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- Convenors:
-
Alessandro Testa
(Charles University)
István Povedák (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design)
Agata Ładykowska (Polish Academy of Sciences)
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- Formats:
- Panel Roundtable
- Stream:
- Religion
- Sessions:
- Monday 21 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Helsinki
Short Abstract:
How sound is the concept of "re-enchantment" under the scrutiny of ethnographic evidence from different post-socialist countries? What kind of theorisation can reinforce its validity or weaken its explanatory power? If valid, does it signify a normal, exceptional, or transgressive state of things?
Long Abstract:
One of the possible ways to understand and conceptualise post-socialist religious transformations in largely secularised late-modern contexts is by appealing to the idea of "re-enchantment", which challenges a well-known Weberian interpretative paradigm. This concept has recently been theorised or re-thought in philosophy (Scruton 2014), cultural studies (Landy and Saler 2009, Partridge 2005), esotericism (Asprem 2019), sociology (Jenkins 2000) and ethnology/anthropology (Margry 2008, Testa 2017, Isnart and Testa 2020). How useful and convincing is such a concept when put under the scrutiny of empirical, ethnographic data from different post-socialist countries? What kind of evidence or theorisation can reinforce its validity or alternatively weaken its explanatory power? And if it does indeed bear validity in explaining social realities, does it signify a normal, exceptional, or transgressive state of things?
This panel intends to discuss these questions by looking at specific case studies of new or renewed religious practices in central-eastern Europe, and also at the conceptual and methodological entanglements and tensions that the notion of "re-enchantment" may trigger when problematised against empirical evidence and the irreducible diversity of specific examples. We invite contributions that look at how the concept of "re-enchantment" functions at the ground level of social practices concerning vernacular/local religiosities, new religious movements and "spiritualities", and civic rituality and religious heritages, whereas the final roundtable we further theorisation about the concept itself.
The geo-political scope of the papers, with the possibility of motivated exceptions, will be the Visegrád group (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia).
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 21 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
Drawn on historical data and long-term ethnographic fieldwork, the paper highlights at the “re-enchantment of medicine”. It examines the medical landscape around a Hungarian Marian shrine pointing at the interactions between traditional and recent manifestations of spiritual healing.
Paper long abstract:
After the 1989 political changes in Hungary one could observe the re-emergence of alternative practices of healing. Those operating with the so-called “human energy field”, like reiki, prana-healing, psychotronics or táltos-massage, were completely unknown before. These new holistic methods embraced the long-missed magical-religious-spiritual sphere of healing therefore they soon gained outstanding popularity.
I have already examined some aspects of the medical landscape of present-day Hungary, including but not restricted to the life course of individual alternative therapists, the client-healer relationship, the strategies of health seeking, and the network and rivalry of practitioners.
Drawn on historical data and my long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this time I will highlight the “re-enchantment of medicine”. Miracle cures at a Marian shrine and the individual therapeutic repertoires of healers practicing in its region will be scrutinized in order to point at the interactions between traditional and more recent spiritual manifestations of religious healing in the social context of small rural and urban communities in South Western Hungary.
Paper short abstract:
The paper discusses the project investigating civic rituality connected to recent anti-abortion protests in Poland. This practice, emerging in response to the hegemonic position of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, is approached through a critical adoption of the re-enchantment concept.
Paper long abstract:
This paper discusses the newly launched project investigating ethnographically civic rituality connected to anti-abortion legislation protests as resulting from a specific – oppressive – political, moral, aesthetic and juridical context in Poland. This practice, emerging in response to the hegemonic position of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Poland, is approached through a critical adoption of the re-enchantment concept.
The dominant position of the RCC, expressed not only in the extremely high numbers of religious adherence, but also in a number of legal and economic privileges endowed by the state, has a long history and has been upheld throughout the socialist period, despite the official reluctance to religion. In the noughties the number of adherents claiming Catholic identity dropped but still stays very high and ranges around 90%. However, the relationship of Poles with Catholicism is systematically eroding. The change is visible in people’s views on the ways the Church should participate in public life. The European Values Study, in which Poland participates since 1990, demonstrates that the Church ceases to be seen as the authority on various issues. Recent manifestations gathering crowds numbering thousands of young people are a firm demonstration that a change in this relationship is occurring.
The paper thus positions itself in conversation with the concept of re-enchantment through the core issue of change: how understanding as well practices of “religion” change over time, and in which context should we situate those changes on order to account for them?
Paper short abstract:
The paper will present the conclusion of the field research on the Polish native faith (Rodzimowierstwo), which, in its beliefs and rituals, tries to restore religious meanings and functions to the characters and activities present in folk culture and in contemporary secularized social practices.
Paper long abstract:
Rodzimowierstwo (native faith) is one of the trends of contemporary paganism, which refers to the pre-Christian religion of the Slavs. Due to the limited number of historical sources concerning the Slavic culture from the pagan period, in the (re) construction of their beliefs and rituals, representatives of the Rodzimowierstwo often refer to ethnographic materials from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and include many folk customs in their religious practices, treating them as the Christianized (and then partly secularized) remains of the religion of the ancient Slavs.
In my paper I will analyze the status of such activities and how useful the concept of "re-enchantment" is in explaining them, as well as whether and how this concept can be used to describe the processes of Christianization, secularization and the re-paganization of folk customs.
The basis for my considerations will be field research that I have been conducting among the followers of the Rodzimowierstwo since 2018. A case that will be analyzed in detail is the Marzanna drowning rite, which is particularly interesting and representative. Marzanna, worshiped by the believers of Rodzimowierstwo as the goddess of winter, became an element of educational and entertaining activities organized in many schools and kindergartens on the occasion of the first day of spring. This situation brings about discussions and controversy among the followers of Rodzimowierstwo in relation to such issues as respect for ancient deities, cases of their desecration, and the possibilities and ways of restoring them to the status of holiness.
Paper short abstract:
The paper proposes a case study of the religious dimension of management practices and discourses that encourage employees’ personal development and wellbeing in Slovakia. It will study how these trends may also represent a new form of religion in the capitalist and consumerist society.
Paper long abstract:
The paper proposes a case study of the religious dimension in business in Slovakia to question the concept of re-enchantment. It is based on ongoing ethnographic research into management practices and discourses that encourage employees’ personal development and wellbeing. According to Nicolas Marquis (2014), personal development cannot be defined once for all but more through ‘family resemblance’ features. These features can be found in different places such as bookshops, therapies, psychology sessions, seminars and festivals. Personal development practices can involve the practices of astrology, tarot, relaxation, yoga. Personal development has also penetrated management practices and discourses (Brunel, 2008). These practices and discourses transmit the ‘spirit of capitalism’ (Boltanski & Chiappelo, 1999). Recently they have refocused on employees’ happiness and wellbeing. They encourage individuals to adopt a specific subjectivity and get involved in organisational goals. The paper will study how these new trends in management may also represent a new form of religion in the capitalist and consumerist society. At the same time, it will question the notion of re-enchantment beyond its propensity to attract our attention to the emergence of new religious forms.