Steven Ramey published “Responding to the Wendy Doniger Controversy: The Problems and Possibilities in the Academic Study of Religion“, a follow-up to his posts (here and here) addressing the responses to Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus, in the April 2014 edition of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion.
Who Are You? I’m a Miser
“Who Are You?” is an ongoing series that asks members of Culture on the Edge to reflect on one of their own many identities (whether national, gendered, racial, familial, etc.), theorizing at the same time the self-identification that they each chose to discuss.
Well, I prefer the adjectives thrifty or sensible, actually, but not everyone agrees. When people observe my spending habits, such as infrequently eating at restaurants and preferring to shop at thrift stores, some may decide that the negative connotation of the classic images of Ebeneezer Scrooge and labels like tightwad and penny-pincher are appropriate. Even with an agreed-upon characteristic, the tension between self-selected labels and ascribed identities remains, with various normative values embedded within those selections. Continue reading “Who Are You? I’m a Miser”
WWDS?
Perhaps you’ve caught the news about a recent Supreme court decision in the U.S. in which (by a slim, but sufficient, 5-4 majority) local town meetings that begin with prayer were held to be constitutional — so long as religions were not actively excluded from the opportunity. The majority (read the decision, and various commentaries, for yourself here, linked under “Opinion”) concluded:
All that the Court does today is to allow a town to follow a practice that we have previously held is permissible for Congress and state legislatures.
New Books on the Edge
“New Books on the Edge” is an ongoing blog series, organized by our own Monica Miller, which engages forthcoming manuscripts by Edge collective members, providing a window into the impetus, theory, and methods of their work.
In these interviews, the authors also provide insight into the synergy between their own scholarship and the work that they do here at Culture on the Edge, in terms of theorizing identity and identification.
Read interviews with:
Leslie Dorrough Smith on Righteous Rhetoric (Oxford, 2014)
Russell T. McCutcheon on Entanglements (Equinox, 2014)
Stay tuned for more interviews!
“New Books on the Edge” with Russell T. McCutcheon
Entanglements: Marking Place in the Field of Religion
You’ve contributed much to the discourse on theory and method in the academic study of religion over the years – can you take us behind the scenes with “why” this book now, and to what sorts of questions and/or critiques in the field you’re responding to in your push to show the manner in which the “academic” study of religion rightfully constitutes primary research on “real” religions?
For whatever reason, over the years some of my work has prompted replies from other scholars—sometimes substantive, sometimes dismissive or, on occasion, even angry. So I’ve had the luxury of writing responses or rejoinders on a number of occasions, but I’ve never done anything with these pieces—not that I ought to, but they tend to represent a part of the field that, I think, often goes unnoticed. For a variety of reasons I’ve turned into an essayist and I tend to gather up pieces periodically and then publish them as a collection—a genre I certainly didn’t invent and one that is not so distinct from a monograph as some might wish to think—and so the idea of collecting these responses, and then writing new introductions to each, contextualizing the occasion etc., seeing it all as an example of scholarly discourse at work, rather than a finished product, occurred to me about a year or so ago. Continue reading ““New Books on the Edge” with Russell T. McCutcheon”
The Rules Just “Happen” to be Different?
Want to see a good example of the pro-corporate bias in the media?
Then consider this story from — of all places — National Public Radio, on different manufacturing and safety standards for automobiles, in different nations. Continue reading “The Rules Just “Happen” to be Different?”
Heritage and Cockfighting
How do we determine if cockfighting is acceptable? Matt Bevin, a Senate candidate in Kentucky who is vying to unseat Mitch McConnell, has made contradictory assertions after speaking at a rally to legalize cockfighting. While he has apologized for speaking at the rally, asserting that he was not aware of the rally’s cause, he has balanced his denunciation of cockfighting with reference to claims that it is part of America’s heritage. Continue reading “Heritage and Cockfighting”
Who Are You? I’m Vaia and Touna
“Who Are You?” is an ongoing series that asks members of Culture on the Edge to reflect on one of their own many identities (whether national, gendered, racial, familial, etc.), theorizing at the same time the self-identification that they each chose to discuss.
Who we are comes with a name and mine is Vaia, or better said, Vaia Touna. It’s interesting that the name that we come to think that is so much part of who we are was chosen and given to us by others, most likely by our parents. Who we are and how we perceive ourselves is certainly socially constructed, that is, there is nothing inherent in the name we are given, for think about how much teaching and training was involved until we learned to respond to this specific name. Continue reading “Who Are You? I’m Vaia and Touna”
The Measure of All Things
I saw this image making the rounds on social media the other day — presumably aimed at humbling otherwise self-important racially, politically, economically, etc., dominant groups. I find it rather interesting, since the slogan only makes sense, of course, if “minority” is defined as “not us” — that is, while seeming to make a progressive point it actually nicely reinforces that the world is naturally divided between us and all those whom we judge as being not like us. Continue reading “The Measure of All Things”
Pretty Strategies and Rusty Tactics
Looking for a good example of the arm wrestling match between structure and agency, between authorized systems and the way they’re inevitably contested? Then visit the University of Alabama. Continue reading “Pretty Strategies and Rusty Tactics”