Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
type: channel
description: Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis publishes selected papers presented at symposia arranged by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History.
publisher: The Donner Institute
language: en
publication name: Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
issn: 0582-3226
copyright: The license of the published metadata is Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
items: Mystik blir vetenskap
items: Bilaga 1. Förteckning över konferenserna
items: Bilaga 2. Styrelsen genom åren
items: Bilaga 3. Donnerska institutets pristagare
items: Bilaga 4. Stipendiater vid Donnerska institutet 2013–2020
items: The paranormal
items: Conceptualising magic in 1950s Germany
items: Blending the vernacular and esoteric
items: Experiencing the limits
items: Rumi, Sufi spirituality and the teacher–disciple relationship in Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love
items: Interpretations of Emanuel Swedenborg’s image of the afterlife in the novel Oneiron by Laura Lindstedt
items: A history of violence
items: Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa, August Strindberg and a dispute concerning the common origins of the languages of mankind 1911–1912
items: Ethical encounters in the archives
items: Mysticism and esotericism as contested taxonomical categories
items: New currents in the research on esotericism and mysticism
items: Totem and taboo in the grocery store: quasi-religious foodways in North America
items: The taste of trauma: reflections of ageing Shoah survivors on food and how they (re)inscribe it with meaning
items: What does it mean to ‘eat Jewishly?’: authorizing discourse in the Jewish food movement in Toronto, Canada
items: “A Shmita Manifesto”: a radical sabbatical approach to Jewish food reform in the United States
items: Habaneros and shwarma: Jewish Mexicans in Israel as a transnational community
items: Food in African Brazilian Candomblé
items: Prestige and alcohol in South Mexican fiesta: drinking with saint patrons in the central valleys of Oaxaca
items: The nature of food: indigenous Dene foodways and ontologies in the era of climate change
items: The sacred foodscapes of Thai Buddhist temples in Sweden
items: Religious dietary rules and the protection of religious freedom: some evidence from practice in Italy
items: Religion and diet in a multi-religious city: a comprehensive study regarding interreligious relations in Tbilisi in everyday life and on feast days
items: Early modern Goa: Indian trade, transcultural medicine, and the Inquisition
items: Modes of betel leaf consumption in early India
items: Hungry women: sin and rebellion through food and music in the early modern era

Mystik blir vetenskap
type: item
description: Den 29 mars 1956 i Dornach, Schweiz undertecknade Olly och Uno Donner ett donationsbrev som lade grunden för ett nytt forskningsinstitut i Åbo. De donerade sin egendom till Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi för att grunda Donnerska institutet för religionshistorisk och kulturhistorisk forskning som en knutpunkt för forskningen kring religion och kultur, en mötespunkt för forskare, studerande och samhället i stort samt en utsikts­punkt mot stora världen, ny kunskap och nya idéer. Historiken ger en grundlig beskrivning av institutets uppkomsthistoria och de viktiga personer som under årens lopp bidragit till verksamheten. Den presenterar forskare och bibliotekarier, internationella symposier och kulturseminarier, forskningssatsningar och hyllkilometer av forskningslitteratur, forskarpris och stipendier, fester och vardag. Historiken speglar också den ämnesmässiga utveckling som skett inom religionsforskningen, både nationellt och internationellt, under den här tiden. Mystik blir vetenskap: Donnerska institutet 1956–2021 har skrivits av Nils G. Holm, professor emeritus i religionsvetenskap vid Åbo Akademi och långvarig styrelsemedlem vid institutet. Historiken är rikligt illustrerad med bilder från alla årtionden vid institutet.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Donner Institute
  topic: keywords
subject: Åbo Akademi University
  topic: keywords
subject: Uno Donner
  topic: keywords
subject: Olly Donner
  topic: keywords
subject: Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
  topic: keywords
subject: Study of religions
  topic: disciplines
subject: History of religions
  topic: disciplines
creator: Nils G. Holm
creator: Ruth Illman
creator: Joakim Alander
creator: Björn Dahla
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Nils G. Holm; Ruth Illman; Joakim Alander, Björn Dahla http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2021-03-21
publication date: 2021-03-21
starting page: 1
ending page: 76
doi: 10.30674/scripta.102185

Bilaga 1. Förteckning över konferenserna
type: item
description: Bilaga 1. Förteckning över konferenserna
subject: Appendices
  topic: section
creator: Joakim Alander
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Mystik blir vetenskap http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2021-03-27
publication date: 2021-03-27
starting page: 77
ending page: 78
doi: 10.30674/scripta.107263

Bilaga 2. Styrelsen genom åren
type: item
description: Bilaga 2. Styrelsen genom åren
subject: Appendices
  topic: section
creator: Joakim Alander
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Mystik blir vetenskap http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2021-03-27
publication date: 2021-03-27
starting page: 79
ending page: 83
doi: 10.30674/scripta.107264

Bilaga 3. Donnerska institutets pristagare
type: item
description: Bilaga 3. Donnerska institutets pristagare
subject: Appendices
  topic: section
creator: Joakim Alander
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Mystik blir vetenskap http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2021-03-27
publication date: 2021-03-27
starting page: 84
ending page: 86
doi: 10.30674/scripta.107265

Bilaga 4. Stipendiater vid Donnerska institutet 2013–2020
type: item
description: Bilaga 4. Stipendiater vid Donnerska institutet 2013–2020
subject: Appendices
  topic: section
creator: Ruth Illman
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Mystik blir vetenskap http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2021-03-27
publication date: 2021-03-27
starting page: 87
ending page: 89
doi: 10.30674/scripta.107266

The paranormal
type: item
description: In this article, I explore previous conceptualizations of ‘the paranormal’ within religious studies and the social sciences. Introducing some statistics on paranormal variables in Western populations, I argue that the empirical data make a strong case for future studies of paranormal variables, as well as warranting conceptual clarification. Sketching an outline of previous conceptualizations of ‘the paranormal’, I conclude that definitions tend to stress that purportedly paranormal phenomena transgress the boundaries of scientific explanation, as well as demonstrate a degree of tension towards both mainstream or institutionalized science and religion. Lastly, I present the main contribution of the article: an attempt at a new working definition of the term ‘the paranormal’ based on the conceptualizations reviewed, encompassing substantial and discursive components and, possibly, functional ones.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: The paranormal
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Occulture
  topic: keywords
subject: The cultic milieu
  topic: keywords
creator: Cristoffer Tidelius
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Cristoffer Tidelius https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 216
ending page: 38
doi: 10.30674/scripta.84823

Conceptualising magic in 1950s Germany
type: item
description: In an effort to explore the gap between pre-war occultism and the New Age movement, this article examines the public areas of stage magic, folklore magic, and handbook magic between 1947 and 1960. It firstly investigates possible connections between stage performance and the implicit character of religious beliefs and combines these observations with the notion of magic in the field of parapsychology. Then the latter approach is put into the context of mental health discourse, scientific culture, and the metaphysics of nature. The field of handbook magic, finally, relates to public debates about rationality and superstition as an attempt to popularise and legitimise knowledge and techniques of twentieth-century ‘high magic’.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Magic
  topic: keywords
subject: Germany
  topic: keywords
subject: Parapsychology
  topic: keywords
subject: Study of Religions
  topic: disciplines
creator: Tilman Hannemann
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Tilman Hannemann https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 192
ending page: 215
doi: 10.30674/scripta.84864

Blending the vernacular and esoteric
type: item
description: Finnish spiritualist and theosophical journals of 1905–20 brought esoteric teachings and vernacular belief traditions into dialogue with each other. Theosophical journals, in particular, released interpretations of Finnish mythology and the national epic the Kalevala, connecting them with the Ancient Wisdom. Both spiritualist and theosophical journals published belief narratives, which ranged from traditional migratory legends taking place in rural environments to the personal histories of urban residents. In mainstream thinking of the modern era, belief traditions were valuable only as vanishing traces of the nation’s past. In esoteric journals, they proved the existence of a spiritual reality. The narratives could be published as such, but traditional interpretations, especially those involving Christian morals, could be revised and replaced with explicit esoteric interpretations.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Kaarina Koski
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Kaarina Koski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 169
ending page: 91
doi: 10.30674/scripta.84869

Experiencing the limits
type: item
description: The meaning of the cave is ancestral. It is a transitional space that functions as a threshold between the real, the mystical, and the imaginary. Experiences in caves are highly important in the history of religions and literature, and have been adopted transculturally by mystics, esoteric organizations, alchemical treatises, and many literary forms, such as the Greek novel, Dante’s Commedia, and chivalric romances. In my paper, I will first give an interdisciplinary overview of representations of this space in different traditions and literary works up to the Renaissance. I will then focus on how Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote updates these representations, and study how the visions and experiences of the knight in a cave are crucial in his recovery from insanity.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: cave
  topic: keywords
subject: liminal
  topic: keywords
subject: esotericism
  topic: keywords
subject: chivalry
  topic: keywords
subject: initiation
  topic: keywords
subject: Don Quixote
  topic: keywords
subject: cave studies
  topic: keywords
creator: Carles Magrinyà Badiella
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Carles Magrinyà Badiella https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 147
ending page: 68
doi: 10.30674/scripta.85214

Rumi, Sufi spirituality and the teacher–disciple relationship in Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love
type: item
description: In William Patrick Patterson’s Struggle of the Magicians, a detailed study of the relationship between the prominent figures of Western esotericism, G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky, he writes ‘Only in a time as confused as ours could one think that the teacher–student relationship – an archetypal and sacred form – exists as an option, rather than a necessary requirement, a station on the way’ (1997: 92). My paper examines the numerous ways in which the famous teacher–disciple relationship that existed between Muhammad Jalal ad-Din, known to the anglophone world as Rumi, and his spiritual guide and mentor, Shams of Tabriz, is represented in Elif Shafak’s novel The Forty Rules of Love (2010) and how her depiction of this relationship is predicated upon her knowledge of, and belief in, the general principles of what can be termed ‘Western Sufism’. Although she had previously thematised elements of Sufi dialectics in her earlier fiction and clear, if minor, references to Sufi philosophy permeated novels such as The Bastard of Istanbul (2007), Shafak’s fascination with the teachings of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz reaches its culmination and most significant artistic expression in The Forty Rules of Love. Published in 2010, the novel situates a fictionalised representation of the relationship between Rumi and Shams at the centre of the narrative and provides an overt depiction of the emanationalist, perennialist and universalist ethics contained within Sufi dialectics. In addition, given that Shafak’s text represents one of the more prominent and commercially successful contributions to what Amira El-Zein (2010: 71–85) has called ‘the Rumi phenomenon’ my paper examines how, in privileging the aesthetics and the interests of American readers over conveying a more complete and more nuanced image of Sufism, Shafak succumbs to the oversimplification and decontextualisation of Rumi’s teachings perpetrated by the Western popularisers of his work.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Billy Gray
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Billy Gray https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 124
ending page: 46
doi: 10.30674/scripta.84280

Interpretations of Emanuel Swedenborg’s image of the afterlife in the novel Oneiron by Laura Lindstedt
type: item
description: This article discusses the relationship between Western esotericism and literature. As an example of a secular author who uses and benefits from esoteric texts, ideas and thoughts as resources in creating a literary artwork, the article analyses Laura Lindstedt’s novel Oneiron. A Fantasy About the Seconds After Death (2015). It contextualises the novel within the frames of Western esotericism and literature, focusing on Emanuel Swedenborg’s impact on discourses of the afterlife in literature. Laura Lindstedt’s postmodern novel indicates various ways that esoteric ideas, themes, and texts can work as resources for authors of fiction in twenty-first century Finland. Since the late eighteenth century Swedenborg’s influence has been evident in literature and among artists, especially in providing resources for other-worldly imagery. Oneiron proves that the ideas of Swedenborg are still part of the memory of Western culture and literature.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Western esotericism
  topic: keywords
subject: Literature
  topic: keywords
subject: Laura Lindstedt
  topic: keywords
subject: Oneiron
  topic: keywords
subject: Oneiromantien
  topic: keywords
subject: Emanuel Swedenborg
  topic: keywords
subject: afterlife
  topic: keywords
subject: Study of Religion
  topic: disciplines
subject: Western Esotericism
  topic: disciplines
subject: Study of Literature
  topic: disciplines
creator: Tiina Mahlamäki
creator: Tomas Mansikka
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Tiina Mahlamäki, Tomas Mansikka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 103
ending page: 23
doi: 10.30674/scripta.85054

A history of violence
type: item
description: Research into the life and work of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, a Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher and one of the foundational figures of modern mysticism, remains an emergent field within the academic study of religion/s. While esotericists such as H. P. Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner have been thoroughly studied, international academic study of Gurdjieff is still scarce. Gurdjieff lived his early adulthood amidst a severe power struggle between the major powers of the Russian, British and Ottoman empires. He survived the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War of 1918–22 and two World Wars. In his writings, he states how after the turn of the twentieth century, he understood it to be his mission in life to help mankind stop wars from happening, and during his years as a teacher, the question of war was omnipresent because of the events surrounding him and his pupils. Despite all this, there is no previous academic research on the topic of Gurdjieff and war. In this article, I examine the role of wars and armed conflicts in Gurdjieff’s personal life narrative according to his own writings, present his narrative in a military-historical context and analyse his narrational tools and motives as a first step towards a comprehensive study of a much larger subject.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Gurdjieff
  topic: keywords
subject: G.I. Gurdjieff
  topic: keywords
subject: The Work
  topic: keywords
subject: Fourth Way
  topic: keywords
subject: new religious movements
  topic: keywords
subject: Study of Religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Western guru
  topic: keywords
subject: War
  topic: keywords
creator: Hippo Taatila
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Hippo Taatila https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 82
ending page: 102
doi: 10.30674/scripta.84863

Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa, August Strindberg and a dispute concerning the common origins of the languages of mankind 1911–1912
type: item
description: This article is about the notions of history and language of a Finnish artist and writer Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa (née Sigurd Asp, 1870–1946), and the Swedish writer August Strindberg (1849–1912), and their interaction. Wettenhovi-Aspa and Strindberg knew each other from Paris, where both lived in the 1890s. In the 1910s they both published books and articles on their respective linguistic views. According to both of them, the languages of mankind had a common origin. Strindberg had a more traditional view, as according to him Hebrew was the original language of the world. For Wettenhovi-Aspa, the original language was Finnish. These ideas may seem eccentric, but I argue that they both reflect the intellectual currents of their own time and are connected with a long tradition as well.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Pekka Pitkälä
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Pekka Pitkälä https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 49
ending page: 81
doi: 10.30674/scripta.89215

Ethical encounters in the archives
type: item
description: This article discusses archival sources and biographical history in the context of the history of modern esotericism. Presenting a case study and archival material of a Finnish writer Aarni Kouta (1884-1924) the article asks, what are the ethical challenges of studying individuals and their intimate sources in the context of esotericism. The starting point is in the forgotten figures of esoteric history, and thus the article reflects how our understanding of history and more precisely on the history of esotericism changes when we look at those whose history has not been presented before. I will argue that we need to be much more sensitive to the differences in the past when doing interpretations concerning individuals, and we have to be ethically aware of our position as interpreters. This means careful working with historical source materials, but also sensitivity to both the long traditions of esotericism and to the multiple contexts of particular historical moments.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: modern esotericism
  topic: keywords
subject: gender
  topic: keywords
subject: biography
  topic: keywords
subject: literature
  topic: keywords
subject: theosophy
  topic: keywords
subject: Ruusu-Risti
  topic: keywords
subject: archives
  topic: keywords
subject: cultural history
  topic: disciplines
subject: history of literature
  topic: disciplines
creator: Maarit Leskelä-Kärki
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Maarit Leskelä-Kärki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 28
ending page: 48
doi: 10.30674/scripta.85671

Mysticism and esotericism as contested taxonomical categories
type: item
description: Esotericism and mysticism are two notoriously elusive concepts. Both are based on referential corpora of works that are so internally diverse as to defy any simple characterization. A definition of mysticism needs to encompass a range of empirical cases that include medieval Christian visionaries, Sufis, and Hindu gurus such as Ramakrishna. Similarly, the term esotericism denotes the work of individuals as diverse as Paracelsus, Swedenborg, and Carl Gustav Jung. Unsurprisingly, in a recent encyclopedia article (Nelstrop 2016) mysticism has been characterized as a ‘taxonomical black hole’, while esotericism has been described by a leading scholar on that topic, Wouter J. Hanegraaff (2005, 2012), as a waste-basket category for a range of currents that have little else in common than having been rejected by mainstream theologians and by rationalists from the Enlightenment to our own time. This article argues that the terms are not only laden with significant definitional problems, but that applying them to any particular phenomenon has little, if any, theoretical added value. Instead, this article advocates a higher-level taxonomy that sees the elements of both sets as examples of a more general category: religious phenomena which are supported by charismatic authority.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Esotericism
  topic: keywords
subject: mysticism
  topic: keywords
subject: religious experience
  topic: keywords
subject: charismatic authority
  topic: keywords
creator: Olav Hammer
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Olav Hammer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 5
ending page: 27
doi: 10.30674/scripta.85791

New currents in the research on esotericism and mysticism
type: item
description: The current 29th volume of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis is based on a symposium arranged by the Donner Institute and the research project ‘Seekers of the New: Esotericism and the Transformation of Religiosity in the Modernising Finland’ at the University of Turku in June 2017, under the title: ‘Approaching Esotericism and Mysticism: Cultural Influences’. All the articles published in this volume were initially presented as papers at this conference and have, through a double-blind peer-review process, been selected for this volume.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Esotericism
  topic: keywords
subject: Mysticism
  topic: keywords
subject: literature
  topic: keywords
subject: magic
  topic: keywords
subject: Study of religion
  topic: disciplines
subject: Cultural history
  topic: disciplines
creator: Maarit Leskelä-Kärki
creator: Tiina Mahlamäki
rights: Copyright (c) 2020 Maarit Leskelä-Kärki, Tiina Mahlamäki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date: 2020-06-14
publication date: 2020-06-14
starting page: 1
ending page: 4
doi: 10.30674/scripta.91845

Totem and taboo in the grocery store: quasi-religious foodways in North America
type: item
description: This article focuses on food proscriptions such as veganism and gluten-free eating, and prescriptions such as the Paleolithic diet, focusing on the North American context. These quasi-religious foodways serve as means for individuals to engage in discourses of community, personal and group identity, and boundary-marking. Through the daily practice of eating, those who follow quasi-religious foodways mark their identities, literally consuming who they are. These quasi-religious foodways therefore function to allow contemporary consumer-oriented individualistic Americans to engage in discourses of community, identity, and meaning in a highly vernacular manner, that of the marketplace. They also point to the manner in which identity and community have expanded well outside of religious categories.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Comparative studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Vegetarianism
  topic: keywords
subject: Vegans
  topic: keywords
subject: Implicit religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Everyday life
  topic: keywords
subject: Health
  topic: keywords
subject: United States
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Food Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Media Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Cultural History
  topic: disciplines
creator: Benjamin Zeller
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Benjamin Zeller https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 11
ending page: 31
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67444

The taste of trauma: reflections of ageing Shoah survivors on food and how they (re)inscribe it with meaning
type: item
description: Drawing on ethnographic research in the UK’s only support facility for ageing Jewish Shoah survivors, this paper charts the ‘foodways’ in a Centre where satiety is experienced as an emotional as well as a physical need. How the experience of genocidal violence and displacement give rise to particular tastes of trauma is explored, firstly through the symbolism of bread which is metaphorically leavened with meanings and memories of survival – both in Judaism and for the survivors interviewed. Bread is positioned as a true reflection of lived experience for survivors of both ghettoes and concentration camps, who construct a specific and salient relationship with food. This illustrates the perceived difference between them and members of the Centre who escaped the Nazi regime as refugees or by the Kindertransport. Foods associated with the concentration or extermination camps are (re)inscribed with new meanings, as a steaming bowl of Polish barley soup ultimately embodies the ingredients of memory but also the recipe of survival. It can also stew the nostalgia of pre-war lives for Eastern European Jews and their recollections of the heym (Yiddish, home). Food is a conscious strategy of care in the Centre that mediates the embodied trauma of participants, and this paper draws on comparative examples to argue that refugee and survivor communities more generally may possess culturally-significant relationships with food that remain poorly understood.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
  topic: keywords
subject: Genocide
  topic: keywords
subject:
  topic: keywords
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Jewish cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Psychic trauma
  topic: keywords
subject: Anthropology
  topic: disciplines
subject: Ethnography
  topic: disciplines
subject: Medical Humanities
  topic: disciplines
creator: Ben Kasstan
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Ben Kasstan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 349
ending page: 65
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67461

What does it mean to ‘eat Jewishly?’: authorizing discourse in the Jewish food movement in Toronto, Canada
type: item
description: This article examines the development of ‘eating Jewishly’ among participants at Shoresh Jewish Environmental Programs in Toronto, Canada. Participants at Shoresh construct and draw upon Jewish tradition in order to resolve gaps between the is and the ought of the conventional food system, and to a lesser extent, the narrower food system of kashrut. ‘Eating Jewishly’ re-positions religious orthodoxy as one in a set of authorizing discourses, subsuming all Jewish eating acts under one rubric. ‘Eating Jewishly’ thus departs from standard narratives of Jewish eating as either eating kosher, or eating traditional Jewish foods. I use a theory of authorizing discourse to show the conditions of possibility through which Shoresh develops their intervention as Jewish. I conclude that such authorization practices are a key form of productive constraint in the formation of Shoresh’s lived religion, and in the formation of religion as a framework for social good.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Jewish Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Jews -- Canada
  topic: keywords
subject: Environmentalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Implicit religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Jewish law
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Jewish Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Ethnography
  topic: disciplines
subject: Foodways
  topic: disciplines
subject: Religion and Food
  topic: disciplines
creator: Aldea Mulhern
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Aldea Mulhern https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 326
ending page: 48
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67460

“A Shmita Manifesto”: a radical sabbatical approach to Jewish food reform in the United States
type: item
description: A revolutionary movement recently cropped up with a vision to revitalize American Jewish environmentalism through food reform. This movement implemented shmita (sabbatical) year practices, which Jewish law mandates only inside the land of Israel, in the United States during the shmita year that began in September 2014. This article offers a brief historical overview of shmita and then utilizes the main texts of the shmita movement to explore how the Shmita Project connects- the diverse worlds of Judaism, environmentalism, ethics, and food reform. The Shmita Project encapsulates a multivalent environmentalist strain of American Judaism that is deeply concerned with climate change, industrial agriculture, and food injustice. The unprecedented- observance- of an American shmita year, focused on land stewardship and food security, is emblematic- of this movement’s efforts towards sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, and repairing the American food system through practices that are inspired by Jewish tradition and values.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Jews -- Diaspora
  topic: keywords
subject: United States
  topic: keywords
subject: Sabbath
  topic: keywords
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Jewish cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Environmentalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Global warming
  topic: keywords
subject: Environmental ethics
  topic: keywords
subject: Agriculture
  topic: keywords
subject: Jewish law
  topic: keywords
subject: Food security
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Cultural Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Adrienne Krone
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Adrienne Krone https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 303
ending page: 25
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67459

Habaneros and shwarma: Jewish Mexicans in Israel as a transnational community
type: item
description: Food is the cultural expression of society food as a marker of class, ethnic, and religious identity. What happens when the location changes? Does food continue to play such an important role or do other cultural nodes take over? Do layers of traditions, adaptation and cultural blends emerge? This seems to be the case with third and fourth generation Mexican Jews who have moved to Israel. Not only have they brought their spiritual and cultural connections from Mexico, their birth country; they have also brought the food experiences of their great-grandparents and grandparents who were they themselves immigrants. Jewish Mexicans have transplanted their sense of community to Israel and in doing so they have also brought overlooked cultural interactions and unique food experiences. Are these simply by-products of religious and migration patterns? Or are there other elements that have affected this cultural hybridity?
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Mexico
  topic: keywords
subject: Israel
  topic: keywords
subject: Transnationalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Migration
  topic: keywords
subject: Group identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnicity
  topic: keywords
subject: Cultural studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Ethnography
  topic: disciplines
subject: Food Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Paulette Kershenovich Schuster
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Paulette Kershenovich Schuster https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 281
ending page: 302
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67458

Food in African Brazilian Candomblé
type: item
description: The 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Salvador (Brazil)
  topic: keywords
subject: Candomblé (Religion)
  topic: keywords
subject: Ritual
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity and African religions
  topic: keywords
subject: Everyday life
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Cultural Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Food Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Ethnography
  topic: disciplines
creator: Patricia Souza
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Patricia Souza https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 264
ending page: 80
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67457

Prestige and alcohol in South Mexican fiesta: drinking with saint patrons in the central valleys of Oaxaca
type: item
description: Food and alcohol are the key elements of celebrating a Mexican fiesta. I show that drinking at patronal feasts can be the way of constructing a respectful position, as presented in the ethnographic material collected in the three suburban communities of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca (in the years 2012–13). I discuss the relation between drinking alcohol at fiestas, participation and collective identity. I analyse the issue of prestige in the context drinking at fiestas and its relation to gender. I also discuss the role of alcohol in ritual exchanging of gifts at the patronal feasts which were under study and its relation with prestige. Other questions being analysed include the problem of refusing drink and the Catholic and non-Catholic critiques of patronal feasts as based on perceptions of excessive drinking.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Alcohol and alcoholism
  topic: keywords
subject: Gender
  topic: keywords
subject: Ritual
  topic: keywords
subject: Oaxaca (Mexico : State)
  topic: keywords
subject: Catholic Church -- Customs and practices
  topic: keywords
subject: Christian patron saints
  topic: keywords
subject: Fasts and feasts
  topic: keywords
subject: Food
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Latin America
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnology
  topic: disciplines
subject: Anthropology of Religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Joanna Zamorska
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Joanna Zamorska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 250
ending page: 63
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67456

The nature of food: indigenous Dene foodways and ontologies in the era of climate change
type: item
description: Climate change leading to a drastic decline in caribou populations has prompted strict hunting regulations in Canada’s Northwest Territories since 2010. The Dene, a subarctic indigenous people, have responded by turning to tradition and calling for more respectful hunting to demonstrate respectful reciprocity to the caribou, including a community-driven foodways project on caribou conservation and Dene caribou conservation which I co-facilitated in 2011. In these ways the caribou is approached as a person. Dene responses to caribou decline can best be understood by ontological theories of an expanded notion of indigenous personhood. However, I argue these theories are inadequate without an attention to foodways, specifically the getting, sharing, and returning of food to the land. The necessity of sustenance reveals a complicated relationship of give-and-take between humans and caribou, negotiated by tradition, yet complicated by the contemporary crisis.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Indigenous peoples -- Canada
  topic: keywords
subject: Dene Indians
  topic: keywords
subject: Indians of North America
  topic: keywords
subject: Climatic changes
  topic: keywords
subject: Global warming
  topic: keywords
subject: Hunting and gathering societies
  topic: keywords
subject: Arctic regions
  topic: keywords
subject: Food
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Anthropology of Religion
  topic: disciplines
subject: Ethnography
  topic: disciplines
creator: David Walsh
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 David Walsh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 225
ending page: 49
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67455

The sacred foodscapes of Thai Buddhist temples in Sweden
type: item
description: Thai Buddhist communities are by far the fastest-growing Buddhist establishments in Sweden, and – contrary to other Buddhist congregations that are mainly clustered in the cities – Thai Buddhist temples can be found in sparsely-populated areas and rural parts of Sweden. This article aims to document and analyse the ‘foodscape’ of diasporic Thai Buddhism in Sweden. In particular the article identifies and discusses five different strategies used by local communities- in order to support their temples in urban as well as rural areas: 1) local support, 2) pre-cooking and freezing, 3) pre-organised almsgiving in nearby cities, 4) change of food gifts, 5) change of the nikaya. A temple’s location in a rural area can drive forward a reinterpretation and adaptation of the monk’s rules, and contribute to a changing composition of food gifts. Food performs several functions. In addition to the religious functions that are associated with almsgiving, food can also serve as a means of generating bonding and bridging civic social capital, and providing economic income to temples.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Buddhism -- Thailand
  topic: keywords
subject: Sweden
  topic: keywords
subject: Diaspora
  topic: keywords
subject: Buddhist giving
  topic: keywords
subject: Temples, Buddhist
  topic: keywords
subject: Transnationalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Migration
  topic: keywords
subject: Gender
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Ethnography
  topic: disciplines
creator: Katarina Plank
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Katarina Plank https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 201
ending page: 24
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67454

Religious dietary rules and the protection of religious freedom: some evidence from practice in Italy
type: item
description: In the Italian system freedom of worship provided by the Constitution is safeguarded by unilateral and contractual norms, sanctioned for minority confessions by an agreement, named intesa, that also concerns dietary issues. Muslim communities, however, as they have no intesa with the Italian state, are always compelled to negotiate in respect of their religious norms. Religious freedom concerns- not only ritual acts, but also behaviours including dietary ones, which are based on religious beliefs. The aim of this paper is to critically reconstruct how Italy takes charge of religiously-motivated needs concerning food and beverages, both for those confessions holding an intesa (such as Hebraism) and for those not (Islam), in order to trace the real degree to which freedom of worship is guaranteed in Italy. The analysis will be focused on the bargaining for religious dietary rules in schools and in constraining institutes, as they are main social spaces of confrontation between believers and the state.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Comparative studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Freedom, Religious
  topic: keywords
subject: Church and state
  topic: keywords
subject: Schools
  topic: keywords
subject: Education
  topic: keywords
subject: Civil rights -- Italy
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Muslims
  topic: keywords
subject: Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Jews
  topic: keywords
subject: Law and Religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Miriam Abu Salem
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Miriam Abu Salem https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 181
ending page: 200
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67453

Religion and diet in a multi-religious city: a comprehensive study regarding interreligious relations in Tbilisi in everyday life and on feast days
type: item
description: This article deals with the importance of foodways among the believers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, both on feast days and in daily life. It takes the form of an interdisciplinary survey in which interviews and written sources are used as well as personal observations from people living within the city.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Comparative studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Fasts and feasts
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Georgia -- History
  topic: keywords
subject: religious studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: cultural history
  topic: disciplines
subject: cultural studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Ulrica Söderlind
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Ulrica Söderlind https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 158
ending page: 80
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67452

Early modern Goa: Indian trade, transcultural medicine, and the Inquisition
type: item
description: Portugal’s introduction of the Inquisition to India in 1560 placed the lives of Jews, New Christians, and selected others labelled ‘heretics’, in peril. Two such victims were Garcia da Orta, a Portuguese New Christian with a thriving medical practice in Goa, and Gabriel Dellon, a French merchant and physician. In scholarship, Garcia da Orta and Gabriel Dellon’s texts are often examined separately within the contexts of Portuguese and French literature respectively and in terms of medicine and religion in the early modern period. Despite the similarities of their training and experiences, da Orta and Dellon have not previously been studied jointly, as is attempted in this article, which expands upon da Orta and Dellon’s roles in Portuguese India’s international commerce, especially the trade in spices, and the collaborations between Indian and European physicians. Thus, the connection between religion and food is not limited to food’s religious and religio-cultural roles. Food in terms of spices has been at the foundations of power for ethno-religious groups in India, and when agents became detached from the spice trade, their downfalls were imminent, as seen in the histories of Garcia da Orta and Gabriel Dellon.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: India -- History
  topic: keywords
subject: Velha Goa (India)
  topic: keywords
subject: Colonization
  topic: keywords
subject: Colonialism and neocolonialism
  topic: keywords
subject: Portuguese -- India
  topic: keywords
subject: Trade routes
  topic: keywords
subject: Spice trade
  topic: keywords
subject: Inquisition
  topic: keywords
subject: Literature and medicine
  topic: keywords
subject: Medicine and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Drugs
  topic: keywords
subject: Food
  topic: keywords
subject: History
  topic: disciplines
subject: India
  topic: disciplines
subject: Religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Bindu Malieckal
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Bindu Malieckal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 135
ending page: 57
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67451

Modes of betel leaf consumption in early India
type: item
description: In this article, I analyse some food practices surrounding betel in early Indian history. Betel consumption was not prescribed for everyone in Brahmanical society. Hence I examine texts referring to betel from the late pre-modern to early modern era (roughly 300–1800 ce) in order to explain proscriptions of betel in the legal discourse that discusses religious practice. The literature I consider in my analysis of betel consumption ranges from the kāmaśāstra genre, influential works of tantra, texts detailing worship, and ascetic and renunciant guides. Material cultural studies aid my exploration of betel as a socio-religious identity marker and my development of three modes of betel consumption and one mode of non-consumption.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Hinduism
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: India -- History
  topic: keywords
subject: Hindu literature
  topic: keywords
subject: Buddhist literature
  topic: keywords
subject: Brahmans
  topic: keywords
subject: Ritual
  topic: keywords
subject: Comparative religion
  topic: disciplines
subject: Anthropology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Andrea Gutierrez
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Andrea Gutierrez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 114
ending page: 34
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67450

Hungry women: sin and rebellion through food and music in the early modern era
type: item
description: Longing for food has always had different implications for men and women: associated with power and strength for men, it tends to have a worrying proximity to sexual pleasure for women. Showing an interesting parallelism throughout the Cinquecento, Italian humanists and teachers insisted on forbidding women music and gluttony. Food and music were both considered dangerous stimulants for the female senses, and every woman was encouraged to consider herself as a kind of food to be offered to the only human beings authorized to feel and satisfy desires: men and babies. Women could properly express themselves only inside monastic circles: the most prolific female composer of the seventeenth century was a nun, as was the first woman who wrote down recipes. Elaborate music and food became the means to maintain a lively relationship with the external world. Moreover, nuns also escaped male control by using the opposite system of affirming themselves through fasting and mortifying the flesh.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Gender
  topic: keywords
subject: Sin -- Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Nuns
  topic: keywords
subject: Women
  topic: keywords
subject: Gluttony
  topic: keywords
subject: Music
  topic: keywords
subject: Symbolism, Christian
  topic: keywords
subject: Creativity
  topic: keywords
subject: Art, Christian
  topic: keywords
subject: Food -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Eating and meals
  topic: keywords
subject: Diet
  topic: keywords
subject: Cooking
  topic: keywords
subject: Food habits
  topic: keywords
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Cultural History
  topic: disciplines
creator: Gioia Filocamo
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Gioia Filocamo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-04-13
publication date: 2015-04-13
starting page: 101
ending page: 13
doi: 10.30674/scripta.67449