Community Views
Rethinking Emile Durkheim’s Functionalism of Religion: Focus on Religious Identity, Violence, and Current Human Vulnerabilities
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chinyere Nkama
This study presents a contemporary analysis of Emile Durkheim's functionalism concerning religion, focusing primarily on the connections between religious identity, violence, and human vulnerabilities. By rethinking Durkheim's theory, this paper investigates the impact of religion on both individual and societal behaviour and its role in exacerbating violence and vulnerability. The analysis draws upon contextual facts and figures from Nigerian society, various academic sources, and key concepts and arguments proposed by Durkheim. Furthermore, the study addresses criticisms of functionalism, particularly its neglect of individual agency and its tendency to overemphasize the positive functions of religion while downplaying its potential to incite conflict. The discussion underscores the necessity for a context-specific approach when applying functionalism to contemporary issues, especially regarding religious conflicts and the effects of globalization on traditional beliefs. In examining the complexities of religious conflicts and the significant influence of globalization on these beliefs, the paper explores how increasing interconnectedness can reshape religious identities and practices. This includes an analysis of how globalization may lead to the revitalization of certain belief systems and the emergence of new forms of religious violence.
Alone/Askew/Apart: Creating Precarious Community Through Queer and Jewish Roleplaying Games
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Che Pieper
Dream Askew, Dream Apart, Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum’s twin 2018 roleplaying games, explore religious and communal identities in two politically precarious spaces. Alder’s game, Askew, tells the tale of a queer enclave in the post-apocalypse, Rosenbaum’s Apart that of an 18th century shtetl and the Jews who live there. These stories are separated by time and space, but also tied together—by structure, ruleset, and the importance of a home-cooked meal. Through these similarities and differences, Dream Askew, Dream Apart invites a comparison between the shtetl and the enclave. Through the medium of a roleplaying game, they invite players to make these spaces their own. In this paper, I examine the ways in which Dream Askew, Dream Apart invites readers to “play at” queer and Jewish communities, in turn structuring a third, more ephemeral space: that of the players themselves. Through play in which you inhabit the lives of the vulnerable, but also make them your own—in which you “ask questions and provide gentle correction”—Dream Askew and Dream Apart do more than teach the historical facts of Jewish and queer marginalizations. They give players a new understanding of what it means to be vulnerable, and nonetheless in community. This vulnerability goes beyond religious and political marginalization, and into players’ own kitchens and living rooms. Through it, they teach players to “belong outside belonging.”
Study of Religious Communities through Digital Platforms: Religious Charitable Organization in the USA and Their Role in the Public Sector
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Petr Mocek
Research on religious communities in Western society is frequently approached from an academic perspective, primarily through scholarly discussions. This study seeks to investigate the roles, activities, and challenges faced by religious communities by focusing on their charitable work within the public sector of the United States, using digital tools and platforms as a means of exploration. The methodology includes an online questionnaire survey targeting charitable organizations, as well as the collection and analysis of online data related to religious communities in the USA. The findings are expected to shed light on contemporary approaches to studying religion, along with the inherent challenges, particularly legislative barriers such as the concept of “religious freedom” in the USA. This principle often results in a lack of government-collected data on religion, thereby complicating the research of these communities.
