Methods for the Study of Religious Change - From Religious Studies to Worldview Studies - André Droogers

Methods for the Study of Religious Change - From Religious Studies to Worldview Studies - André Droogers

Chapter 5 Fieldwork on Ritual: Understanding through Participation

Methods for the Study of Religious Change - From Religious Studies to Worldview Studies - André Droogers

Kim Knibbe [+-]
University of Groningen
Kim Knibbe is Associate Professor Anthropology and Sociology of Religion at Groningen University. She is currently directing the project "Sexuality, Religion and Secularism" with Rachel Spronk (funded by NWO). Previous research focused on Catholicism and spirituality in the Netherlands and on Nigerian Pentecostalism in Europe and the Netherlands. She has also published a series of theoretical and methodological reflections on studying religion. Her most recent co-edited books and special issues are Secular Societies, Spiritual Selves? (with Anna Fedele, 2020) and ‘Theorizing Lived Religion’ (with Helena Kupari, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 2020).

Description

In Chapter 5 on ritual the central methodological question is: what happens when a researcher of religion wishes to observe religious practices while participating fully in religious rituals? So, what happens when a researcher “plays” in her fieldwork between the role of a researcher and the role of a practising believer? Is participation in a religious ritual, that is, is experiencing ritual in affective ways, an adequate strategy to reach for a deeper understanding of religion? The researchers in this chapter demonstrate that by reflection on the self’s participation in religious rituals, as well as on the reactions of the others in this participation, one can arrive at a deeper understanding indeed of the ways rituals are significant for the believers’ ways of giving meaning to their world.

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Citation

Knibbe, Kim; van der Meulen, Marten; Versteeg, Peter. Chapter 5 Fieldwork on Ritual: Understanding through Participation. Methods for the Study of Religious Change - From Religious Studies to Worldview Studies. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 87-100 Jan 2014. ISBN 9781781790434. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=24439. Date accessed: 11 Nov 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.24439. Jan 2014

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