Hi,
One deeply personal response to the types of issue raised by Paul's question - is it possible within the epistemological and methodological terms of social science to actually study such phenomena as religious experience without explaining it away as ideology or identity, or are the two 'language games' completely antithetical to each other? - can be found in:
Slater, T. (2004) 'Encountering God: personal reflections on "geographer as pilgrim"', Area 36 (3) pp. 245-254.
Best,
Hayden
___________
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Harrison [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 December 2004 12:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: geographies of religion?
Dear Duncan,
yes there was a session at the last ibg, co-ordinated by Julian Holloway (geography MMU) and - I think (apologies if i am wrong) - Oliver Valins (Institute for Jewish Policy Research); at least Julian and Oliver edited a special issue of Social and Cultural Geography on Geographies of Religion recently (Volume 3 Number 1 March 2002). I know that Julian has published on spirituality and space elsewhere over the last few years, in both EPA and EPD i think. Find bellow a cut and paste from a bids search on geography and religion i did a while ago - which includes a piece by oliver, Lisa (? sorry again) Kong also did a series of progress reports on the topic. Outside of geography Philip Sheldrake's (theology - durham) recent book 'Spaces for the Sacred' (2001 scm press) is well worth a look. Of course one should not overlook Paul Cloke's recent piece on evil which is, it seems to me, inseperable from a religious context, (as I think are most ethical discourses, one way or another). Bruno Latour has also written on religion over the last few years, see his web site for drafts (French and English); http://www.ensmp.fr/~latour/.
It seems to me that there's a lot of interst in religion and religious expereince at the moment (and over the past decade or so); I've been reading up on Derrida and religion recently as well as the so-called 'religious turn' (a very dubious term) in phenomenology - see amongst others, the essays collected in 'Phenomenology and the Theological Turn. The French Debate' (2000 fordham university press), and work by people such as John Caputo, John Llewelyn, Adriaan Paperzak, Edith Wyschogrod, Richard Kearney... and in light of this stuff it seems to me that - and of course with exceptions - most of what passes for the 'geography of religion' seems to be identity politics by another name, where the fact that these are putatively religious or spiritual phenomena makes little or no difference to their study. (Yes, i am trying to get some discussion going here). Here's a question to no one in particular - though Bon you may recognise it - which has been bothering me (a little); is it possible within the epistemological and methodological terms of social science to actually study such phenomena as religious experience without explaining it away as ideology or identity, or are the two 'language games' completely antithetical to each other? Feel free not to answer...
Yours,
Paul
Dr. Paul Harrison
Department of Geography, University of Durham
Science Laboratories, South Road
Durham, DH1 3LE
+44 (0)191 3341893
(2) TI: Mapping the sacred: religion, geography, and postcolonial
literatures [review]
AU: Scott_JS (Ed.), SimpsonHousley_P (Ed.), Allen_RK_Jr (Rev.)
JN: Professional geographer, Nov 2003, Vol.55, No.4, pp.541-543
(3) TI: Stubborn identities and the construction of socio-spatial
boundaries: ultra-orthodox Jews living in contemporary Britain
AU: Valins_O
JN: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Jun 2003,
Vol.28, No.2, pp.158-175
(4) TI: Contemporary clerical constructions of a spiritual rural idyll
AU: Walker_G
JN: Sociologia ruralis, Apr 2002, Vol.42, No.2, pp.131-142
(5) TI: Mapping 'new' geographies of religion: politics and poetics in
modernity
AU: Kong_L
JN: Progress in human geography, Jun 2001, Vol.25, No.2, pp.211-234
(6) TI: The uniqueness of the American religious landscape
AU: Zelinsky_W
JN: Geographical review, Jul 2001, Vol.91, No.3, pp.565-585
_____
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Duncan Fuller
Sent: Mon 06/12/2004 11:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: geographies of religion?
Can anyone point me in the direction of any recent(ish) work surrounding the
geographies of religion? I seem to remember an ibg session/conference on
this relatively recently...?
Thanks
----------------------------------
Dr Duncan Fuller
Division of Geography
Lipman Building
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST
Direct Tel - 0191 2273753
Fax - 0191 2274715
Divisional Office - 0191 2273428
PEANuT (Participatory Evaluation and Appraisal in Newcastle upon Tyne) -
http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/peanut
Geo-publishing.org - http://www.may.ie/nirsa/geo-pub/geo-pub.html
Radical Theory/Critical Praxis:
Making a Difference Beyond the Academy?
http://www.praxis-epress.org/availablebooks/radicaltheorycriticalpraxis.html
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