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Seminars in Gender and Religion
Time: 14:15-16:00
KVINNFORSK, Øvre Lysthus/Upper Pavillon
The «homo religiosos» of the Science of Religion was for a long time limited to «the religious man». This is not the case anymore. A focus on gender and gender differences opens up to new understandings of contemporary religiosity as well as history. Many of our conceptions about gender are derived from the worlds of religion and are legitimized through religious structures and myths.
The seminars aim to illuminate theoretical understandings of gender and religion as well as more empirical gender analysis of specific religions. Most of the contributions will focus on Christianity in a western context, including cases from Northern Norway. Additionally, one lecture focuses on Islam and the empowerment of women, another on gender, abortion and religion in Latin America.
(Note: Parts of the seminar program has not been translated, only the lectures held in English.)
PROGRAM:
Tuesday 30. January:
Jostein Børtnes (UiB)
Brudgommen Kristus - metafor eller idol, eller hvorfor den katolske kirke ikke vil drøfte muligheten av kvinnelige prester.
I 1988 utsendte Pave Johannes Paul II et apostolisk brev hvor han gjør rede for hvorfor katolske prester ikke kan være kvinner. Han begrunner dette med to hovedargumenter:
1. Jesus kallet kun menn til sine etterfølgere, og
2. I Efeserbrevet 5 fremstår Kristus som Kirkens brudgom, Kirken som Kristi brud. Under messen er presten "in persona Christi," det vil si at presten representerer Kristus brudgommen i forhold til bruden, Kirken. Derfor må presten være mann.
I sitt foredrag vil Jostein Børtnes gjennomgå Johannes Paul IIs utlegging av Efeserbrevet 5:21-33.
Tuesday 13. February: NOTE! Room C-1007
Ingvild Flaskerud (UiT)
Ritual performance and the empowering of Muslim women
The gender-segregated nature of many Muslim communities often lends support to the idea that women are marginalized in society. Gender-segregated spaces may however provide conditions for empowering women. In particular, all-female ritual performances are important sites for women’s religious engagement, contributing to social and political formation, as well as facilitating spiritual and psychological needs. Ingvild Flaskerud discusses these issues drawing on studies on Shiite communities in Iran, Libanon, Iraq, and Pakistan.
Flaskerud will screen “Standard-bearers of Hussein: Women commemorating Karbala” (2003), one of the first anthropological films of Iran, especially from the post-revolutionary period, that shows us the rituals and ceremonies of women during Moharram Rituals, to be followed by a discussion.
Tuesday 27. February:
Bjørn Ola Tafjord (UiT)
Latin American politics of sex, gender and religion.
The Catholic Church is one of the most powerful actors in Latin American politics, especially in questions about sexuality, reproduction and the family. Recent legislation processes in Nicaragua and Chile will be discussed in relation to this.
Whereas the vast majority of Latin Americans still consider themselves Catholics, charismatic Protestantism has been growing in numbers for several decades. Although the latter groups’ views on gender issues vary tremendously, women tend to be the first who attend even the seemingly more conservative among them. Why?
There are good reasons for arguing that the region’s high rates of abortions and maternal deaths are related to politics. However, there are no indications that those women who have abortions performed turn away from their religious beliefs. How then are such apparent contradictions possible?
Tuesday 13. March:
Inger Furseth (KIFO)
Sosiologiske studier av kjønn og religion
Forelesningen vil ta for seg empiriske studier av kvinner og menns religiøse tro og erfaringer, kvinners rolle i religiøse samfunn og ulike forklaringer på kvinners religiøse deltakelse. Hovedfokus vil være på kristendommen i en vestlig og norsk kontekst, men eksempler vil også bli tatt fra forelesers pågående prosjekt om muslimske innvandrerkvinner i Los Angeles.
Tuesday 27. March:
Torjer Olsen (UiT)
The devil, the world and the flesh – on gender, body and sexuality in Laestadianism
“We have three enemies – the devil, the world and our own flesh”. This statement is often given by the preachers of Laestadianism, the most important and influential Christian revivalist movement in Northern Scandinavia. The statement is a quote from Pontoppidan’s book Truth to piety, and is a sign of Laestadianism’s strong roots in pietism. In this presentation Torjer Olsen will take the statement as a starting point for a discussion of issues on gender, body and sexuality in the Laestadian congregation. Connecting both the world we live in and our bodies with the devil is an expression of a worldview and an ideology where the human life is a dangerous project. However, when gender is an issue, power is always present. Hence, Torjer wish to explore how and whether the devil statement is more than a theological and abstract perception. How do “common” Laestadians understand it?
Tuesday 17. April:
Gyrid Gunnes
Gud - fruens fru og dronningens dronning? Feministteologisk gudstale i gudstjenesten
"If God is male, then male is God", sa feministteologen Mary Daly på 70-tallet. Hva betyr det for kristen teologi og for levende kvinner og menn at Gud utelukkende omtales i mannlige termer? I dette foredraget vil Gunnes gi en innføring og en problematisering i feministteologisk kritikk av tradisjonell gudstale i gudstjenesten. Gjennom Sallie MacFague gudsbildemodeller vil Gunnes utforske om det går an å tale feministisk om Gud, uten å sementere tradisjonelle kjønnsrollestereotypier. Hva skjer med Gud, kvinner og menn, konger og dronninger, når Gud ikke lenger er ”konge”, men ”dronning”?
Tuesday 8. May:
Rune Blix Hagen (UiT)
Norwegian female witches and Sami male sorcerers in the witch-trials of Arctic Norway during the 17th Century - Norske trollkvinner og samiske trollmenn i nordnorske hekseprosesser på 1600-tallet.
According to legal sources of northern Norway at least 177 people, mostly Norwegian women, were prosecuted for the crime of witchcraft between 1593 and 1695. The witch trials of Arctic Norway denote a pattern of persecution much more intense than what took place in most other parts of Europe, provided we take into account the relative small size of the population of the region. Those of Sami origin made up about 20% of the total number of witch-trials and most of them were male sorcerers. Some of them can be called Sami Shamans.
Rune B. Hagen will discuss religious and political issues of the witch-hunt to uncover peculiarities and similarities in relation to ethnic identity and gender. The purpose is to show that in a region with a highly mixed population, Arctic Norway raises very important features of gender and ethnicity relating to the discourses of witchcraft in early modern Europe.
Tuesday 22. May:
Jorunn Jernsletten (UiT)
Religiøse tabu som forholdsregler og maktbalanse i samiske samfunn
Forskningstradisjonen har skapt et bilde av samisk religion hvor kvinnene var utelukket fra å bruke runebomma eller bli "nåejtie" og skulle holde seg langt unna offersteinene. Både i forskernes og misjonærenes framstillinger brukes tabuene som eksempler på at kvinnen var underordnet mannen sosialt og religiøst. Men hvordan har man egentlig forholdt seg til disse tabuene? Gjennom noen eksempler vil jeg illustrere hvordan tabuene også kan forstås som et middel til sosial likevekt, for eksempel ved at kvinnene både kunne styrke og svekke mennenes jaktlykke ved å følge eller bryte tabuene. I et slikt perspektiv framstår tabuene som forholdsregler som begge kjønn må forholde seg til.
WELCOME!
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