by ordeal in which the incipient must prove his/her worthiness. The gift of knowledge is bestowed in the midst of highly dangerous and tormenting encounters and cases of privation that culminate in the sudden loss of consciousness, a little death of sorts, while it is marked by crashing sounds - nddhuuk...struum...shreed - electrical currents, and unexpected body penetrations. The becomings that the embodiment of the gift inaugurates amount to the acquisition of an enhanced sense of awareness and an amplified degree of control over the forces at play in the world. Such becomings are publicly evinced through the capacity to perform healing.

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Paper short abstract:

In Sikhism, it is through the body and the embodiment of some elements that the individuals are related to their deity and they relate to other communities, exhibiting a corporeality which stresses not only their religious belonging, but also the distinction with respect to their "others".

Paper long abstract:

The Sikh Dharma or The Sikh Code of Conduct not only refers to the religious aspect of Sikhism but also to the ordination of a series of corporal practices from which it organizes and arranges the lives of its followers. Some practices, that include a disciplined schedule, limited consumption of some foods and other products considered as contaminants, and, especially, with the ostentation of some elements, the embodiment of which have the objective to generate identity, to reveal identification and to recreate generation and the ideals of the community. So, it is through the body and the embodiment of some elements that the Sikhs are related to their deity and, at the same time, they form a relationship with other communities, exhibiting a corporeality which stresses, not only their religious belonging, but also the distinction with respect to their "others".

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Paper short abstract:

My paper develops a part of a research based on the theoretical and ethnographical analysis of the centuries-old Giglio Feast, a ritual celebrated in honour of St. Paulinus, in Nola (Naples, Italy) and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (New York, United States), by Italian-American migrants.

Paper long abstract:

The Giglio Feast represents an occasion for strong social aggregation as well as extreme competition among several protagonists dancing. In this occasion, the body becomes the principal way of representation of religious faith, sense of belonging and identity, etc.

This spectacular religious ritual catalyzes and promotes a networks of relationship based on a double belonging, religious and ethnic one. The feast in Nola is a procession of eight heavy obelisks, each 25 meters high, carried for many hours on 128 men' back, called "collatori". Through their religious dancing procession, these men show their faith, their strength and virility. The "paranza" (lifter) meetings reinforce the status of important members of the feast hierarchy.

Every man who puts his shoulder under the Giglio is performing a passionate act, shared with all others liftmen. In Brooklyn the celebration of the Feast of Saint Paulinus expresses a religious commitment, but also a family tradition, manhood, and the passage from childhood through maturity to the old age. The exultation at the end of each dancing day, is not simply a matter of masculine high spirits or youthful release; it is a remarkable demonstration of pride by men of all ages who, in making the Giglio dancing, have renewed its sense of order, values, and continuity into the community.

However, the main consequence of this physical effort, is a shoulder malformation called "callo of St. Paulinus", which have marked many lifters forever. Another interesting aspect of the body in relation to the feast in Williamsburg, are tattoos representing the Giglio's images marked on the Italian-American men's bodies. Analyzing both cities where the Giglio Feast is celebrated, bodies observed in the individual dimension, through tattoos, and in a collective one, represented by dancing obelisks carried on shoulders, become the place where the soul expresses a passion for a Saint and for a feast and create a distinction and an identity, exclusively local in Nola and global in Williamsburg.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on a Nigerian Pentecostal church that has a strong transnational strategy and wishes to 'reclaim' Europe for Christianity, the Redeemed Christian church of God. They are active in many Northern European countries, the Netherlands among them. One of the issues they confront in their attempts to mobilize 'the native Dutch' have to do with differences in embodiment as expressed in style of worship, fasting practices and simply 'being there'.

Paper long abstract:

Pentecostal Christianity has a distinct focus on bodily mediated experiences. In African Pentecostal Christianity, bodily practices have a central place: fasting, abstaining from alcohol and cigarettes, enthousiastic style of worshipping and an insistence on speaking in tongues. Moreover, the church central to this paper has a strong emphasis on church-planting, mobilizing their members immediately to spend a lot of time and money on expanding the church, expecting them to participate in all night prayer services and travel to gatherings in London and Nigeria. By mobilizing their members and their resources, the Redeemed Christian Church of God has managed to sustain a long period of intense growth since the early eighties, and has parishes all over the world. In the Netherlands, they have grown from one parish to 19 parishes in about 10 years. However, to the Dutch Pentecostals who participate in this church, this is felt as an unacceptable form of incorporation and even bodily force that goes against the spontaneity and freedom they are looking for in Pentecostalism. The church leadership is aware of these differences, and tries to find ways to deal with them but in the process comes up against barely articulated and ingrained bodily habits that are resistant to change or even hybridity. This paper will explore these issues based on ongoing research.

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Paper short abstract:

Missionary initiatives are seldom analysed from the point of view of the body. This papers focuses on three bodily aspects of a Dutch Protestant mission in Brazil: body as metaphor, the representations of the body and the transformation of bodily dispositions of missionaries and missionized.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the bodily aspects of missionary and development initiatives organised in Brazil by Kerk in Actie, a Dutch Protestant missionary agency. The text focuses on three main aspects: body as religious metaphor, representations of body in the missionary endeavour, and the social construction of the bodies of missionaries and target groups. The analysis of the first aspect provides an understanding of how body appears in rituals and religious discourses of the missionary organisation as a metaphor of (and for) unity and cohesion, being the expression of processes of inclusion and exclusion. The second aspect is related to the images of healthy, beautiful, and saved bodies that orientate missionary and development endeavours. Combining some concepts of cognitive anthropology and the anthropology of body, the paper discusses how specific symbolic repertoires (D'Andrade) play a role in the social construction of bodies as objects of salvation and development, looking also at how the difference between body and soul is reflected in discourses about mission and development, respectively. Finally, the analysis of the third aspect provides an understanding of the social construction of bodies in the whole missionary network, based on the phenomenological notion of embodied self (Csordas). The analysis treats the transformation of bodily dispositions of both missionaries and missionized, trying to explore the superposition between two dichotomies: the one opposing mind and body, and the other opposing the West and the rest.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the cult of San Antonio de Padua in Apiao island. The image of the saint circulates among the island households, where novenas are celebrated in exchange for the miracles he previously provided. People interact emotionally and physically with the saint as if he was a person.

Paper long abstract:

The small community of Apiao island (700 inhabitants, mostly Catholic) regularly host elaborate public prayer meetings (novenas) to celebrate a miraculous saint, San Antonio de Padua. The saint's image is fetched from another island and stays in Apiao for cycles of 9 days. During his stay Anchuquito, as people familiarly call him, is hosted in a private household, the residence of the person who received the miracle. The image of the saint is spoken of as if he was a person, and held and kissed as if he was a baby. During novenas people pray, eat, drink and dance in front of the saint and in his honour. The peculiar relationship of affection and reciprocal exchange that tie Apiao people to the little image is described and analysed. Negotiation with this powerful entity culminates with the celebration of the novena ritual gatherings. In the cult's celebration, a unique code of decorum takes place regarding the body and the proper way to interact with one's fellow novena goers.

Religious beliefs as well as crucial social rules inform and shape a cult that embraces and dramatically exposes the pillars of Apiao people's social theory.

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Paper short abstract:

In the contemporary Greek religious landscape, where Orthodox Christianity encounters new forms of spirituality, bodily praxes negotiate the dynamics of faith. Drawing on my ethnographic research concerning the Greek “evil eye”, this paper focuses on the significant role the body holds in everyday faith/full interactions of performed religiosity

Paper long abstract:

Faith/full performances are closely intertwined with bodily praxes. Religion is experienced and expressed corporeally, embracing manifestations of belief and dynamics of spirituality. Drawing on my ethnographic research, which has dealt with the "evil eye" practice in Crete and northern Greece, I shall negotiate the variety of embodied acts of faith in the context of Orthodox Christianity. Religion in Greece is stereotypically synonymous with Orthodoxy- in terms of national/ethnic identity claims, as well as of everyday perceptions of being. Contemporary Greek religiosity, however, is far from homogeneous. Hand-in-hand with 'official' Greek religion, new forms of spirituality are to be found; practices, such as the "evil eye", which, despite a contrasting relationship with Christian Orthodoxy, embody religious belief, inhabiting a 'sacred' space in close proximity with the latter; supernatural experiences, perceived with the body, which are regarded as complementary religious phenomena; and practices, such as yoga and feng-shui, which have, during very recent years, gained popularity, and have claimed their existence in the spiritual ideology of Greeks. In this synthetically religious panorama, 'soma' holds a central position: in 'official' ritualism [ranging from Church liturgies and the Holy Mysteries, to exorcisms and priest blessings] and in everyday ritual practices ["evil eye" healing, religiously driven everyday somatic performances and spiritual exercises]. My aim in this paper, hence, is to focus on these anxious bodily interactions of performed religiosity, which challenge the 'Orthodox' representation, rendering it a religion-of-embodied-action.

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This paper looks at the ill body as a call for the expression of faith, in the form of congregations that gather out of interpersonal and spiritual networks to take care of the sick individual and thereby take care of the congregation as a whole.

Paper long abstract:

"Your job is to persevere, and our job is to keep praying for you, to keep the faith." Serge was speaking to a gathering of friends at the 32nd birthday of Alexandre, a young man with a cancer that had been consuming his face half his life despite numerous surgeries to remove the tumour.

Based on fieldwork in Benin surrounding patients of a Christian hospital ship, I explore the interpersonal and spiritual networks that have formed as a base beyond the surgical and evangelical interventions of the ship that, with its arrival, joined a sort of congregation around Alexandre and his illness. The body's expression of grave illness is a physical manifestation of the (negative) energies affecting the sick individual and a complex centre of contestation surrounding the source of affliction and the recourses to heal in this landscape where many hold to Christian beliefs to counter the feared capacities of other local religions. The ill body becomes the principle for social cohesion. It is a call to arms for those who choose to answer, beyond family and friends and the church, to a selective greater community that unites in order to assist an individual who is suffering. By looking at the religious responses enacted through individuals - long weekly prayer circles, collection of money for surgeries, and public testimonies praising God's healing abilities - a patchwork is woven wherein it is not just the ill body that is taken care of, but the body of the congregation and its belief.