Bent Out of Shape: Fictions of Yoga and Religion before the Courts

Abstract

We engage with the practice of yoga in Californian public schools through a recent case to examine the discursive mechanisms at play when a practice is shaped as religious (or not). A correlation is made between the practice of yoga in schools and male circumcision, to think about its secular/religious vocation. This line of questioning is salient in exploring how law curates the body of the “secular” “modern” child. We argue that yoga, like circumcision, is an example of an ambidextrous practice that can be curated as either “religious” or “secular”. Section 1 provides a brief genesis of our legal cases and theoretical proposal for secularism as a curating practice. Section 2 offers discursive analyses of religious practice, as well as culture and health through yoga’s postures. Ultimately, we seek to critically examine the manner, mechanisms and methods through which different practices exercised by children or on their bodies are (re)shaped by/through the courts.

Gazing into the World of Tattoos: An Invitation to Reconsider how we Conceptualize Religious Practices

“…Third, even if the non-removable dimension and the ability to choose whether to make one’s tattoo visible play a role in explaining why tattoos have been under little state scrutiny, it is likely that the fact that they are not solely associated with minority practices is a determining factor. Indeed, the practice of male circumcision 31 —which is also a direct, non-removable and painful practice—has been subject to recent extensive scrutiny and regulation in some Western countries (on this, see Barras and Dabby, 2015; Dabby and Barras 2018). Likewise, the wearing of the kirpan, which is hidden under one’s clothes and therefore not visible, has become hypervisible, partly because of recent legal battles (e.g.…”