Abstract
"Ritual Assembly and the Dynamics of Democracy."
Abstract:
Based on five ethnographic case studies, this panel presents different ways in which ritual acts and performances reveal and mobilize cultural resources and initiate changes to establish new conditions for democratization processes. The focus is on forms of ritual practice in which creative responses to global crises are triggered by the dynamics of political and economic stratification. The aim is to show people entering ritual activities establish new conditions and forms of social and political engagement, and acquire and demonstrate continuously renegotiate social identities. In this capacity, they ritually transform democratic processes that constitute the working of society. The argument put forward in this panel is that rituals significantly impact democratic processes both reshaping society and providing the grounds for responding to local and global crises. Thus ritual is not just the outcome of social construction, but serves as a precondition of the construction and transformation of society.
Description:
In the study of democracies and democratic processes, scholars of religion seemed to pay primary attention to the study of the legitimation of political authority as an example for the role of the government in the context of societies with high degree of religious diversity. However, little emphasis had been placed on the role of ritual performances other than in the context of performative acts or interaction rituals. On the other side, considerable research in the anthropology and sociology of ritual has been dedicated to the description of ritual events and performances and their social efficacy. However, little research has been conducted on the interfaces in which rituals and democracy interact in modern societies. Based on five ethnographic case studies from China, Denmark, India, Norway, and Turkey, different ways are analysed in which ritual acts and performances reveal and mobilize cultural resources and initiate changes to establish new conditions for democratization processes. The case studies demonstrate rituals can work a privileged medium in the articulation of social memory and the expression of cultural identity. Thus ritual is not just the outcome of social construction, but serves as a precondition of the construction and transformation of society. The focus of this panel is on different forms of ritual practice in which creative responses to global crises are triggered by the dynamics of political and economic stratification. As shown in the different case studies of this proposed panel democratization processes commonly involve culturally and religiously informed forms of ritual actions. Thus the proposed papers will show that people, as they enter ritual activities, establish new conditions and forms of social and political engagement, and thus acquire and demonstrate continuously renegotiate social identities. In this capacity, they ritually transform democratic processes that constitute the working of society. The argument put forward in this panel is that rituals significantly impact democratic processes both reshaping society and providing the grounds for responding to local and global crises.
The first paper “Occupy Hong Kong: The Citizen-Assemblage in the Heart of the Capitalist Utopia” discusses the event that started on October 15, 2011, when activists assembled in Exchange Square in Hong Kong before occupying a space under the HSBC bank in the financial district. It argues that in this context Occupy Hong Kong emerged, a social movement that sought to contest the representation of Hong Kong as an apolitical, capitalist utopia. This implies that the occupation reveals the struggle between different notions of politics and in doing so urban space draws upon religio-cultural resources that imply rituals of citizenship revolving around conceptions of enchantment and carnival.
The second paper “Ritually Addressing Wrongs: Negotiating Citizenship in Rural Uttar Pradesh” presents results of fieldwork conducted on the Women’s Health Rights Forum. This is a network that consists of about 11,000 women leaders with different social and cultural backgrounds. This paper discusses the ambiguities of the ritual processes practiced by these women which emerge as an integral component to their negotiation of citizenship. It is argued that for the female Dalit activists being part of the social movement using ritual tools like testimony acts as a deeply egalitarian vehicle in forming their female agency and power by expanding their social networks. As it will be shown, this ritual process challenges the institutions of democracy, citizenship.
The third paper “The Consumption of Democracy – The Ritual Politics of the Meal” presents a fieldwork conducted on marginalized and exploited people in Copenhagen. It argues that the globalization, with its influx of people of different ethnicities and religions into the Nordic countries, reveals the weaknesses in the modern welfare state, which is based on the assumption of an ethnically and religiously stable and homogenous population. This paper analyzes the ritualized distribution of food and eating patterns in and around one particular congregation focusing on groups of (non)citizens – migrant workers, refugees, trafficked workers and homeless people – that are living in a ‘state’ of emergency. This analysis leads up to a discussion of recent theories of rituals, suggesting that Butler’s Arendt-inspired idea of the “space of appearance” as the new political assembly should be replaced by the experience of intercorporeality.
The fourth paper “The Politics of Ritual Memorial Design” questions the process of creating an anti-authoritarian place of collective memory in post-terrorism Norway. Taking the Norwegian government’s decision to establish two memorial sites, one in Oslo and the other close to Utøya, as a point of departure, this paper discusses how the decision processes in establishing these memorial sites may possibly serve as an instigator of democratic ritual. The result will be compared to the official memorial work, and to the planned memorial site design and its intentional framing. Based on fieldwork to be conducted in October 2014 when a week-long workshop will be arranged for 400 self-recruited Oslo youth to elicit their response and ceremonial alternatives, this paper will interrogate the framing notions in this contested memorial process with Butler, Mouffe, and Latour, and discuss how memorial sites may possibly serve as a frame and initiator for democratic ritual, and for whom.
The fifth paper presents the findings of ethnographic research conducted on the ritual and musical performances of an interreligious choir in Turkey, the Antakya Choir of Civilizations. Outlining the short history of the choir which started as an interreligious grassroots movement involving various members and leaders of different religious groups in Antakya, the proposed paper will discuss the dynamics within this choir in the context of political developments in Turkey. Considering that the Choir was formed with the wish to express the local diversity and peaceful coexistence of different religions, this paper discussed the different views members and non-members voice on the performances of this choir and the political implication of this choir within the broader context of democratizing processes in Turkey. Since the Choir is one of the most successful non-governmental organizations of the city assembling members of different communities, became a well-established institution and icon representing the religious diversity of Hatay.
Abstract:
Based on five ethnographic case studies, this panel presents different ways in which ritual acts and performances reveal and mobilize cultural resources and initiate changes to establish new conditions for democratization processes. The focus is on forms of ritual practice in which creative responses to global crises are triggered by the dynamics of political and economic stratification. The aim is to show people entering ritual activities establish new conditions and forms of social and political engagement, and acquire and demonstrate continuously renegotiate social identities. In this capacity, they ritually transform democratic processes that constitute the working of society. The argument put forward in this panel is that rituals significantly impact democratic processes both reshaping society and providing the grounds for responding to local and global crises. Thus ritual is not just the outcome of social construction, but serves as a precondition of the construction and transformation of society.
Description:
In the study of democracies and democratic processes, scholars of religion seemed to pay primary attention to the study of the legitimation of political authority as an example for the role of the government in the context of societies with high degree of religious diversity. However, little emphasis had been placed on the role of ritual performances other than in the context of performative acts or interaction rituals. On the other side, considerable research in the anthropology and sociology of ritual has been dedicated to the description of ritual events and performances and their social efficacy. However, little research has been conducted on the interfaces in which rituals and democracy interact in modern societies. Based on five ethnographic case studies from China, Denmark, India, Norway, and Turkey, different ways are analysed in which ritual acts and performances reveal and mobilize cultural resources and initiate changes to establish new conditions for democratization processes. The case studies demonstrate rituals can work a privileged medium in the articulation of social memory and the expression of cultural identity. Thus ritual is not just the outcome of social construction, but serves as a precondition of the construction and transformation of society. The focus of this panel is on different forms of ritual practice in which creative responses to global crises are triggered by the dynamics of political and economic stratification. As shown in the different case studies of this proposed panel democratization processes commonly involve culturally and religiously informed forms of ritual actions. Thus the proposed papers will show that people, as they enter ritual activities, establish new conditions and forms of social and political engagement, and thus acquire and demonstrate continuously renegotiate social identities. In this capacity, they ritually transform democratic processes that constitute the working of society. The argument put forward in this panel is that rituals significantly impact democratic processes both reshaping society and providing the grounds for responding to local and global crises.
The first paper “Occupy Hong Kong: The Citizen-Assemblage in the Heart of the Capitalist Utopia” discusses the event that started on October 15, 2011, when activists assembled in Exchange Square in Hong Kong before occupying a space under the HSBC bank in the financial district. It argues that in this context Occupy Hong Kong emerged, a social movement that sought to contest the representation of Hong Kong as an apolitical, capitalist utopia. This implies that the occupation reveals the struggle between different notions of politics and in doing so urban space draws upon religio-cultural resources that imply rituals of citizenship revolving around conceptions of enchantment and carnival.
The second paper “Ritually Addressing Wrongs: Negotiating Citizenship in Rural Uttar Pradesh” presents results of fieldwork conducted on the Women’s Health Rights Forum. This is a network that consists of about 11,000 women leaders with different social and cultural backgrounds. This paper discusses the ambiguities of the ritual processes practiced by these women which emerge as an integral component to their negotiation of citizenship. It is argued that for the female Dalit activists being part of the social movement using ritual tools like testimony acts as a deeply egalitarian vehicle in forming their female agency and power by expanding their social networks. As it will be shown, this ritual process challenges the institutions of democracy, citizenship.
The third paper “The Consumption of Democracy – The Ritual Politics of the Meal” presents a fieldwork conducted on marginalized and exploited people in Copenhagen. It argues that the globalization, with its influx of people of different ethnicities and religions into the Nordic countries, reveals the weaknesses in the modern welfare state, which is based on the assumption of an ethnically and religiously stable and homogenous population. This paper analyzes the ritualized distribution of food and eating patterns in and around one particular congregation focusing on groups of (non)citizens – migrant workers, refugees, trafficked workers and homeless people – that are living in a ‘state’ of emergency. This analysis leads up to a discussion of recent theories of rituals, suggesting that Butler’s Arendt-inspired idea of the “space of appearance” as the new political assembly should be replaced by the experience of intercorporeality.
The fourth paper “The Politics of Ritual Memorial Design” questions the process of creating an anti-authoritarian place of collective memory in post-terrorism Norway. Taking the Norwegian government’s decision to establish two memorial sites, one in Oslo and the other close to Utøya, as a point of departure, this paper discusses how the decision processes in establishing these memorial sites may possibly serve as an instigator of democratic ritual. The result will be compared to the official memorial work, and to the planned memorial site design and its intentional framing. Based on fieldwork to be conducted in October 2014 when a week-long workshop will be arranged for 400 self-recruited Oslo youth to elicit their response and ceremonial alternatives, this paper will interrogate the framing notions in this contested memorial process with Butler, Mouffe, and Latour, and discuss how memorial sites may possibly serve as a frame and initiator for democratic ritual, and for whom.
The fifth paper presents the findings of ethnographic research conducted on the ritual and musical performances of an interreligious choir in Turkey, the Antakya Choir of Civilizations. Outlining the short history of the choir which started as an interreligious grassroots movement involving various members and leaders of different religious groups in Antakya, the proposed paper will discuss the dynamics within this choir in the context of political developments in Turkey. Considering that the Choir was formed with the wish to express the local diversity and peaceful coexistence of different religions, this paper discussed the different views members and non-members voice on the performances of this choir and the political implication of this choir within the broader context of democratizing processes in Turkey. Since the Choir is one of the most successful non-governmental organizations of the city assembling members of different communities, became a well-established institution and icon representing the religious diversity of Hatay.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Publikationsdato | nov. 2014 |
| Antal sider | 31 |
| Status | Udgivet - nov. 2014 |