Care, Longing, and Control Representing Corporeal Laestadianism in Popular Culture

SANDRA WALLENIUS-KORKALO Care, longing, and control Representing corporeal Laestadianism in popular culture DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.86094 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) his article analyses representations of Con- develop ment, alongside a growth of conservative Laestadianism in contempor ary sumption of traditional popular cultures Finnish and Finnish-American popular T (Beavis et al. 2013: 423). Simultaneously, culture. Drawing from political studies, religious studies and cultural studies, the article sheds institutional forms of religion have become light on the ways in which Conservative Laes- more distanced from the everyday experi- tadianism is present in societal debate and in ence of many people living in Western the cultural imagination. Focusing on religious secu lar societies, allowing the role of popu- corporeality, the article scrutinises the embodied practices of Conservative Laestadianism and the lar culture in constructing imaginaries and ways in which the representations participate impressions of religion to gain significance in making sense of gender, sexuality, and power (Clark 2007: 13–15). Popular culture cre- in religious communities. Contemporary under- ates a formative space in which understand- standings in popular culture are revealed through the detailed analysis of four cultural products of ings of religions are moulded, and wherein different genres depicting Conservative Laes- members of different religious groups are tadianism: a film entitled Kielletty hedelmä (For- encountered (Stone 2013: 403). bidden Fruit, 2009), a novel entitled We Sinners This article sheds light on representa- (2012), a reality television show entitled Iholla tions of the religious movement known (On the Skin, 2013), and a play entitled Taivas- laulu (Heavensong, 2015). As a synthesis of the as Laestadianism, more specifically Con- representations of Conservative Laestadianism, servative Laestadianism, in contemporary the article presents a dynamic triad of care, long- popular culture.1 The cultural represen- ing, and control. Furthermore, the article raises tations of the movement are examined in questions about the potential of popular culture in calling for a dialogue between Conservative relation to an ongoing shift in Conservative Laestadianism and society at large. Laestadianism, and the reflections of that shift in surrounding societies. Con- servative Laestadianism is most promin ent Introduction in Finland, with around 90,000 members The study of religion and popular cul- – about two per cent of the population – ture is crucial today, as forms of religious making it the largest revivalist movement expression and dynamics are changing rap- idly. The rise of new media in the twenty- first century and the expansion of virtual 1 The article is based on the author’s doctoral expressions of religions are examples of this dissertation (Wallenius-Korkalo 2018a). Approaching Religion • Vol. 10, No. 1 • May 2020 4 in the country (Talonen 2016: 134).2 Con- community, leaving the community, and ser va tive Laestadianism can be found in questions of gender and sexuality. the United States under the name of the This article presents a study of four Laestadian Lutheran Church (LLC) and contemporary popular cultural products the movement has sister organisations also portraying Conservative Laestadianism; a in Sweden, Canada, Russia, and Estonia film entitled Kielletty hedelmä (Forbidden (Talonen 2001). Conservative Laestadians Fruit, 2009); a novel entitled We Sinners are known for their strict theological and (2012); a reality television show entitled moral codes, traditional values, and large Iholla (On the Skin, 2013); and a play en families; their lifestyle does not generally titled Taivaslaulu (Heavensong, 2015), include, for example, birth control, pre- adapted from a novel (2013) of the same marital sex, alcohol, television, competi- name. Drawing from political studies, reli- tive sports, or dancing (Salomäki 2010). In gious studies and cultural studies, I suggest Finland, many members of the movement that key aspects of the current debates and are active in civil society, business, and pol- the cultural products can be understood itics (Linjakumpu et al. 2019). with the help of theories of corporeality. During the 2000s, Conservative Laes- I ask how Conservative Laestadianism is tadian ism has attracted some critical pub- embodied in these representations and licity due to the position of women in how the representations participate in the community, the movement’s negative making sense of the political potential of stance on female priests, its ban on contra- the religious body. By means of an ana- ception and certain alleged wrongdoings lysis of these cultural products, my study – such as sexual abuse of children, and scrutinises the power structures of the rep- spiritual violence – within the commu- resented religious bodies; their potential, nity (see e.g. Hurtig 2013b; Linjakumpu what is expected and required of them, 2015; Nykänen and Luoma-aho 2013). and how, sometimes, these are violated. Many members have left the movement I trace the ways in which Laestadianism (Valkila 2013), and some of this develop- is corpor eally signified in the representa- ment is thought to have happened partly tions and ask what the interpretations the due to the role of media and social media representations call for are. As such, the environments in encouraging individu- study highlights the ways in which cor- als who are already on the brink of leaving por eal Conservative Laestadianism is pres- the movement (Taira 2019: 340–1; Hintsala ent in the wider social debate and cultural 2016) to go through with the intention. imagination. The 2000s also saw a rise in the produc- In what follows, I situate my study within tion of of popular cultural products depict- the interdisciplinary discussions of lived ing Laestadianism – many of which deal religion, popular culture, and religious cor- with the very same issues that Conservative poreality. Secondly, I briefly introduce the Laestadian communities are facing today; cultural products analysed in this article, such as the negotiation of the norms of the place them within the continuum of representations of Laestadianism in popu lar culture, and describe my method of analysis. 2 Other major, although significantly smaller, branches of Laestadianism include Re Thirdly, with corporeality as my focal point, awaken ing, Firstborn Laestadianism and my analysis explores the ways in which the Little Firstborn group. Conservative Laestadianism is portrayed Approaching Religion • Vol. 10, No. 1 • May 2020 5 in the items under study. As a synthe- ‘out there’ (Morgan 2008: xiii–xiv, 3, 5–7). sis of the representations of Conservative Thus, the questions researchers ask may Laestadianism emerging from the cultural focus on how religion is represented in products is analysed, the article presents a popular culture, but also on the relation- dynamic triad of care, longing, and control. ship media and culture consumption has I conclude by raising questions about the to the em bodied, affectual, aesthetic and potential of popular culture in calling for a ethic al basis of religious life (Lynch et al. dialogue between the movement and soci- 2012: 3; Mahan 2005: 294; Morgan 2008: ety at large. 9–10, 16; Forbes 2005: 10–6).3 Cultural products are part of the articulation and Representations of corporeal religion presence of religions in societies in that During the past few decades, the study of they draw from lived actualities and pro- everyday religion and lived religion has duce collective imaginations (Morgan become an established tradition. Scholars 2008: 8–10). This does not happen only at a of religious studies and the sociology of cognitive level, but rather, cultural products religion frame this field as research on also frame and shape corporeal agency and religious practices and imagination lived experience (Lynch et al. 2012: 5). Popular within the structures and realities of every- culture produces ideas of who we are and day life, as opposed to focusing on reli- what separates us from others (Duncombe gious institutions or doctrines (McGuire and Bleiker 2015: 35–44; Meyer 2012: 168), 2008: 160–1; Orsi 2002: xiii–xiv). It is a and thus studying the forms in and through culture-specific approach that adheres to which religious life is mediated is crucial to religiousness in particular places and times understanding how religious realities are (Hintsala 2017: 16, 25). It is also often constructed and maintained (Meyer 2015: interested in cor poreal and material aspects 1; Lynch et al. 2012: 133). of religions – lived religion is inherently In my research, I assess the cultural embodied; mundane practices and chores, products depicting Conservative Laes - from food preparation to singing, tie the material life to the spiritual (McGuire 2008: 3 Within this line of research, a more specific 99, 115, 118). debate on the ‘mediatisation of religion’ – Alongside the study of lived religion, formulated most notably by media stud- the study of religion, media, and culture ies scholar Stig Hjarvard – has focused on has also become more prominent. While media as the prime mediator of religion in secular societies (Lövheim and Lynch not often brought into dialogue with each 2011: 111–12). According to Hjarvard, the other, these two approaches have focused media tends to communicate religion that on similar questions: both are interested could be characterised as ‘banal’,

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