Using Intersectional Perspectives in the Studies of Non-Religion Ritualization

Abstract

In the 21st century, the Church of Sweden has lost its dominant position regarding the ritualization of births, marriages, and deaths in Sweden. Above all, name giving ceremonies, civil weddings, and civil funerals have become more common. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how intersectional perspectives can improve the understanding of the construction of non-religion in life-cycle ritualization, such as name giving ceremonies and civil funerals, performed beyond religious or non-religious organizations. This article presents the intersectional analyses of two non-religion ritual narratives as examples of how intersectional analyses could be conducted. The analysis clarifies the impact of power in non-religion ritualization, and how non-religion is constructed in relation to other discursive categories, in this case gender, sexuality, social class and nationality. The conclusion is that the use of intersectional perspectives is relevant for gaining a complex understanding of the construction of non-religion as well as knowledge of ritualization beyond religious or non-religious organizations nowadays.

Critical-feminist studies of funerals

“…In previous research, religion and secular ity have often been investigated as single categories standing apart from other social categories, leaving intersectional per spectives absent (Jarnkvist 2021;Reuter and Murray 2022). It is the same in studies of the construction, for example, of gender and class in Swedish, as well as international studies on rituals (see e.g.…”

“…The studies have shed light on ritualization as a complex process constructed in interaction with the social context in which it occurs. Studies have revealed, for example, that civil funerals may both relate to and express distance from religion in different ways and that place is essential for how this is done (Jarnkvist 2019(Jarnkvist , 2021. The theory is also relevant, for example, in studies on ritual change through history and analysing the influence of consumption and popular culture in ritualization.…”

Queer and Disabled: Exploring the Experiences of People Who Identify as LGBT and Live with Disabilities

“…Intersectionality relates to the complex experience of belonging to multiple identities and social groups [39,40]. Intersectionality has its roots in Black feminism [41] and demonstrates how overlapping axes of oppression relating to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, national origin, and class have an effect on people who belong to more than one minority community [42][43][44]. According to Collins and Bilge [45], it is of great importance to not only see intersectionality regarding the effect that multiple identities have on one's self, but to explore the impact of multiple identities on power imbalances and inequalities.…”