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Concord, Conflict and Co-Existence: religion and society in the Middle East and North Africa
No full textThis is the editorial for the special issue 'Concord, Conflict and Co-existence: Religion and Society in the Middle East and North Africa'
The Missing Books of Magic from Sandvik: In search for hidden books and secret knowledge
No full textThis article aims at defining a privately-owned manuscript from the end of the eighteenth century; a notebook of charms, recipes and ritual prescriptions, presumed to be connected with known manuscripts of magic, that were kept secret and hidden away. The study attempts to reconstruct the context of ‘The Sandvik Notebook’, in order to find out who penned it, when, and why. What kind of knowledge was sought: was it collected for antiquarian reasons, for esoteric interest, or for practical use – such as curing livestock and human beings? Was it copied from books or collected from peasant informants, and could it be related to the extant manuscripts ‘The Black Book’ and ‘The Red Book’, objects of the same line of enquiry? The three manuscripts are from Sandvik Manor, of the joint parish Burseryd-Sandvik, Sweden
Innovations in Epic Studies by Lauri Honko
No full textThis article aims at tracing the roots of the theoretical concepts developed by Lauri Honko in his research on epic: what were his main sources in theoretical thinking, how did he apply and develop concepts formulated by authors such as Albert Lord, and what were his own innovations. This article aims also at relating Honko’s thinking to other relevant theoretical perspectives, but which he more or less rejected or ignored in his writings
Jesus the Victimizer?
No full textJesus’ antagonistic encounters with the Pharisees serve traditionally as a basis for the poor relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The conflict stories epitomized by Jesus’ parables have been assessed as descriptions of how he either justifiably revealed his adversaries’ falseness or falsely defamed them. These stories are used to justify later religious conflicts. I shall argue that the traditional anti-Pharisaic interpretations of Jesus’ parables have an inadequate basis in the actual stories. Instead, they are due to two axiomatic perspectives that dominate the interpretation: ill-fitting allegorical explanations and/or the search for some historical context. Both approaches have resulted in manipulating the parables, either by curtailing them or by importing into them information of which their actual audience(s) were unaware.
Focusing on fieldwork: Edvard Westermarck and Hilma Granqvist – before and after Bronislaw Malinowski
No full textThe purpose of this essay is to look at the results of two Finnish fieldworkers, with the history of the social anthropological research as background. By Finnish norms Edward Westermarck's academic career was impressive, but his pupil Hilma Granqvist was obliged to work mostly outside the academic world. Both of them did their fieldwork in countries, where the Islamic religion had a strong influence. Westermarck worked in Morocco, and Granqvist in Palestine. All in all both Westermarck and Granqvist made a strong contribution to research with the methods that were available to them. Prior to Malinowski doing his fieldwork Westermarck emphasized the importance of learning the local languages and of getting thoroughly acquainted with the environment, in which one did research. Granqvist independently took the initiative to report results of observations, and to give statistical information about the society, where she did her research. Both published a lot and our evaluation should not be blinded by differences in style or ways to record the results
Food in African Brazilian Candomblé
No full textThe aim of this article is to highlight the importance of food in the rituals of African Brazilian Candomblé, as well as in its cosmovision (world view). A brief description of Candomblé’s historical trajectory is provided in order to show how food offerings became part of its rituals and how specific ingredients became symbolically significant in this belief system. According to the theories applied, it is possible that food has at least two functions in Candomblé: to materialize principles and also to work as a ritual language. To show the role of food in Candomblé the state of Bahia was taken as a case study – firstly because Candomblé started there and secondly because, as this article shows, the sacred foods of Candomblé are also consumed in everyday life, outside of religious situations, but just as importantly constituting a part of Bahian cultural identity. The dishes that feature in the ritualised meals and at the same time in Bahians’ everyday eating are described at the conclusion of the article, with a mention of their ingredients and to whom they are offered. The research sources included publications by Candomblé believers and scholars of religion, as well as cooks and journalists specialising in Bahian cuisine
Dynamics of the spirit possession phenomenon in Eastern Tanzania
No full textThe discussion on the spirit possession phenomenon is related in this study to the more general question of the role of religious institutions as part in the development process of a people living in a limited geographical area of a wider national society. It is assumed that religion, like culture in general, has its specific institutional forms as result of the historical development of a society, but at the same time religion is a force shaping that history. People's cultural resources influence their social and economic development and form a potential creative element in it'. Some of the questions to be asked are: "How are specific religious practices related to the dynamics of change in the societies in question? What is the social and religious context in which the spirit possession phenomenon occurs in them? What social and economic relations get their expression in them? To what extent is spirit possession in this case a means of exerting values and creatively overcoming a crisis or conflict which the changing social and economic relations impose on the people? The established spirit possession cults are here seen as the institutional forms of religious experience. At the same time it becomes evident that there is institutionalization in process as well as deinstitutionalization of spirit possession where it occurs outside established institutional forms. Institution is taken as a socially shared form of behaviour the significance of which is commonly recognized by those who share it. By the term spirit possession cult is meant a ritual form of spirit possession of a group which is loosely organized and without strict membership. The context of the study is four ethnic groups in Eastern Tanzania, near the coast of the Indian Ocean. The general theme of the project is The Role of Culture in the Restructuring of Tanzanian Rural Areas. The restructuring refers to a villagisation programme carried out in the whole country. People are being moved from their scattered homesteads to new villages and old villages are enlarged by incorporating several villages into one. People are going through a process of fundamental social change