On 29 May 2010 the Spring Meeting of the NGG will be held at the University of Groningen. As usual, the program is a combination of lectures by senior members and junior members who will present their current research.
PROGRAM
11.00 Arrival and opening by Prof. Dr. Gerard Wiegers, President NGG
11.15–11.45 Prof. Dr. Wouter van Beek, University of Tilburg
"Blacksmiths between Earth and Heaven: Ritual Competence of an African Artisan Group"
Throughout Africa the people who traditionally melt or forge iron form a special category in society, with social position ranging from a lower stratum to kingmakers. In many culture areas they form endogamous groups, marrying only among themselves, a caste-like situation that is sometimes is associated with notions of purity and pollution. In the North of Cameroon such a clear constellation of food taboos, endogamy and notions of pollution is combined with a large array of specialist tasks they perform, from music to medicine, from divination to officiating in rites the passage, from pottery to burial. Many of the contradic-tions in society focus on this group, which are on the one hand called the 'children of the village' or the 'wives of the village', on the other hand feared and highly respected. It will be argued that one major factor is the notion of 'transformation', material as well as ritual, and then the constructed ritual competence of this group.
11.45–12.00 Discussion
12.00–12.30 Gemma Kwantes, MA, University of Amsterdam
"Contemporary Kabbalah: To What Use Is Kabbalah Put?"
I am currently writing a PhD on four movements that offer their adherents some form of Kabbalah. They are recognizably religious and Jewish, but they are usually not counted in the Jewish spectrum. I would like to present some preliminary research results on the manner and the end to which Kabbalah is used by three of these movements: Kabbalah Centre, Bnei Baruch and Jewish Renewal.
12.30–12.45 Discussion
12.45–14.00 Lunch in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
14.00–14.30 Dr. Jennifer Reid, University of Amsterdam
"Performers and the Power of Words in Medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England"
This brief paper reports on a study that queries beliefs about the power of words among the Irish and Anglo-Saxons during the Middle Ages. A repository of texts speaks to a commonly held notion that words, properly formulated and properly administered, could be used to reveal, create, and alter "realities" of a natural and supernatural cast. From the penitentials, maledictiones and loricae, to "hisperic" or "hermeneutic" poetry and grammars, words are used to affect people, places, and things in ways that have rarely been understood outside of medico-magico-religious models. In order to gain insight into the complex interrelationship of these properties in the texts, investigators have been interested chiefly establishing their sources and analogues. This discussion, however, will focus on their immediate social context and ask the following question: what do the texts reveal about performers and their understanding of the connection between words and their effects? Perhaps there are specific cultural notions that, for example, make the call for protection against the spells of women, smiths, and druids in the lorica of Patrick not so curious after all. This communication is part of the investigations of the Power of Words in Medieval Ireland NWO-VIDI Project at the Universiteit van Amsterdam
14.30–14.45 Discussion
14.45–15.15 Pieter Nanninga, MA, University of Groningen
"Mediated Martyrdom: Suicide Bombers' Performances in Jihadist Martyrdom Videos"
Suicide attacks are not only a strategic means in a conflict with stronger enemies, but also an expressive or symbolic form of social action. They can be considered performances which communicate certain mes-sages to an audience. In the last decades, this 'communicative force' of martyrdom got an extra dimension with the employment of new media by jihadist organizations. They started to publish the last wills of their 'martyrdom seekers' as well as footages of their operations, which resulted in the development of extensive martyrdom videos in the last decade. By focusing on the videos of al-Sahab, this presentation explores how jihadist organizations exploit this communicative force of martyrdom in order to represent themselves to their audience. It shows how the videos 'reperform' the martyrdom in a virtual context, thus providing the martyrs and their attacks with new meanings and embedding them in the global jihad the organizations claim to wage. From this perspective, it will be argued that the development of this genre of videos and its growing importance for jihadist organizations have further increased the media-driven character of suicide attacks.
15.15–15.30 Discussion
15.30 End of meeting and departure
REGISTRATION
If you want to participate in the NGG Spring Meeting, please send an e-mail to Prof. Dr. Kocku von Stuckrad, Secretary of the NGG, at c.k.m.von.stuckrad@rug.nl.
For the lunch, which will be catered in the Faculty, we have to charge 15.00 EUR. Participants can pay cash during the Meeting.
Please register before 15 May 2010.
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