Contribution short abstract:

An embodied sense of community at and connected to a Parisian Tenrikyo center was promoted via the “Monthly Service” ritual of sacred songs and dances. This ritual encouraged particular social dynamics that contributed to an interconnectedness often perceived as beneficial to well-being.

Contribution long abstract:

A sense of “community” can be an important contributor to well-being. In my research conducted primarily at a center of the new Japanese religion of Tenrikyo located in a Parisian suburb, the “Monthly Service” ritual composed of choreographed dances accompanied by instrumental performers was a sensorially rich performative act that promoted a sense of community at and connected to this center. In circulated Tenrikyo discourse, it is not a performance focused on the musical or dance skills of the performers, but rather an exercise in and display of people occupying different roles which come together to create a greater whole. In my findings, there was a strong relationship between the social model embodied through this ritual and its enactment in other contexts.

Traditionally in Japan and elsewhere, newcomers became Tenrikyo followers after having been alleviated of physical afflictions through faith healing. In modern Europe, however, it is often psychological rather than physical “healing” that draws newcomers to the faith. This performative ritual plays an important role in the promotion of particular social dynamics, understandings of the self, dispositional modalities, and cosmological conceptualizations that promote a sense of community. In this analytic exploration, particular emphasis will be accorded to the tangibly felt, embodied component of the ritual which is transported to moments and spaces beyond this monthly ritual and includes social actors who categorically choose to abstain from taking part in, or being present for, this ritual, but nonetheless are part of the center’s broader community.

E-paper: this Contribution will not be presented, but read in advance and discussed