Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice
‘Folk religion’ is a contested category within the study of religions, with scholars increasingly advocating its abandonment. This paper encourages a new critical engagement with ‘folk religion’ as both a category of analysis and as a field of practice. I argue for a renewed attentiveness to the ide...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2013-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/116 |
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| _version_ | 1832572886731194368 |
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| author | James Alexander Kapaló |
| author_facet | James Alexander Kapaló |
| author_sort | James Alexander Kapaló |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ‘Folk religion’ is a contested category within the study of religions, with scholars increasingly advocating its abandonment. This paper encourages a new critical engagement with ‘folk religion’ as both a category of analysis and as a field of practice. I argue for a renewed attentiveness to the ideological dimensions of categories deployed by scholars and to the relationship they bear to the field of practice they seek to signify. Firstly, I explore the discursive nature of the construction of ‘folk religion’ as a category of analysis and how its semantic loading functions to ‘pick up’ distinctive practices from the religious field. Secondly, drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Riesebrodt, I characterise the ‘folk religious field of practice’ as relational, a shifting site of competing agencies. My argument is illustrated with empirical examples drawn from ethnographic research in Romania and Moldova. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-886e16d5684a47fa99a75610045c2b92 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1736-6518 2228-0987 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-09-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |
| spelling | doaj-art-886e16d5684a47fa99a75610045c2b922025-02-02T06:19:21ZengSciendoJournal of Ethnology and Folkloristics1736-65182228-09872013-09-017131892Folk Religion in Discourse and PracticeJames Alexander Kapaló0Study of Religions Department University College Cork O’Rahilly Building, Cork, Ireland‘Folk religion’ is a contested category within the study of religions, with scholars increasingly advocating its abandonment. This paper encourages a new critical engagement with ‘folk religion’ as both a category of analysis and as a field of practice. I argue for a renewed attentiveness to the ideological dimensions of categories deployed by scholars and to the relationship they bear to the field of practice they seek to signify. Firstly, I explore the discursive nature of the construction of ‘folk religion’ as a category of analysis and how its semantic loading functions to ‘pick up’ distinctive practices from the religious field. Secondly, drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Riesebrodt, I characterise the ‘folk religious field of practice’ as relational, a shifting site of competing agencies. My argument is illustrated with empirical examples drawn from ethnographic research in Romania and Moldova.https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/116folk religionvernacular religionRomaniaBourdieuRiesebrodt |
| spellingShingle | James Alexander Kapaló Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics folk religion vernacular religion Romania Bourdieu Riesebrodt |
| title | Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice |
| title_full | Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice |
| title_fullStr | Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice |
| title_short | Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice |
| title_sort | folk religion in discourse and practice |
| topic | folk religion vernacular religion Romania Bourdieu Riesebrodt |
| url | https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/116 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamesalexanderkapalo folkreligionindiscourseandpractice |