Faith in the home catholic spirituality and devotional materiality in east london

Garnett, Jane; Harris, Alana

doi:10.2752/175183411x13070210372184

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…25 The creation and maintenance of domestic shrines or worship spaces, defined by Garnett and Harris as 'devotional materiality', is further evidence of everyday creative religious practices. 26 The exclusion of religion from discussion of creativity also reflects both a very long-running cultural construction of religion that regards it as uncreative or even anti-creative, and in the United Kingdom at least, a lasting culture of secularism within arts policy. There is a powerful postenlightenment view of creativity that has a focus on individual self-realisation, contrasting this with the supposedly passive and ritualistic practices of religion.…”

Section: Vernacular Creativity Arts Policy and The Hidden Geographiementioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden geographies of religious creativity: place-making and material culture in West London faith communities

Gilbert

Dwyer

Ahmed

et al. 2018

cultural geographies

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Religious activity, particularly as associated with what might be called everyday organized religion, has been unconsidered in recent discussions of the geographies and policies relating to creativity, and has been almost absent in the discipline of Geography's recent 'creative turn'. We argue both that religion has been given little or no attention in academic discussions of vernacular creativity, while arts policy as it developed in the UK in the post-war period has had a strongly secular focus. This continues in more recent policies and initiatives that have sought to promote the amateur and voluntary arts sectors. We explore the reasons for these absences, before turning to examples of strongly creative practice in a range of case studies, focused in a small area of suburban west London. These show a remarkable diversity of creativity including the design, construction and transformation of buildings and spaces for religious worship, but also in ritual, performance and the everyday practices of making sacred space. Our case studies include examination of performance and material culture in a Tamil-speaking Hindu temple, and in Roman Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostal churches. These include changes to architectural form, stained glass art-work, community craft projects, and musical performance and composition. We suggest that religious creativity has a hidden significance that has become more important in the UK's increasingly diverse cities and suburbs, and that significant population groups are marginalized in creativity debates and policies that focus on the secular arts. We also suggest that there are distinctive characteristics to what we describe as 'devotional creativity', particularly in different understandings of space, practice and experience.Each year, in early August, these garlands are taken out into the streets of West Ealing, decorating the chariots of the Hindu deities as they are processed around this part of suburban London. Estimates vary, but perhaps 10,000 people participate or watch the annual Chariot Festival, the culmination of the annual 27-day Mahotsavam Festival. 2 The flower-making is only one part of a sustained effort by the Shri Kanaga Thurkkai Amman Temple (SKTA) in preparation for the festival. Other members of the Temple are involved in building and maintaining the chariots, in decorating and transforming the temple, in music-making, in cookery, and in extensive rehearsals for the rituals during the procession itself.

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Section: Vernacular Creativity Arts Policy and The Hidden Geographiementioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden geographies of religious creativity: place-making and material culture in West London faith communities

Gilbert

Dwyer

Ahmed

et al. 2018

cultural geographies

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“…Geographical and historical approaches to religion have become increasingly interested in individuals’ everyday experiences of religious faiths (Garnett & Harris, ; Naylor & Ryan, ). Previous historical and geographical approaches have focused on religious institutions, exploring their theological, doctrinal and liturgical developments (Thompson, ) or plotting their geographical spread (Coleman, ).…”

Section: Materials Approaches To Religious Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Material “becomings” and a historical geography of religious experience: Metropolitan Methodism, 1851–1932

Slatter

2017

Area

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Using Wesleyan Methodism in London between 1851 and 1932 as its case study, this paper explores the potential methods and outcomes of studying religious spaces as material items. Interested in both the “becoming” of their physical material properties and social meanings, this paper considers how geographical research can engage with debates within material culture studies about the relative importance and consequences of analysing the material qualities or social meanings of material items. This paper also responds to geographical and historical approaches to religious practices that are increasingly interested in individuals’ everyday experiences of religion, suggesting that studying the becoming nature of religious space can provide insights into historical congregational experiences. Finally, reflecting on the inevitable gaps and inconsistencies in historical archives, this paper assesses the methodological possibilities and viability of using material sources and analysis in historical geography.

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“…This research project, based in Ealing in west London between 2015 and 2018, traced the role and significance of material cultures and practices of faith, particularly for migrant faith communities, in one suburban location. 1 The project responds to work in religious studies on 'everyday' and 'lived' religion, which emphasises vernacular and quotidian material culture in understanding how faith identities are practised (Garnett and Harris 2011;McGuire 2008;Morgan 2010). It argues that a recent celebration of craft and vernacular creativity in disciplines such as geography and sociology (Edensor et al 2010;Hawkins 2016; Gauntlett 2011) has overlooked the creativity associated with faith spaces or religious identity (Ahmed and Dwyer 2017;Gilbert et al 2019).…”

Section: Part II Convivial Collaborations Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying Diversity, Migration and Urban Multiculture

Berg¹,

Nowicka²

2019

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Faith in the home catholic spirituality and devotional materiality in east london

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

The hidden geographies of religious creativity: place-making and material culture in West London faith communities

The hidden geographies of religious creativity: place-making and material culture in West London faith communities

Material “becomings” and a historical geography of religious experience: Metropolitan Methodism, 1851–1932

Studying Diversity, Migration and Urban Multiculture

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