New Diversities an Online Journal Published by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity

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New Diversities An online journal published by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity

Volume 18, No. 1, 2016 Religion and Superdiversity Guest Editors: Irene Becci (University of Lausanne) Marian Burchardt (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen)

Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction 1 by Marian Burchardt (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen) and Irene Becci (University of Lausanne)

Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars 9 by Gertrud Hüwelmeier (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity 23 by Deirdre Meintel (Université de Montréal)

Multi-Religiosity: Expanding Research on Ties to Multiple Faiths in the 21st Century 37 by Liza G. Steele (State University of New York at Purchase)

Mobility and Religious Diversity in Indigenousness-Seeking Movements: A Comparative Case Study between France and Mexico 53 by Manéli Farahmand (University of Lausanne / University of Ottawa) and Sybille Rouiller (University of Lausanne)

When Homogeneity Calls for Super-Diversity: Rome as a Religious Global City 73 by Valeria Fabretti (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’) and Piero Vereni (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’) Editor: Marian Burchardt Guest Editors: Irene Becci Marian burchardt Language Editor: Sarah Blanton Layout and Design: Birgitt Sippel

Past Issues in 2008-2015: “The Infrastructures of Diversity: Materiality and Culture in Urban Space”, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2015 “Engaging with the Other: Religion, Identity, and Politics in the Mediterranean”, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2015 “Migration and Development: Rethinking Recruitment, Remittances, Diaspora Support and Return”, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2014 “Social Mobility and Identity Formation”, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2014 “Diversity and Small Town Spaces: Twenty Years into Post-Apartheid South African Democracy ”, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2013 “Female Migration Outcomes II”, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2013 “Language and Superdiversities II”, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2012 “Skilled Migration and the Brain Drain”, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2012 “Language and Superdiversities”, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2011 “Female Migration Outcomes: Human Rights Perspectives”, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011 “Depicting Diversities”, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2010 “Turks Abroad: Settlers, Citizens, Transnationals”, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2009 “The Human Rights of Migrants”, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2009 “The Conditions of Modern Return Migrants”, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2008 “Citizenship Tests in a Post-National Era”, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2008

ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ISSN-Internet 2199-8116

Published by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity Hermann-Föge-Weg 11 D-37073 Göttingen, Germany

Available online at www.newdiversities.mmg.mpg.de Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction

by Marian Burchardt (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen) and Irene Becci (University of Lausanne)

Introduction undermined in the eyes of the believer the cred- About 10 years ago, Steven Vertovec (2007) ibility of all of them. Theorists of religious econ- coined the notion of superdiversity in order to omies (Stark and Finke 2000), on the contrary, describe a scenario in which a rapidly grow- saw religious diversity in open market situations ing number of migrants remained outside the as a condition of religious vitality. Second, and existing social, economic and cultural categories subsequently, theories and accounts of new reli- that are routinely used to describe migration gious movements (Barker 1999) were primarily flows, and to pinpoint the increasing complex- interested in the cause and consequences of reli- ity of variables describing the social status and gious heterodoxy, which they linked to changes everyday lives of migrants in Britain. Since then, in the very institutional form of religion and its the term has been taken up across the social far-reaching deinstitutionalization (Luckmann sciences and has more generally been used to 1967). Third, more contemporary approaches describe social dynamics in societies character- are primarily animated by the increasing pres- ized by high levels of immigration and population ence of migrant religions and centrally interested mobility (Meissner and Vertovec 2015; Meissner in how they are accommodated in the institu- 2015). While religion was initially not very cen- tional frameworks of the nation-state and in how tral to debates around migration-driven diver- their presence challenges dominant regimes of sity, this has changed dramatically over recent citizenship and secularism. years (Becci, Burchardt and Giorda 2016). In this We suggest that today, there is a need to bet- special issue, we explore the multiplication and ter understand how, in contemporary societ- dynamics of religious differences and the extent ies, religious diversity is afforded visibility, how to which the notion of “religious superdiversity” it is spatially arranged and emplaced, and how suggests a fruitful avenue to guide research and religious diversity becomes a category whereby theorization. ordinary people render their social worlds leg- Before the term superdiversity appeared, the ible (Stringer 2013, Wessendorf 2014). The term concept of religious diversity was employed in a superdiversity opens up new perspectives in number of ways. We suggest that there are three this regard. We propose that the relationships main sociological discourses in which it served between religion and superdiversity needs to different purposes. First, in earlier secularization be elaborated and suggest that there are two theory, religious diversity was chiefly understood majorly distinct ways to do so. First, there are against the backdrop of post-Reformation Chris- important questions about “religion in the con- tian diversity and seen as a factor that either text of superdiversity,” which address the rela- favored or hindered religious belief and participa- tionships between religion and other status cate- tion. Peter L. Berger (1967) famously suggested gories in contexts of migration-driven diversifica- that the visible existence of different religions tion such as race, ethnicity, legal status, age, and

New Diversities Vol. 18, No. 1, 2016 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Marian Burchardt and Irene Becci

gender. And second, we emphasize the emer- open new conceptual spaces for considering the gence, parallel development and mutual consti- location of religion. tution of different kinds of religious differences, While such work is underway (Becci, Burchardt in other words: the interactions of different and Giorda 2016; Stringer 2013), important shifts religious diversities which gives rise to what we on the ground point to the real urgency of taking call religious superdiversity. However, as we will religion more seriously in theory development: also show, both perspectives cannot be isolated First, many scholars pointed to the more cen- from one another. Research into diversity in con- tral place of religion in debates over recognition. temporary immigration societies must take up Grillo (2010) and Eade (2011) have observed how the challenge not only to conceptualize religion the object of recognition in Britain has shifted as a marker of difference but also to recognize from “race to faith” while D’Amato (2015) has the internal diversity of practices, identities and explored the political construction in Switzerland epistemologies that are grouped under the label of a “homo islamicus” within a “total discourse” of religion. In what follows, we analyze each homogenizing Muslim identity (Behloul 2009). of these issues in some detail, scrutinize socio- Second, we note the increasing importance of logical and anthropological approaches to them the law and court-based decision-making in and highlight the ways in which the articles in shaping immigrant integration. This process as this special issue further our understanding well has led to a rise in salience of religion in of them. framing claims of recognition (Koenig 2010). This is particularly important as there has been simul- Religion in the Context of Superdiversity taneously and across Europe a “Multiculturalism As mentioned above, religion did not play a Backlash” (Vertovec and Wessendorf 2010) and major role in earlier scholarly debates on migra- retreat from it (Joppke 2004). While some saw tion. This situation has changed drastically and this retreat as rather rhetorical (Poppelaars and social scientists now view religion as central Scholten 2008) others insisted that it did have a to understanding immigrants’ choices, migra- real political and legal substrate (Joppke 2012). tion trajectories and social integration (Levitt Burchardt and Michalowski (2015) showed in a 2007, Kivisto 2015, Connor 2014, Banchoff 2007, comparative analysis of 10 European countries Burchardt 2016). Similarly, we note that religion that while the cultural rights of immigrants have used to play a minor or simplified role within been curtailed in the context of the mentioned scholarly and normative debates on societal multiculturalism backlash, their religious rights paradigms that emerged from political theories have actually expanded during the same period around migration. Dominant during the 1980s in most countries (with the exception of Swit- and 1990s, the paradigm of multiculturalism was zerland). Religion thus emerged as a new arena geared towards emphasizing the recognition of for contestations over cultural boundaries, as a multiple cultural heritages in terms of country of fundamental marker of difference and identity origin, and in the North American context, the and as an increasingly important category of rights of First Nations (Kymlicka 1995). Religion recognition. It is thus clear that the arenas of was reduced to an aspect of ethnic culture and religious claims-making is not even playing field belonging. Subsequently, the paradigm of diver- but instead hierarchically organized and shot sity and especially that of superdiversity were through with power dynamics. meant to ameliorate the shortcomings of multi- In order to fully appreciate religion in the culturalism in accounting for the internal differ- context of superdiversity, it is equally important entiation of migrants’ characteristics (Fanshawe to explore how religion may exaggerate, affirm and Sriskandarajah 2010; Cantle 2005, 2012). or unsettle established or dominant notions Importantly, these paradigms also seemed to of social and cultural difference both in institu-

2 Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

tional contexts and everyday life. In many Euro- a very different context in which the situation pean countries, migrants’ religious identity as that the term superdiversity tries to capture is Christians may help them to lower their profile not as new as it appears to be in Europe. Her in public debates on immigrant integration as a article takes a close look at Canada, where local social problem, or to foreground commonalities communities have dealt with different religions with host societies. If host societies are highly and ethnicities for a long time. Though religion secularized, such as the Netherlands or Bel- is often associated with migration, this research gium, such commonalities may also easily fade, highlights that the proportion of non-religious or actually turn into cultural differences (Carol, people is often higher among migrants than Helbling and Michalowski 20105). Conversely, in among non-migrants. Significantly, she insists on many European public discourses, Muslims are the fact that religion is, in this context of superdi- routinely marked as ethnically and religiously versity, very rarely a source of conflict and much different, whereby religious stereotyping exag- more commonly a factor that fosters solidar- gerates other grounds of xenophobic rejection. ity and conviviality, but research on this aspect At the same time, we see variable shifts in the is rare. Boundaries that seemed impossible to demographic composition and public images of overcome in social settings in migrants’ countries religious communities with the rise in Europe of of origin are being much more easily bridged Western Buddhism and African Christianities. in Canada. Also Fabretti and Vieri‘s article in Gertrud Hüwelmeier’s contribution to this this special issue shows how the relationships special issue is based on the ethnography of between different religious and secular actors Germans of Vietnamese origin in bazaars and can be both conflictive and cooperative. marketplaces that are considered ethnic and is An often overlooked aspect of religion in a clear illustration of “religion in the context of contexts of superdiversity is that not only do superdiversity.” Her ethnography allows us to religious groups multiply as they are formed by look at how the religious identities and practices different ethnic communities or pray in different of her informants are linked to, and refracted by, languages, but that individuals also draw on mul- their political orientations within this ethnic cat- tiple religions in crafting their religious lives. In egory through a focus on interactions, discourse, her article, Liza Steele offers a compelling analy- sounds and aesthetics. These different religious sis of this phenomenon of “multi-religiosity” and belongings and practices, in this case evangeli- is based on both qualitative and quantitative cal and buddhist, exist and at moments clash data. She discusses the limits inherent in the pro- within this category. However, in Berlin, where totypical scientific approach to people‘s relation her research is mainly located, secularity is the to religion which is framed as the result of the dominant cultural frame. Hüwelmeier addresses overlapping of belonging, practicing and emo- the city as a scalar formation and the bazaar tional commitment. However, such an overlap- as the precise sub-unit in which superdiversity ping is not the norm. More common are persons becomes tangible. In the bazaar, religion is not who negotiate their link to different religions hidden from secular activities but openly dis- throughout their life course according to their played and circulates in the same way as money. experiences, relations, situations and mobility. Religion acquires meaning in bazaar-based interactions as a form of communication and identity The Emergence of Multiple Religious differentiation, of social contestation and politi- Diversities: Religious Superdiversity cal affiliation, and of the expression of aspira- While there is, as we have argued above, a need tions to wealth and health. to pay close attention to how religious practices In her contribution to this special issue, Deir- and identities are shaped through their entwine- dre Meintel argues that North America provides ment with categories such as gender and eth-

3 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Marian Burchardt and Irene Becci

nicity in the context of superdiversity, we also hand because the extent to which new spiritual suggest that we see new ways in which different movements and religious migrant groups are or registers of religious diversity evolve alongside not subjected to national or urban regulations of and in relation to one another. Most sociologists their practices, ritual and places of worship varies. use the term religious diversity to describe the On the other hand, such regulations also directly migration-driven presence of “world religions” influence the labels and categories used to con- (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.) sider and apprehend religious diversity itself. In on different social scales (neighborhoods, cities, this issue, Liza Steele discusses that despite the nations, the globe). many documented complexities influencing con- In an important contribution, sociologist temporary everyday religion, most quantitative James Beckford (2000) has demonstrated how and qualitative research instruments only allow in scholarly literature, religious diversity refers respondents to choose one religious affiliation. If to the number of religious traditions present in a the respondent says that s/he is “not religious,” given setting without regard to their or symbolic questionnaire filters often prevent religious -par or numerical strength, to the number of religious ticipation or feelings from being measured at all. communities with considerable membership but Moreover, in countries where traditionally also to the diversity that is internal to large his- Christian churches have been established, -reli torical religions such as Christianity, Buddhism or gious newcomers’ demand for recognition will be Islam. The notion is, moreover, sometimes used framed by that establishment. In this issue, Vieri to name multiple personal or collective compo- and Fabbretti nicely discuss such a case through sitions of religious identity, to describe syncretic their analysis of religious superdiversity in Rome. or hybrid religious processes or even sometimes Such processes sometimes create expectations to refer to the individual practice of bricolage. towards heterodox groups (in terms of ethnicity, Beyond the question of what the unit of analysis languages, administrative status, etc.) to con- is when the term is used, Beckford has also high- flate in one singular category, as is the case with lighted the slippage in texts on diversity from a Islam. The difficulty of the concerned actors to descriptive to a normative level. As a matter of reunite can then even become the evidence of fact, a number of studies on diversity tend to their being unreliable and inconsistent. Paradoxi- induce from the observation of religious diver- cally, and as in a sort of double bind, if the unity sity that this diversity is embraced normatively. comes together, it may then become a factor of For Beckford, clearly sociologists should keep fear and suspicion. “fact and value separate” (1991: 56) and empiri- Another enlightening example is the notion cally study the existence of diverse religious of the “spiritual.” In recent years an increas- groups and practices and the public response to ing number of persons describe themselves as it. The reflection on the ideal or the politically more spiritual than religious, or spiritual but not most desirable way to respond is a domain that religious (Heelas and Woodhead 2005, Hout- belongs rather to the political philosophy con- man 2012). The practices they thereby usually cerned with the notion of pluralism. mean are perfectly part of what sociologists Adding to Beckford’s elaboration, we define would qualify as religious although they might religious superdiversity as a more encompassing be extra-institutional: tarot, yoga, meditation, and complex cultural formation involving vari- neo-shamanism, neo-paganism, etc. The notion ables and dynamics such as religious innovation of the spiritual seems to have emerged as a prac- (e.g. scientology or transcendental meditation) tical alternative to religious and secular, as such it that are not directly related to migration and often operates as a mediator and blurs clear-cut much more connected actually to normative and established boundaries (Huss 2014). Such a pro- symbolic dimensions. This matters on the one cess can be illustrated by the recent success, in

4 Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

the cultural domain, of exoticized (Altglas 2015) the engine for new hybridizations and innovation. ideas of authentic pre-Christian religions such as Significantly, both movements draw together Neo-paganism, Tibetan Buddhism or Mayanism ethnic markers and spirituality, and in fact con- as Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller show strue spirituality as foundational to ethnicity. in their contribution to this special issue. Here, superdiversity shapes religious expressions Encompassing formations of religious superdi- through the questioning of the external bound- versity have been brought about by several key aries of the notion of religion. Skillfully woven sources, which we now briefly analyze. First, as into one another, Manéli Farahmand and Sybille mentioned above, transnational migration not Rouiller’s ethnographies focus on the similarity only helped to diversify religious landscapes but of ritual objects despite all the difference and on also diversifies existing religious traditions, for some structural parallels in the life-courses of example Western Christianity that is transformed the protagonists of the movements. through the practices of African and Asian Chris- Fabretti and Vieri’s research conducted in the tians. Migration has caused internal differen- Italian capital city of Rome offers unique insights tiation of religious traditions but such traditions into the city as a particularly spatial and scalar have also been reshaped and reinvented simply formation of specific religious superdiversity. through the reception and circulation of ideas, Their study ties this formation to cultural and practices and discourses. Second, the postcolo- political-institutional factors at work. The authors nial interrogations and deconstructions of the argue that because of the image of Rome as the notion of religion have supported claims to rec- ‘religious city’ par excellence, all kinds of diversity ognize groups formerly considered to only have tend to be expressed through the register of reli- “culture” or “indigenous tradition” but not “religion. Anchored in national imaginaries, reflected gion” (see e.g. the debates on indigenous spiri- in urban aesthetics and materialities, and- cir tualities). Looking at the factor of religion asa culating through global media networks, the hologram, one can indeed realize that it inflects image of Rome as a religious city draws notions all other status variables. In other words, sociolo- of difference into religious idioms despite the gists and anthropologists of religion have raised fact that Italy’s legacy of monolithic Catholicism awareness about the fact that there is indeed seems to suggest otherwise. Fabretti and Vieri a situation of religious superdiversity in current astutely observe how this image has produced societies and that religion itself contains- diver and enhanced religious diversity, by encouraging sity in terms of gender, age, network relations diverse religious groups to make and mark their and so on. And third, religious and philosophical places in the urban space in a monumental way. innovation has become visible in numerous and Similar to the other studies presented in this culturally eclectic movements committed to new issue, they also highlight that religious superdi- spiritualities. Each of these groups or movements versity simultaneously develops at global and is shaped by particular spatial practices and local scales. topographies, which are linked to national and One of the challenges arising from this concep- urban histories, including their ethnic and gen- tualization of religious superdiversity is certainly der hierarchies and power relations that shape its operationalization in empirical research. In the meanings of space and place. Farahmand this issue Liza Steele discusses how she has found and Rouiller compare two such movements that and tried to make sense of multiple ties to reli- are characterized by the suffix “neo”, one within gion when she encountered people with multi- neo-shamanism in France, the other one revalo- ple religious commitments in one of her research rizing the Mayan culture and religion in a New projects. For instance, how can one measure the Age fashion in Mexico. In both movements, par- practice of Buddhism amongC hristians and Jews, ticipants are very mobile and this mobility itself is regular church attendance among those who say

5 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Marian Burchardt and Irene Becci

they are not religious, and the children of mixed BURCHARDT, M., and I. MICHALOWSKI, eds. religious couples who might be raised with some 2015. “After Integration: Islam, Conviviality and level of identification with the spiritual traditions Contentious Politics in Europe.” In After Integra- of both parents? In a highly original approach, tion, 3-16. Wiesbaden: Springer. CAROL, S., M. HELBLING, and I. MICHALOWSKI. she considers how to quantitatively capture such 2015. “A Struggle over Religious Rights? How situations through an analysis of data from the Muslim Immigrants and Christian Natives View Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and the Accommodation of Religion in Six European Public Life in the United States in 2009. Countries.” Social Forces 94(2): 647-671. Taken together, the contributions to this spe- CONNOR, P. 2014. Immigrant Faith: Patterns of cial issue make it clear that religious diversity is Immigrant Religion in the United States, Canada, not a given but that it is itself constructed through and Western Europe. New York: New York Uni- a variety of patterns of human mobility through- versity Press. out people’s life course and across the globe as HOUTMAN, D., and S. AUPERS. 2008. “The Spiri- tual Revolution and the New Age Gender Puzzle. well as through changes in political orientation, The Sacralization of the Self in Late Modernity class, and gender. These locally grounded and (1980-2000).” Women and Religion in the West: historically crystallizing layers of religious expres- Challenging Secularization, edited by K. Aune, sion and especially their interconnectedness S. Sharma, and G. Vincett, 99-118. Aldershot, articulate what we call formations of religious England: Ashgate Pub. Ltd. superdiversity. HUSS, B. 2014. “Spirituality: The Emergence of a New Cultural Category and Its Challenge to the Religious and the Secular.” Journal of Contempo- rary Religion 1(29): 47-60. JOPPKE, C. 2014. “The Retreat is Real—but what References is the Alternative? Multiculturalism, Muscular BANCHOFF, T. 2007. Democracy and the New Reli- Liberalism, and Islam.” Constellations 21(2): 286- gious Pluralism. Oxford; Oxford University Press. 295. BARKER, E. 1999. “New Religious Movements: KIVISTO, P. 2014. Religion and Immigration: Their Incidence and Significance.” In New Re- Migrant Faiths in North America and Western ligious Movements: Challenge and Response, Europe. Cambridge: Polity Press. edited by B. Wilson and J. Cresswell, 15-32. Lon- KOENIG, M. 2010. “Gerichte als Arenen religiöser don: Routledge. Anerkennungskämpfe–eine rechtssoziologische BECCI, I., M. BURCHARDT, and M. GIORDA. 2016. Skizze.” Religionskonflikte im Verfassungsstaat “Religious Super-Diversity and Spatial Strate- 144. gies in Two European Cities.” Current Sociology. KYMLICKA, W. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: 0011392116632030. A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Clar- BEHLOUL, S. M. 2009. “Discours-total Débat sur endon Press. Islam en Suisse et la construction d ́une religion LEVITT, P. 2007. God Needs No Passport. Immi- publique.” In Les musulmans de Suisse entre ré- grants and the Changing Religious Landscape. alités sociales, culturelle, politiques et légales, New York: Distributed by W.W. Norton & Com- edited by Schneuwly Purdie, Mallory et al., pany. 53-72. Geneva: Labor et Fides. LUCKMAN, T. 1967. The Invisible Religion: The BERGER, P. L. 2011. The Sacred Canopy: Elements Problem of Religion in Modern Society. Macmil- of a Sociological Theory of Religion. New York: lan. Open Road Media. MEISSNER, F. 2015. “Migration in Migration-Relat- BURCHARDT, M. 2016. Recalling Modernity: How ed Diversity? The Nexus Between Superdiversity Nationalist Memories Shape Religious Diversity and Migration Studies.” Ethnic and Racial Stud- in Quebec and Catalonia. Nations and National- ies 38(4), 556-567. ism. doi: 10.1111/nana.12233.

6 Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

MEISSNER, F., and S. VERTOVEC. 2015. “Compar- VERTOVEC, S. 2007. “Super-Diversity and Its Impli- ing Super-Diversity.” Ethnic and Racial Studies cations.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6): 1024- 38(4): 541-555. 1054. STARK, R., and R. FINKE. 2000. Acts of Faith: WESSENDORF, S. 2014. Commonplace Diversity: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Berkeley: Social Relations in a Super-Diverse Context. University of California Press. Basingstoke: Palgrave. STRINGER, M. D. 2013. Discourses on Religious Diversity: Explorations in an Urban Ecology. Burlington: Ashgate.

Note on the Authors

Marian Burchardt is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany. His research is chiefly concerned with the links between diversity, power and subjectivity in the age of globalization, and especially with how they play out through spatial practices. He is the author of Faith in the Time of AIDS: Religion, Biopolitics and Modernity in South Africa (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2015). Email: [email protected]

Irene Becci, professor at the Institute for the Social Scientific Study of Contemporary Religion, University of Lausanne since 2012. She studied in Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the USA and holds a Ph.D. in social and political sciences from the European University Institute. In her research she focuses on religious diversity and new spiritual practices in particular settings, such as total institutions, and post-socialist urban spaces. Together with Olivier Roy she has recently published Religious Diversity in European Prisons - Challenges and Implications for Rehabilitation (Springer, New York 2015). Her publications can be found in particular in Archives des sciences sociales contemporaines, Critique internationale, Social Compass, Tsantsa, Women’s Studies, Current Sociology. Email: [email protected]

Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars

by Gertrud Hüwelmeier (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

Abstract Reunited Germany is increasingly characterized by new groups of immigrants, particularly since the recent arrival of refugees from Syria and various other places. Like many migrants before, they bring along religious imaginaries and practices, thereby contributing to the diversification of the religious landscape. Churches, mosques, shrines, temples and other places of worship function as new markers of place-making in the urban sacred. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among migrants in multi-ethnic bazaars in Berlin, this paper seeks to explore the performance of religious practices in superdiverse marketplaces, where Vietnamese and other ethnic groups ask spirits and gods for protection in localities increasingly characterised by economic insecurities. Simultaneously, traders from various countries respect and tolerate each other’s diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, thereby enacting cosmopolitan sociability in the hustling and bustling Berlin Asiatowns. Keywords: religious diversity, transnationalism, migration, Asiatown, bazaar, Berlin, Vietnam

Introduction representing evil and therefore needing to be In 2006, a group of Vietnamese Charismatic Pen- eradicated. tecostal Christians gathered in the Asia Pacific A year later, a Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda Center, a global trade centre in the eastern part was inaugurated in that same bazaar. About two of Berlin that opened its doors in 2004 and was hundred Vietnamese participated in the ritual, managed by Vietnamese. On the site of one of and monks were flown in from Paris to conse- the former headquarters of the East German crate what was the first Vietnamese Buddhist intelligence service, this group, members of the pagoda in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. Religious Holy Spirit Church, rented a hall to proselytize objects such as Buddha statues had been shipped traders and visitors in the multi-ethnic bazaar. to the pagoda from as far away as Ho Chi Minh One of the church’s pastors, who had been City, and, still wrapped in cellophane paper, were invited from the western part of Germany as a waiting to be unpacked during the ceremony. guest preacher, pointed to the many small altars In the course of the ritual, participants burned inside the trading halls, most of them located incense and decorated the main altar with food near the cash box, where they serve as places and fruit for deities and spirits. Moreover, vari- for worshipping the god of wealth and the god ous altars were established in a side room of of the place. Vietnamese traders decorate these the new pagoda, displaying photographs of the altars with fruit, cigarettes, alcohol, and incense. departed. Traders and clients visit this place to The pastor, however, considered these religious ask the spirits for protection and good business. objects to be dwellings of demons and the devil, On special occasions, Buddhist monks pray for

New Diversities Vol. 18, No. 1, 2016 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

the deceased, and families join them on other into account the dynamic interplay of religious days that are personally meaningful, such as practitioners among an increasing number of on the anniversary of the death of one’s father. “new, small and scattered, multiple origin, trans- Besides Vietnamese, who no longer form the nationally connected, socio-economically -dif ethnic majority in Berlin’s Asiatowns, there are ferentiated and legally stratified immigrants” Muslims from India, Pakistan and Turkey who (Vertovec 2007: 1024), who have arrived in Ger- also perform religious practices in the bazaar; many in the last decades, both before and after Similar to Sikhs, they pray in their shops before the fall of the Berlin Wall.1 It was not until many they start their business each day. years after the reunification of Germany that the German authorities slowly began to realize that Germany had become a country of immigration. *** Only recently, at the end of 2015, when hundreds of thousands of refugees were arriving from There is a growing awareness that, over the past Syria and other regions, did the authorities gain two decades, globalization and transnational awareness that German society would dramati- migration have altered the face of ethnic and cally change over the next few years, becoming religious diversity in societies all over the world. much more diverse than ever before in terms of Like many other cities, the city of Berlin, due to ethnic but also religious diversity. the fall of the Berlin Wall and its diffuse nature of My contribution focuses on particular locali- migration flows since the early 1990s, has expe- ties, namely Berlin’s new Asiatowns, which are rienced an increase of new groups of people who trading sites located in the eastern part of the bring along religious imaginaries and religious city and run by migrants. I explore different reli- practices from a variety of countries. Therefore, gious practices in these multi-ethnic locations, the multiculturalism of an earlier era, concep- which are characterized by high levels of trans- tualized broadly as an ethnic minority paradigm, has been replaced by what Steven Vertovec 1 I am very grateful to Professor Dr. Steven Vertovec (2007) calls “super-diversity”, characterized by of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Department of Socio-Cultural an increase of different categories of migrants, Diversity, for giving me the opportunity to work on nationalities, languages and religions. Taking this multiethnic bazaars in post-socialist cities in 2010/11 research perspective into account, I will focus in Göttingen. I would also like to thank Professor Dr. Peter van der Veer for inviting me to the Max Planck on migrant-run marketplaces in Germany’s capi- Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diver- tal that have been established in the past ten sity, Department of Religious Diversity, to complete years. By exploring a variety of religious practices articles on transnational religious networks of- Viet namese in Berlin and Hanoi in 2009/10.

in these multi-ethnic localities, I argue that the This contribution is based on results from various bazaar is not only a place for economic exchange, research projects I directed since 2005: “Transna- but a site where religious performances are con- tional Networks, Religion and New Migration”, 2005- ducted on a regular basis, in particular by praying 2010, funded by the German Research Foundation; HU 1019/ 2-2; and “The Global Bazaar – marketplaces to gods and spirits for health and wealth, to com- as spaces of economic and social inclusion”, 2011- pensate economic and existential insecurities. 2015, funded by the German Research Foundation; However, without referring to the politics and HU 1019/ 3-1). I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Berlin as well as among transnational Vietnamese religious practices in the respective homelands in Warsaw, Prague and Hanoi. My current research and to transnational social, cultural and religious project on “Religion, Media and Materiality: Spiri- ties, we cannot grasp the impact and significance tual Economies in Southeast Asia” (German Research of religious diversity in the host country. Foundation, 2015-2018; HU 1019/4-1) explores the relationship between religious practices, market social- This article investigates religious diversity in ism and booming capitalism and includes the transfer a particular place, namely the bazaar, by taking of religious objects and messages from Asia to Europe.

10 Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

national migration. In doing so, I refer to ideas North Vietnam, I will briefly focus on the differ- about the increasing complexity of variables ent histories of Vietnamese immigration to the in view of the everyday lives of people in par- two Germanies, which has certain impacts on ticular places. These notions are in conjunction the different groups’ religious practices in the with Steven Vertovec’s and other scholars’ more now reunified host country. Long before the recent thoughts on diversity in the marketplace arrival of boat people in the late 1970s and con- (Hiebert et al. 2015). I argue that looking at reli- tract workers in the 1980s, a small number of gious practices in a particular place, namely the former students from socialist North Vietnam bazaar, broadens the perspective of the - mar had spent a seminal period of their lives in East ketplace as a pure economic locality, as trader’s Germany. Known as ‘die Moritzburger’, these beliefs and practices suggest engagement with 300 children of communist cadres were sent to powerful realms beyond this world. Due to mas- Moritzburg near Dresden in the 1950s and were sive insecurities in migrants’ lives, in particular educated according to East German standards with regard to residence permits, health issues (Hüwelmeier forthcoming). Later, a number of and economic activities, performing religious them returned to study at East German Universi- rituals will help to compensate risk-taking behav- ties. Together, with thousands of students from iour in the marketplace. Vietnam and young people from different social- Over the past ten years, I conducted ethno- ist fraternal countries, they were trained at East graphic fieldwork among Vietnamese in East and German universities, while many others studied West Germany and in North and South Vietnam, in China, the USSR, Poland or various countries in while participating in religious rituals in various Eastern Europe. Transnational connections fos- contexts, including Pentecostal networks and tered and maintained by Vietnamese students, Catholic churches in Berlin and Hanoi as well as apprentices, interns and contract workers in the in many Vietnamese Buddhist pagodas. I took socialist past contributed to the strengthening part in spirit possession performances, ancestor of economic and social ties that exist to this day veneration rituals and sessions with diviners. As between locals in former East Germany and Viet- many Vietnamese are engaged in trading, I car- nam (Hüwelmeier 2011; Schwenkel 2015) as well ried out fieldwork in a number of marketplaces as between people in other socialist countries, in Hanoi and in Berlin, thereby focussing on reli- such as the Czech Republic and Vietnam (Alam- gious practices performed in bazaars. It is exactly gir and Schwenkel 2016; Hüwelmeier 2015b) and in these locations that diasporic Vietnamese Poland and Vietnam (Szymanska-Matusiewicz encounter Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others 2014; Hüwelmeier 2015a). Consequently, in par- who are also trading in these places and per- ticular in consideration of the “importance of forming prayers and rituals to enhance economic networks in former socialist countries” (Hardy success, health, and family happiness. As the 2002: 476), the cross-border connections which bazaars under consideration were established by had been established during the Cold War Vietnamese investors in the eastern part of Ber- became extraordinarily significant after 1989, lin after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I proceed by when tens of thousands of Vietnamese contract focussing on different groups of Vietnamese in workers lost their jobs and housing in the GDR Germany and their respective religious orienta- and large numbers of Vietnamese from former tions. eastern bloc countries entered reunified Ger- many as asylum seekers or as non-documented North/South Vietnamese in East/West Germany migrants. They settled beside former refugees In exploring what makes Berlin a unique place for from Vietnam, who had come to West Germany the encounter of both boat people from South as boat people in the late 1970s and early 1980s Vietnam and contract workers, a majority from (Baumann 2000; Bui 2003; Hüwelmeier 2008),

11 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

and whose mutual relationships with respect to and gender, as has been noted in reference to religious affiliations, for example to Pentecostal the term super-diversity (Vertovec 2007). A num- networks, contributed to the outreach of Pente- ber of Vietnamese encounter each other in the costalism from West Germany to East Germany, new Asian marketplaces in Berlin, as well as from there to the Czech Republic, to Poland, to people from various other groups, and therefore Vietnam, and from there to Thailand, Laos and these multi-ethnic localities are perfect places Cambodia. for doing ethnographic fieldwork on ethnic and Based on a bilateral agreement between the religious diversity. Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the GDR in Germany underwent a tremendous economic 1981, thousands of contract workers, most of and political transformation after the fall of the them coming from the northern part of Vietnam, Berlin Wall, bringing with it social insecurities went to work in GDR state-owned companies for an increasingly large part of the population, (Dennis 2005). They remained in the GDR for four which included migrants. Vietnam has changed to five years, living in special housing under the its economic system as well. Since 1986, when control of the East German state authorities and economic reforms were introduced in a period the Vietnamese embassy. When the Berlin Wall known as đổi mới, Vietnamese society has under- fell in 1989 and Germany was reunited in 1990, gone dramatic diversification, not only in terms the fate of the Vietnamese contract workers still of its transformation towards a socialist - mar living in eastern Germany was up in the air. Dur- ket economy, but also with regard to the resur- ing this time of great insecurity, the government gence of ritual and religious practices following of the newly reunited Germany sought political this economic developments. Worshipping gods, solutions for the migrants, including financial deities and national heroes can be observed in incentives for returning to Vietnam and tempo- many places in contemporary urban Vietnam rary legal guidelines for those who did not wish (Salemink 2015), including in its marketplaces to return to their home country (Hüwelmeier (Hüwelmeier 2016). As these processes are con- 2010). nected with the proliferation of capitalism in the The political division of Germany into West Socialist country, one has to closely look on the and East therefore affected the destinations of specificities of the local practices in all places of migrants from different parts of Vietnam: while ethnographic research in order to understand its boat people, mainly from southern Vietnam, transnational outreach and its backlash to the sought refuge in West Germany, other Vietnam- home country. ese migrants, mainly from northern Vietnam, Marketplaces are likely to be conceptualized arrived in East Germany as contract workers. as predominantly secular, almost exclusively After the fall of the Berlin Wall, other groups of economic places, where traders and clients alike migrants, namely Vietnamese asylum seekers organize their daily business. Referring to recent who had been contract workers in other former discussions on religion in urban spaces in gen- socialist countries, entered reunited Germany eral (Becci et al. 2013; van der Veer 2013), I will as well. Internal differences among Vietnamese explore bazaars as urban places where vendors in Germany are mainly based on pre-migration and clients pray before they sell and buy. After political differences, and continue to shape the a number of small trading places, which were interactions among Vietnamese communities in established in the 1990s by Vietnamese former Germany today. Post-1990 immigration from var- contract workers, the first global trade centre in ious regions in Vietnam and very recent migra- Berlin, the Asia Pacific Center, opened its doors tion from rural localities highlight the increas- in 2004, followed a year later by the Dong Xuan ing complexity of diversification such as date of Center. From the start, these locations were not arrival, city and rural background, legal status only places of commerce and trade, but also

12 Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

places where different groups of Vietnamese arriving newcomers, while some customers are encountered other groups, such as vendors from boat people from the western part of Berlin who India, Pakistan, China and Turkey, and visitors also buy products in these marketplaces. A small from Poland, Russia, Germany, and many other number of the clients have a Chinese-Vietnam- countries. At the very beginning, both bazaars ese background. were dominated by Vietnamese traders, but Most of the boat people in West Germany over the course of several years the ethnic com- identified themselves as Catholic or Buddhist position of traders has changed dramatically as when they arrived (Baumann 2000: 44), while a result of new migration flows and of people contract workers who lived and worked in the mixing and mingling in many places. This change former GDR and other Eastern European Coun- in demographics is reflected in the efforts of the tries considered themselves as not belonging owner of the Dong Xuan Center, a former Viet- to any “official” religion. It is important to note namese contract worker, to change the name here that there is usually a strict line drawn in of the global bazaar to Asiatown. He told me Vietnam between formal, institutionalized reli- that some traders proposed the term Vietnam- gions, based on scriptural traditions (tôn giáo) town, in order to differentiate this bazaar from on the one hand, and folk beliefs and practices the many Chinatowns worldwide, but he consid- (tín ngưỡng) on the other (Salemink 2008:149). ers the label Vietnamtown inappropriate, seeing The communist government considered the lat- as the Vietnamese have become a minority in ter as superstitious beliefs and practices (mê tín the market over the last few years, while Indi- dị đoan), and therefore suppressed its perfor- ans, Pakistanis, Chinese, and vendors from other mances for decades. On the level of everyday Asian countries now make up the majority of eth- religious practices, however, a partial syncretism nic groups among the stallholders (Hüwelmeier can be observed in many places in contemporary 2013b). Vietnam. Spirit mediumship is performed in various temples, shrines dedicated to the Mother Religious diversity in Berlin’s Asiatowns Goddess are decorated in Buddhist pagodas, Multi-ethnic marketplaces in post-socialist Berlin and Buddha statues can be found on family are only small parts of the city, but these loca- altars, next to the images of the deceased. In tions are nonetheless perfect places to carry out Germany, Vietnamese perform ancestor venera- ethnographic fieldwork in eastern Berlin neigh- tion, visit Buddhist pagodas or convert to Chris- bourhoods and to investigate religious diversity tianity. However, political tensions between boat in a multi-ethnic surrounding, where Germans, people and contract workers are still relevant Russians, Vietnamese and others live together today and are represented in religious congre- in Plattenbauten (socialist block apartments) gations, such as separate Catholic and Buddhist built by the GDR in the 1970s and 1980s. It is in communities in western and eastern Germany as these neighbourhoods where migrant-run mar- well as in the western and eastern part of Ber- ketplaces were established almost ten years ago. lin. Admittedly, Pentecostal churches may serve A number of the apartment buildings’ residents, as places where political tensions, legal status, mostly poor people, visit the bazaars on a regu- access to the labour market and historically dif- lar basis, as they consider these marketplaces ferent experiences, are being reconciled to a as sites where they can buy cheap products and certain extent (Hüwelmeier 2011). This, however, where they can afford to visit the Vietnamese is only one side of the coin, as over the last few hairdresser. According to the traders I talked with years a number of boat refugees have left Viet- during my periods of fieldwork, the majority of namese Pentecostal churches after the political Vietnamese clients are former contract workers “others”, former contract workers, joined the in the GDR, former GDR students, or recently churches.

13 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

“Praise the Lord!” – Charismatic Christianity in paign in the Asia Pacific Center, as mentioned at the marketplace the beginning of this chapter. At the time, about About a hundred followers of the Holy Spirit one hundred vendors, a majority of them of Church gathered in the Asia Pacific Center in Vietnamese background, were trading in textiles, 2006, joined by some curious visitors and traders fruit, vegetables, electronics and other goods in in the bazaar. As mentioned in the vignette in the this marketplace. The Holy Spirit Church rented beginning of this chapter, the church had spe- a hall on the grounds of the market after they cially invited ritual experts, such as a pastor from had invited a preacher with Chinese background the US with Chinese background who was in Ber- from the US, who, according to the Vietnamese lin for this proselytizing event, held in the global pastor, was well-known for his gift of exorcism trade centre. Attracted by the music and prayers and who was also very successful in healing peo- amplified through the sound system, as is prac- ple from various diseases. ticed in many charismatic Pentecostal churches Among the group of people who came to parall around the world (Oosterbaan 2009), some ticipate in the religious service of the Holy Spirit traders and clients in the bazaar participated in Church in the Asia Pacific Center, a number of a faith healing ritual. Only few of the newcom- Vietnamese complained about various health ers had ever heard about the health and wealth problems they were suffering from. As the reli- gospel so prominent in Pentecostalism. gious gathering had been explicitly announced as The global explosion of Pentecostalism a faith healing event, the pastors, together with (Robbins 2004; Vásquez and Marquardt 2003) as a group of close followers known as the apos- well as its close connection to money and - con tles, listened to the stories of about 30 people sumption (Meyer 2007) is part of a larger phe- who came to the front to pray and to publicly nomenon that scholars have witnessed in the report their physical and emotional problems. past two decades, namely the emergence of reli- The health and wealth gospel of Pentecostal- gious movements across borders (Hüwelmeier ism includes the idea that deliverance from evil und Krause 2010). Notably, scholarly work on spirits can be achieved by practices of exorcism, Pentecostal Vietnamese in Europe is a neglected while it simultaneously promises economic suc- issue, in particular when it comes to questioning cess to those who believe in God. With regard how religious agents in Europe create and main- to economic issues, Pentecostal Vietnamese, the tain transborder ties to Southeast Asia. As early majority of whom were small entrepreneurs at as the 1980s, the first Vietnamese Pentecostal the time when I was carrying out ethnographic church emerged in West Germany. Founded fieldwork in different churches, recounted by a boat refugee who had been born again in numerous stories of how they established a shop a refugee camp in Southeast Asia, the church in Berlin, found a job in a restaurant, or received spread through his and his co-ethnics’ prosely- money from the German welfare state – which tizing activities. By the end of the 1980s, several was considered lucky by some of the poor church branches and house churches had been created followers – in the course of successive religious in Hamburg, Hannover, Stuttgart, Munich, and gatherings. various small towns and villages in West Ger- Alerted to the event by the sound system in many. I first encountered the Holy Spirit Church the hall of the Asia Pacific Center, some clients in 2006 via a Vietnamese trader in a small flower and traders arrived, curious about what was hap- shop in Prenzlauer Berg, in the eastern part of pening in the marketplace. Moreover, the rhythm Berlin. The trader was proselytizing in this neigh- of the church’s loud music band greatly differed bourhood by distributing flyers in his shop. After from what they were used to in Vietnam’s mar- I had participated in various Sunday gatherings, ketplaces. At first some onlookers even thought the church organized an evangelization cam- they were witnessing a karaoke gathering, a

14 Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

group activity that is very popular in Vietnam. know as a cultural practice in their country of ori- Karaoke is an interactive entertainment whereby gin; many even perform this with friends in their ordinary people sing along with recorded music homes in Berlin. While some similarities between using a microphone. The music typically consists prosperity cults in Vietnam (Salemink 2008:152), of well-known popular songs without the lead with its focus on health and wealth and the vocal. The lyrics are displayed on a video screen, prosperity gospel in Vietnamese Pentecostal along with moving symbols, such as landscapes, churches are striking, there are a number of dif- mostly from Vietnam. However, the visitors soon ferences, in particular with regard to devils and realized that it was not a karaoke performance, demons, which, according to pastors and church but a Vietnamese Pentecostal Church performing members, are hiding in the small altars to be a religious gathering in the bazaar which aimed found in many salesrooms in Berlin’s Asiatowns. at bringing “Jesus to the people”. By using micro- phones, laptops and beamers to project the lyr- Spirits in the global trade centre ics to the screen, there is a strong resemblance In the Dong Xuan Center in Berlin as well as in to the karaoke bars in Vietnam. Admittedly, in the Asia Pacific Center, most Vietnamese traders the Pentecostal context, noise is a crucial issue in set up altars at the entrance of their respective all churches, as the sound system is an essential salesroom to protect the business place from piece of equipment for casting out demons and evil forces. Vendors told me that deities, vener- thus purifying the space (Oosterbaan 2009). ated in the altar, ensure prosperity and a happy In the case described here, Pentecostal Viet- family, and that Ông Địa in particular would safe- namese performed a proselytizing campaign in guard the territory of the trading place, simul- a marketplace, which is not an empty space like taneously protecting the shop from attacks abandoned post-industrial areas, considered to and robbery and shelter the place of business be spiritually neutral (Krause 2008). On the con- from burglary. While walking around in the Asia trary, the bazaar is an ideal place for evangeliz- Pacific Center before the “crusade” started, Pen- ing activities, first because many people visit this tecostal pastors and church followers deemed locality and new followers may be attracted by the many small altars near the cash boxes in the power of the Holy Spirit, as they would say. Berlin’s Asiatowns as the work of the devil. One Second, new followers may be lured by the nar- pastor told me, these altars must be considered ratives recounted by church members about how blasphemy, as they offend the first command- they suddenly became rich in their lives. Here, in ment: “You shall have no other Gods beside this marketplace, commodities and money - cir me.” Therefore, Pentecostal adherents have culate with amazing rapidity. Touched by the life to destroy images and altars before they can stories of economically successful traders and become born-again. The destruction of altars is church members, the bazaar is an ideal place for quite a difficult effort in proselytizing activities, proselytizing activities, a place in which conspicu- as the majority of Vietnamese business owners ous consumption takes place, and where the cast- establish these religious objects in their halls and ing out of demons may be considered by some offices, making offerings of fruit and alcohol to as a “spiritual theatre”, by others, however, as the God of Wealth (Ông Thần Tài) and the God the efficacy of the Holy Spirit. Finally, health and of the Earth (Ông Địa) in their respective sales- wealth as well as economic risk are prominent rooms every day (Hüwelmeier 2008:140), just as issues in the lives of migrant entrepreneurs. The they do in shops and marketplaces in Hanoi and search for spiritual security in times of neoliber- Ho Chi Minh City (Leshkowich 2014). In one of alism and increasing uncertainty is performed in the offices in the Dong Xuan Center, I recognized a karaoke-like church gatherings, whereas kara- an altar that had been set up next to a desktop oke fits very well into what many Vietnamese computer. It was decorated with flowers, fruit

15 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

and cigarettes, and most interestingly, with Rot- tries. While I was present, he sprayed expen- käppchen Sekt, a famous sparkling wine once sive Armani perfume on the altar, commenting produced in the GDR and one of the few East that the deities are greatly pleased by this scent. German products to be very successful after the As this example illustrates, smell and other reunification of Germany. The placing of German senses are an intriguing part of popular religious sparkling wine on the altar illustrates how people practices (Meyer 2009). in the diaspora appropriate local consumer prod- Every day, before opening up for business, ucts in order to give them as offerings to the spir- traders will perform rituals to please the spirits from their country of origin. Furthermore, due its. Some people even bring the ban thờ to the to the position of the altar next to the desktop pagoda to be consecrated by Buddhist monks or computer, all messages being sent and received nuns. When I attended a religious gathering at are protected by the spirits. Akin to ICT networks the Vietnamese Buddhist Linh Thứu pagoda in (Information and communications technology) the western part of Berlin, I noticed a Vietnam- used by migrants in various other cities such as ese couple asking the Vietnamese Buddhist nun London (Garbin and Vasquez 2012), the connec- to bless the new altar they had just purchased. tion of technology with the spiritual realm plays As Vietnamese Buddhism lacks systematized a crucial role in performing religious rituals in orthodox practice (Soucy 2012) and conse- Berlin’s new bazaars. While some traders and cli- quently many Vietnamese do not experience folk ents purchase altars and statues as well as small beliefs as being in conflict with other religious cups for providing fresh water to the deities in traditions, the blessing of the altar is part ofa the food section of the Dong Xuan Center, other religious ritual in a Buddhist pagoda. traders prefer a different style of altars, religious objects, they bring along from Vietnam. Some Bazaar pagodas Vietnamese businessmen buy these objects in As previously mentioned in the vignette, the first Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City when they travel there Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda in the eastern part to meet relatives or business partners. A much of Berlin was established in the gatehouse of the greater variety of small altars is available in these Asian Pacific Center, on the former grounds of cities. The owner of a restaurant on the grounds part of the East German State Security Service of one of the Berlin bazaars told me that he par- (Staatssicherheitsdienst). The Vietnamese owner ticularly preferred the altars (ban thờ) decorated of the market provided part of her office to a lay with blinking bulbs, as he was convinced that this Buddhist group as a place for performing reli- object, charged with electricity, is more powerful gious practices. She felt committed to do so, as than other altars. Technologies such as electric- she became very rich in Germany and, accord- ity are believed to have a strong impact on the ing to her narratives, she wanted to give back relationship between humans and the divine some of her wealth to Buddha, the deities and to and therefore play a crucial role in performing poor people. In addition to setting up the garden rituals, which was also analysed for European around the gatehouse with several Buddha stat- cultures (Schüttpelz 2015). As the ban thờ has a ues it its centre, lay group members installed a prominent place in the restaurant, the visitor’s kitchen to prepare meals to be shared after reli- attention is attracted by the object, and because gious gatherings. Similar to Vietnam, the perfor- of its affective powers, the owner is convinced, mance of religious rituals often concludes with a customers will come back and bring more cli- common meal (Soucy 2012). ents, which in the end is very good for his busi- An inauguration ceremony was held on the ness. The Vietnamese manager of the Dong Xuan grounds of the newly established pagoda, with Center decorated his altar with the most expen- about two hundred Vietnamese participating in sive whiskey and red wine from various coun- the ritual and Vietnamese monks arriving from

16 Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

France specially for the event. Food was prepared pora often feel they are not respected by their by the lay group and placed on the altar and later children, similar to intergenerational conflicts on long tables, where a common meal was shared in Vietnamese families in Poland (Szymanska- among the participants. In the following months Matusiewicz 2014). Vietnamese parents there- a female Buddhist nun from another Vietnam- fore consulted the Buddhist monk, who tried to ese Buddhist pagoda in the western part of Ger- also take into account the children’s and young many was invited to live on the grounds of the people’s perspectives while asking the parents pagoda. However, due to conflicts between the to carefully pay attention to and to respect their congregation and the market manager about the kids’ needs as they grow up in a different culture. ownership of the money in the donation box, the After consulting the monk, parents bring food nun left the bazaar pagoda and founded another to the altar, burn incense, pray and give some pagoda (chùa) near the Dong Xuan Center, which money as donation. is located just a few kilometres away. She rented When I revisited the pagoda in early 2014, the space in an office building on the grounds of a monk had disappeared and another monk, this former industrial area. In this pagoda, several time from Vietnam, had recently arrived. The altars were established with Buddhist statues and rumour goes that the former monk had founded a separate shrine was decorated with images of a new pagoda in the eastern part of Berlin, with the departed to honour them and to be prayed some followers. Only later people gossiped that for on special occasions. Buddhist teachings and he took the donation box before he left. The prayers were also performed on the grounds female manager of the market who provided of the Dong Xuan Center itself, where a lay space for the establishment of the pagoda, did Buddhist group invited Vietnamese monks for not charge rent. However, since the space was special occasions to celebrate Buddhist festivals provided at no cost, arrangements concerning (Hüwelmeier 2013a). the space were unclear and generated a num- The somewhat turbulent history of the market ber of conflicts. Issues arose, such as undeter- pagoda in the Asia Pacific Center went on. After mined agreements about the rights to use the the nun had left, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk space, how to design the layout, arrangements came to live on the grounds of the pagoda. Dur- about who is authorized to collect money, and ing our encounter he told me that he was influ- what would eventually happen with the dona- enced by the teachings of Thích Nhất Hạnh, a tions. Religious place making in the bazaar indi- famous monk who had been exiled from Viet- cates that space is a contested issue and has to nam in the 1960s and who had founded a large be negotiated between market manager, traders, Buddhist centre in France called ‘plum village’ believers and religious experts. (Chapman 2007: 305). One of the monk’s missions was, according to his narrative, to prac- Paper votive offerings in Berlin’s Asian bazaars tice engaged Buddhism in the tradition of Thích Besides the religious practices discussed above, Nhất Hạnh. First and foremost, this included Vietnamese in Berlin perform a number of folk counselling Vietnamese in need who visited the beliefs in conjunction with Vietnamese religious pagoda to find relief. Many of the visitors, the everyday life in Vietnam, including trance medi- monk reported, came to seek advice, in particu- umship, soul calling, and divinity. In the follow- lar regarding marriage problems and difficulties ing, I focus on ancestor veneration, as this ritual with their children. A number of parents com- is the most important religious practice to be plained about a lack of respect from their kids. As fulfilled in the homeland and in the diaspora. children in Vietnam are expected to be obedient In order to perform the rituals properly, people towards their parents due to the traditional val- need certain material objects to decorate the ues of Confucianism, parents in the German dias- ancestor altar at home. Food, fruit, flowers and

17 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

incense are among the offerings for the ances- Images of Amritsar and Muslim Prayers tors. Moreover, some Vietnamese purchase so- In salesrooms run by Sikhs in the Dong Xuan Cen- called spirit money and other votive paper offer- ter, most of whom in the textile trade, visitors ings in Berlin’s new Asiatowns and burn these and clients see images of Amritsar, the spiritual items for the ancestors on Berlin’s balconies centre of Sikhism in Punjab, India. Vendors told and in backyards. Akin to Vietnam, paper votive me that the image of the Golden Temple pro- offerings for the dead in Berlin include luxury tect their business as well as their families. By products such as jewelry, glasses, lipstick, mobile displaying the images, Sikhs also commemorate phones and gold and silver (Hüwelmeier 2016). the massacre of Amritsar in 1919, when British Sending sacrificial objects to the otherworld by soldiers and gurkhas (Nepalis in the military ser- the act of burning, spirits will be pleased and, in vice of the British and Indian armed forces) killed return, according to many traders I spoke with, hundreds of Indian civilians. Via these images, contribute to the health and wealth of the ritual memories of colonial power are mediated and agent. one trader, living far away from home, showed Votive paper offerings are part of what has me a video on his smartphone about the mili- been called the “re-enchantment of religion” in tary operation ordered by Indira Gandhi in 1984. late socialist Vietnam (Taylor 2007). However, Many Sikhs died and some months later Gandhi the growth in producing and consuming paper was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, effigies is not unique to the Vietnamese case, but followed by anti-Sikh pogroms where more than is embedded in the relationship between eco- 3,000 Sikhs were killed. In this case, the mobile nomic growth and prosperity cults in the greater phone as a media technology generates particu- (Southeast) Asian context (Kendall et al. 2010; lar affects and memories, commemorating those Salemink 2008). In China, Singapore, and Viet- who died in political-religious conflicts. This use nam, shops carry paper copies of luxury products of mobile technology points to the fact that new such as Mercedes Benz, Gucci bags, villas, and TVs, media play a crucial role in transmitting religious together with everyday consumer goods such as messages across borders (Garbin and Vasquez cloth, rice cookers, glasses, and combs. Material 2012). objects made from paper are displayed in vari- Upon hearing a Muslim prayer call in a sales ous marketplaces and shops in Hanoi, and some hall of the Dong Xuan Center, I noticed one shop of the objects can also be purchased in Berlins owner sitting at the cash desk and listening to an Asiatowns. The increasing variety of paper votive imam on his tablet. This kind of religious sound- offerings in Vietnam highlights the creation and scape has been reported from anthropologists in maintenance of links between religious practitio- various other countries (Hirschkind 2006; Larkin ners and the spiritual realm. Most Vietnamese 2013) and interpreted as Islamic counterpublics, believe in the otherworld, which is imagined as with its embodiments in a wide array of prac- a mirror image of this world. The duplication of tices. The trader in the market was absorbed the world and the objects within it in the form of in prayer and oblivious to potential buyers who paper effigies, the burning of ritual money and entered the room while he fulfilled his religious the production, consuming and sending modern duties. Clients left the salesroom to wait until he consumer goods made from paper to the oth- had finished his prayers. Another Muslim shop- erworld, reflect the proliferation of capitalism keeper in a different hall took his prayer carpet in the communist county, where the longing for to the furthest corner of his shop in order to pray consumer products is part of everyday discourse while another employee took care of the busi- and practice. Gods are endowed with monetary ness. Recently, Muslims from various ethnic and and commercial interests and ancestor spirits national backgrounds inaugurated a mosque in a are imagined as needy and sentient. building only a few meters away from the bazaar,

18 Enhancing Spiritual Security in Berlin’s Asian Bazaars New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

thereby further adding to the super-diversity in ers already lost their business and had to give Berlin’s physical and religious landscapes. up their salesrooms. Others strive for economic survival, considering health and wealth as cru- Conclusion cial elements in religious practices, performing In this contribution I have explored migrants’ reli- prayers and donating money to spirits and gods. gious diversity in the shared place of the bazaar. Anthropological research on religious diversities Berlin’s new Asiatowns, part of the urban sacred among migrants requires knowledge about ritual (Knott et al. 2016; Lanwerd 2016), are located activities in their respective homelands as well not in some no man’s land, but were established as religious-political and economic entangle- in a peri-urban surrounding and in buildings that, ments on a local, national and transnational level due to their history, are situated in the former in order to better understand the impact of the socialist part of Germany’s capital. Over the past “spirits of consumption” (Salemink 2008) in the years, various groups have become engaged in marketplace and migrants’ religious practices in trading in these localities while also using the general. bazaars for religious activities such as for- per Bazaaris encounter each other with a kind forming prayers, establishing altars and building of curiosity and create cosmopolitan sociability bazaar pagodas. Vietnamese, Pakistani, Indians (Glick Schiller et al. 2011). They perform modes and others venerate gods and deities in various of openness and establish relations of com- ways in this multi-ethnic place. Characterized by monality, including tolerance vis à vis their stall a variety of status categories among migrants neighbours’ religious performances and vari- including ethnicity, date of arrival, gender, and ous other aspects of everyday life in the bazaar. legal status, I highlighted the plurality and diver- The coexistence of a variety of religions in this sity of migrant’ s religious practices in this - par migrant-dominated environment, a place char- ticular urban space. Super-diversity accounts for acterized by living together on an everyday level, the creation of an awareness about the multi- where women and men, documented and non- plicity of languages, nationalities and ethnici- documented people, residents with long-term ties, which people have to deal with by sharing legal status and recently-arrived migrants live a common place, namely the bazaar. The term side by side, points to the willingness of people super-diversity (Vertovec 2007), which I do not to perform practices of conviviality (Heil 2015), so much consider as a concept, but as a research including respect, interaction, cooperation and lens, offers new perspectives in looking not only the management of conflictual situations. As at the variety of rituals concerning various ethnic transnational migration has caused internal- dif groups in a place such as the bazaar. Moreover, ferentiations of religious traditions, it has also it allows for considering internal religious differ- shaped spatial religious practices. Pentecostal’s ences within such groups, as I have illustrated in sound system, Buddhist gatherings, Muslim reference to various practices performed by Viet- prayers, the establishment of altars and the ven- namese. Like other ethnic groups in the bazaar, eration of spirits, burning incense, offering food, who also might be internally different, traders, and other religious practices attract the senses in clients and market managers ask supernatural multi-ethnic bazaars and contribute to the trans- powers for enhancing spiritual security in the formation of the religious landscape in Berlin’s bazaar, a place, which is characterized by uncer- Asiatowns, in Berlin’s broader urban space, and tainties and economic risks. Due to economic in Germany more general, not least due to recent crises in the past few years, a number of trad- arrivals of more than one million refugees.

19 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

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Markets, and Mobilities,1-16. Oxford/New York: SALEMINK, O. 2008. “Spirits of Consumption and Routledge. the Capitalist Ethic in Vietnam.” In Religious KENDALL, L., T. T. T. VU, and T. T. H. NGUYEN. 2010. Commodifications in ,Asia edited by P. Kitiarsa, “Beautiful and Efficacious Statues: Magic, Com- 147-168. New York: Routledge.

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21 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Gertrud Hüwelmeier

Note on the Author

Gertrud Hüwelmeier is an anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Humboldt- University Berlin and Senior Research Partner at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Department of Socio-Cultural Diversity. Her current research project focuses on “Religion, Media and Materiality – Spiritual Economies in Southeast Asia”. She has published widely on religion, post-socialism, gender and transnationalism. Forthcoming publications include “Cell Phones for the Spirits” (2016), “Ghost Markets and Moving Bazaars in Hanoi’s Urban Space” (2016). Email: [email protected]

22 Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity

by Deirdre Meintel (Université de Montréal)

Abstract Religion is often presented as a likely cause of social division and conflict. However, research on religious groups carried out in Montreal and several other areas of Quebec shows that in religious contexts, persons from different ethnic minorities connect with each other and, importantly, with those of native-born, majority background. I focus on the affinities, solidarities and convivialities that arise in contexts of complex diversity in Montreal and in smaller regional towns and cities in the province. Conflicts and tensions arise along ethnic lines in some of the religious groups we studied in Quebec. Nevertheless, the convivialities that complex diversity has occasioned in the religious domain are much more evident in our findings. These include religious communities where ethnicity is secondary aswell as interreligious collaborations involving members and leaders from different religious traditions. Such initiatives are particularly evident in regional towns and cities. Keywords: conviviality, complex diversity, religion, Quebec, migration

Introduction Though much discussion of religious diversity is is not so much on how to name the diversity of focused on immigrant religions and particularly our era as on its implications and potential as Islam, religious diversity is by no means isomor- regards social relations: the affinities, solidari- phic with ethnic diversity. Nor is religious diver- ties and convivialities that it makes possible. One sity simply the result of increased immigration or could easily frame the discussion in terms of even immigration from a wider range of source the fractures and conflicts such diversity is likely countries. These simple observations bring up to present. In a study of the Alum Rock area of some interesting issues as regards how religion central Birmingham, Karner and Parker (2011: works into the multiple diversities that charac- 357) found “contradictory but coexisting tenden- terize much of the world today. While not deny- cies towards both conflict and conviviality, both ing that the multiplicity of diversities involves local exclusions and inter-ethnic strategies for many possible lines of fracture, I argue that they improvement, both material and infrastructural also make for many unusual kinds of conviviali- deprivation and newly emerging political alli- ties, including some that involve members of the ances.” I have chosen to focus mainly on the con- sociocultural majority. vivialities we observed in the religious domain In this paper, I will focus on the results of because they far outnumber the cases of conflict research on religious groups carried out in Mon- and tensions we found. treal and several other areas of Quebec. I pre- Crul (2015) suggests that those working on fer the term “complex diversity” for reasons super-diversity do well to take more into account explained in the next section; however, my focus the studies of intersectionality (Bilge) produced

New Diversities Vol. 18, No. 1, 2016 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Deirdre Meintel

by feminist scholars. He also finds that there with the past are more apparent1. Casanova has not been sufficient account given of the (2013) for example, speaks of the “vibrant reli- internal diversity of ethnic groups. I would add gious super-diversity” of eighteenth century that, similarly, the internal diversity of religious American colonial towns (p. 115). In my own groups has often been overlooked. Most of the work on Cape Verdean transnationality (Meintel religious groups in our study, including those 2002), I showed how transportation and com- where most members are immigrants, communication between Cape Verde and New Eng- prise individuals of different ethnic and national land were far more developed in the sailing era origins and sometimes, different social classes. than for much of the twentieth century, and that At present, religion is often presented as a cause there were many Cape Verdeans who were liv- of social division and conflict, and understanding authentically transnational lifestyles before ably so, given the dangers of radicalization in the the restrictive American immigration policies name of religion. However, I seek to show here of the early 1920s. I am in agreement, however that religion can also be a source of social bond- with Vertovec’s (2007: 1043) observation that ing and solidarity across ethnic and other social present-day transnationality is far more intense divisions. This is one reason why I focus mainly than in the past, given changes in telecommuni- the forms of conviviality that complex diversity cations and the greater accessibility of air travel. has occasioned in the religious domain; religion My aim here is not to minimize the changes in provides an arena where persons from different today’s diversity as compared to that of the past, ethnic minorities connect with each other and, but simply to suggest that these developments importantly, with those of native-born, major- appear to have had a longer history in other ity background in a particularly powerful kind of parts of the world such as Canada and appears sociality. The other reason is that, in fact, new sol- less radically new and unprecedented than in idarities, convivialities and alliances far outweigh continental Western Europe. incidents of conflict within or between religious According to Crul (2015) super-diversity has groups in the findings of our study on religious not taken off as a concept in the U.S. “where diversity in Quebec. I have included virtually all the framework of assimilation still pretty much the cases of tension and conflict that our team kept its dominant position in the analyses of out- observed so as to provide as balanced a picture as comes for migrants and their children” (2015: 55). possible. Though in agreement with Crul’s view that the concept has less traction in North America than Super-Diversity, Complex Diversity and Scale in Western Europe, his explanation for this does Though cognizant of the aspects of contemporary not apply so well to the Canadian context, where diversity that are very much of our era, includ- multiculturalism as official policy dates back to ing the availability of cheap phones in much of 1971. There, the tradition of multiculturalism as the world (Vertovec 2004) and other advances government policy over decades seems to have in telecommunications, transnationalism etc., I normalized diversity in the national identity. The am somewhat more comfortable with the term sociologist Elke Winter (2011) argues that multi- “complex diversity” (Kraus 2011) rather than culturalism has transformed the notion of “Cana- super-diversity (Vertovec 2007). The term “super- dian”, that Canadian now means “multicultural.” diversity” tends to put emphasis on the unprec- Moreover, source countries for immigration to edented, fundamental, transformative aspects Canada, including Quebec, have been diversify- of today’s social diversity (Blommaert 2013); ing for some time, going back to policies initiated likewise, Vertovec (2015) speaks of “wholly new” 1 social formations. However, speaking from the See also Ingrid Piller’s (2014) interesting critique of super-diversity as a “Eurocentric” concept in regard vantage point of North America, continuities to the historical reality of Montevideo, Uruguay.

24 Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

in the postwar years (Ongley and Pearson 1995: not necessarily equipped for receiving migrants 770). In short, the long presence of complex who present multiple diversities. For example, diversity makes “super-diversity” seem not quite Saint-Jérôme, a town about an hour from Mon- so new as it appears in Europe. treal, now hosts Bhutanese refugees from Nepal Yet another factor that may play a role in who are Hindu or Evangelical Protestant, Afri- making today’s diversity seem less dramatically cans from various countries and regions of Africa new in Canada (and perhaps elsewhere) than in who may be Catholic, Muslim or Evangelical, as Western Europe; namely, the dominant ideol- well as Latin Americans from several different ogy about difference. Writing about the United countries, also religiously diverse. Though new Kingdom, Berg and Sigona (2013: 351) note that mechanisms have emerged in such settings to “people are increasingly more willing to express help newcomers get established, on the whole, diversity – of lifestyle, sexual orientation and so local administrations are still ill – prepared for on – openly, further adding to the complexity long-term issues that are likely to arise after the and to the differences that make a difference…”. initial settlement process; in the school system, Arguably, this tendency manifested sooner on for example. the societal level in North America than in West- To resume the discussion so far, the dra- ern Europe. Over 25 years ago, Kwame Anthony matic newness of contemporary diversity that is Appiah (1994: 62) wrote “as a gay Black man” emphasized in discussions of super-diversity is in the United States of the individual concerns less evident in Canada and the United States than of authenticity and personal identity that were in Europe, though probably for different reasons already making themselves felt in North America in each case. Because today’s diversity appears and the challenges this posed for conceptualizing as the result of processes that have been going recognition, a notion that seemed only to apply on for some decades, North American scholars to broad categories (of gender, ethnicity, nation- such as myself are not as ease with the term as ality, etc.) and to ignore their internal diversity. many European scholars seem to be. That said, the terminology used to describe today’s diversi- Scale ties is not my main concern here; rather, my focus The issue of scale has become increasingly prom- from here on will be on the convivialities that inent in discussions of contemporary diversity. As may emerge in contemporary contexts, notably Glick Schiller et al. (2006: 612) put it, “the scale in the religious domain. Before addressing that of cities reflects their positioning within neolib- issue, I first describe the research on which my eral processes of local, national, regional, and analysis is based. global rescaling.” The authors note (p. 613) that small-scale cities that are less well-positioned in The Research the global context than major metropolises, “are Our team study2 sought to document the reli- particularly important locales in which to obtain gious diversity that has developed in Quebec insights to move migration research beyond the 2 use of the ethnic group as the unit of analysis The other researchers who collaborated in the project were Claude Gélinas, Josiane Le Gall, Khadiya- and beyond the hegemony of a single model of toulah Fall, François Gauthier and Géraldine Mossière. migrant incorporation.” Raymond Lemieux, Gilles Routhier, Sylvie Fortin and Some of our research concerns religious groups John Leavitt. The research was funded by a team grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec So- in smaller cities and their environs. It is here, in ciété et culture (FQRSC) and by the Social Sciences fact, that “super-diversity” bears a certain rele- and Humanity Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). vance, because, in general, ethnic, religious and Publications of the team members are available at cultural diversities are fairly new to these- set http://www.grdu.umontreal.ca/documents/Publi- cations_Religion,Modernit%C3%A9,Diversit%C3%A9 tings and their administrative apparatuses are religieuse.pdf

25 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Deirdre Meintel

since the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, a period For the in-depth studies, research assistants3 of rapid secularization and liberalization and to observed religious rituals and other activities, examine the meaning of religion in the daily lives such as neighbourhood prayer groups; social of Quebecois today. Though the great majority activities like communal meals and picnics and identify as Catholic, regular church attendance educational activities sponsored by the group. is the lowest of all the Canadian provinces The in-depth studies took at least three months, (Wilkins-Laflamme 2014). Our methodology was often much longer. Semi-structured interviews “experience-near” (Wikan 1991), influenced by lasting about an hour and a half, if not more, phenomenological approaches such as those of were carried out with at least three members McGuire (2008), Csordas (1994, 2001); Goulet (usually more) and one leader. An effort was (1993, 1998); Turner (1994, 1996). At the same made to interview individuals varying by gender, time, we applied the same research tools (inter- age, matrimonial status and level of commitment view and observation formats) to all the groups, to the group. Subjects covered include migration with adjustments where necessary. 132 groups history (when relevant), the individual’s religious in Montreal were studied, and 97 others in and trajectory, the role of religion (or spirituality) around smaller cities, including Sherbrooke in their everyday lives, and the degree of their (pop. 154, 600), Saguenay (pop. 143, 690), Saint- involvement (economic, social, ritual) in the Jérôme (pop. 68, 456) and Rawdon (pop. 10, group along with any religious activities pursued 416). Of the total of 229 groups, 79 were the outside the group’s purview. The assistants then sites of extended ethnographic study (partici- submitted a report covering a long list of themes pant observation over several months, as well as presented in the analytical grid common to the interviews with leaders and members). In terms project; among other things, these included of religion, the groups represent: 1) currents doctrines, beliefs and norms, governance and established in Quebec since the 60s, primarily by structure, relations with other religious groups native-born Quebecois (e.g., the Catholic Charis- of the same or different denomination, the place matic Renewal, Reconstructionist Judaism, Wicca, of worship, rituals, embodied practices, use of shamanism); 2) religions brought by immigrants communication technologies, religious activities (Islam, Hinduism, certain forms of Buddhism); such as retreats or pilgrimages, healing practices, 3) congregations of long-established religions social activities, social differentiation within the (e.g. Catholic, Presbyterian) where immigrants group by ethnicity, gender, class, worldview predominate. If any groups were neglected in (health, food, education, family relations, money, our study, they were the more traditional Cath- death, etc.), non-religious activities sponsored by olic or Protestant groups that made up mainly the group (e.g. language classes for French or a of those who represent the social majority heritage language), religious socialization of chil- (i.e., those born in Quebec of French or Eng- dren, converts or new members, relations with lish background). It is possible that we missed the wider society (sectarian tendencies, integra- cases of friction or exclusion arising when new tion) and with the public sphere, evolution of the immigrants join such groups; this is a theme we group over time. For individual members, ana- hope to explore in future research. However, we lytical themes included their religious identity/ have studied somewhat less mainstream groups identities and trajectory, personal religious prac- (e.g., Spiritualist, Ashtanga) that are becoming tices, conversion or change of affiliation. In the quite diverse ethnically and I have included them research carried out in regions outside Montreal, in the analysis here. the same tools were used, with some adaptation

3 Unless otherwise stated, all the research presented herein is that of the team researchers or assistants.

26 Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

to the logistics of doing research in more distant in statistics on religious affiliation because most places, requiring observations to be restricted to often the groups involved do not oblige a change the summer months in some cases. of affiliation. Typically, they include nature – cen- Field assistants were graduate students in tred spiritualities (Druidry, shamanic currents, anthropology, religious studies and other fields. Neopaganism), yogic spiritualities (Kundalini Their training followed a field school model with Yoga, Vipassana, etc.), Spiritualism and Bud- all field notes read by several researchers. Group dhism. Often those who frequent them continue discussions about fieldwork were particularly to identify asC atholic and keep some connection important for the assistants. Doing participant with the Catholic Church. Some born-Catholics observation on religion in one’s own society even frequent Evangelical groups without con- requires considerable reflexivity (Meintel and verting and consider them their “spirituality” Mossière 2012) and all the more so for neophytes. rather than as their new religion. Typically, fieldworkers must situate themselves Immigrants now represent 12.6 % of the Que- in respect to the beliefs of their informants and bec population according to 2011 figures5. Of decide the extent of their participation and sub- these, the majority (58.2%) are Christian, and jective involvement in the religious activities they 37.7 % are Catholic6. Many groups of the same are studying. Assistants and researchers were national origin are already religiously diverse almost never asked to give account of their per- when they arrive, and this has long been the sonal beliefs as a condition of doing research; for case (see Helly 1997); Haitians, for example, may the most part, the researchers were given a cor- be Evangelist, Catholic or Voudou; similarly, Viet- dial welcome and in some cases, their presence namese may be Buddhist, Catholic or Caodaist. seemed to be taken as a form of validation. This While some immigrants, particularly from Africa was particularly the case for congregations made or Latin America, have converted to Evangelical up mostly of immigrants, which have sometimes or Pentecostal religions in the country of origin, been subject to negative media coverage4. others do so after arrival. Another factor contributing to religious diversity that has received little Religion and Diversity scholarly attention: the sometimes surprising It is common to link religious diversity to immi- number of immigrants who consider themselves gration, but in the case of Quebec, other factors “of no religion”; this is the case; for example, for also play a role, notably the increased mobil- 16 % of Algerian immigrants, based on 2011 sta- ity of the native-born population and the influ- tistics (Castel 2016); overall, more immigrants ence of the Internet. Some tens of thousands claim to be of no religion (14.7 %) than non- of Francophone Catholics have converted to immigrants (11.6 %)7. We should add that the other religions since the 1960s, such as Evangeli- meaning of “no religion” is likely to vary from cal Protestantism and more recently, Islam, but one group to another, as we have found for the a far greater number can be characterized as term “spiritual but not religious”, when compar- religiously mobile. One of the surprises of our ing born-Catholic Quebecois with the Americans study was the wide range of groups defining studied by Fuller (2001). themselves as religious or spiritual that are frequented by the native-born. This may not appear 5 http://www.veq.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/ 01/Analysis_Immigration-in-Quebec-2014.pdf. p. 1. 4 Apart from concerns about radicalization in Muslim (accessed July18, 2016). groups, there have been reports in the Quebec media 6 Figures based on 2011 Household Survey (Canada) of misuse of funds by African evangelical pastors. Me- microdata provided by Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme. dia attention has also been focused on alleged child 7 http://www.veq.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/ abuse in certain Jewish and Christian sects along with 01/Analysis_Immigration-in-Quebec-2014.pdf.p .6. suspect healing practices in other groups. (accessed July 18, 2016).

27 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Deirdre Meintel

Several of the researchers in our team had of whom eventually convert. Religious groups long experience studying issues of migration and address not only material needs but also sym- ethnicity before undertaking the study described bolic ones are; often religious activities offer a here. In earlier work, we found that, for many context where members can reframe the tribula- immigrants, religion was a more important iden- tions associated with migration (unemployment, tification than ethnicity; moreover, in a study of discrimination, exile) in a way that gives them migration to the outlying regions of Quebec that value (Meintel and Mossière 2012). I directed, the research showed that immigrants Religious sociality is often multiethnic in char- were willing to travel long distances to meet with acter; we have found that religious sociality often a religious group but not for ethnic association bridges the divide between the social major- activities. Why would this be so? I believe that ity and ethnic minorities. In our work, almost the answer lies in the fact that religion operates all congregations formed mainly by immigrants differently from ethnicity as a basis of affiliation usually host more than one national group and and social ties. have at least a few French-speaking Quebecois As compared with ethnic affiliations, religious members. For example, a number of Pentecos- belonging involves a particularly powerful form tal congregations in Montreal include people of social connectedness. Apart from their ritual from several Latin American countries as well as functions that I have described elsewhere (Mein- a handful ethnic mainstream, born-in-Quebec, tel 2014) we found that religious collectivities members. The cultural and social dynamic is often accomplish a great deal of largely unrec- often the reverse of what immigrants find in the ognized social labour that allows refugees and wider society (Meintel and Mossière 2012). That other migrants to resettle successfully (Meintel is, the predominant language, music and style and Gélinas 2012). Usually the mutual aid given of worship would reflect the region of the world by longer-established church members and new whence most of the members originate, as well as arrivals is complementary to government ser- the social life around the religious groups. As one vices and usually includes information on what is Russian woman member of an Orthodox church available, help in finding a job or lodging; some- in a small town about 150 km from Montreal put times help and support offered goes far beyond it, “this church is the one place where I don’t feel that offered by the State: for example,C ongolese like an immigrant.”8 A number of Quebec-born clergy (Catholic or Pentecostal) assist unaccompa- converts of French ancestry also frequent the nied minors arriving from Condo by finding them church; the notion of “real orthodoxy” is tinged host families; Senegalese murids offer food and with cultural notions for the Russian immigrant shelter, sometimes for months, to new arrivals. members, whereas Quebecois converts conceive Such assistance is often seen as part of the shift it in purely religious terms. In both cases, mem- to a congregational model made by many immi- bers seek to be buried in the cemetery adjoining grant religious groups (Yang and Ebaugh 2000). the church. For the immigrants, this is partly a At the same time, we should remember that this question of family tradition; for the converts, it kind of help is framed in the social relations of symbolizes their full integration to the Orthodox trust based on presumed moral consensus and a religion (Moisa 2011). In Catholic charismatic shared relation to sacred reality that characterize groups and Evangelical churches in where most religious solidarity. We should also mention vari- members are of Latin-American origin, liturgy, ous groups composed of mainstream Quebecois hymns and social activities involving members seek to integrate newcomers; for example, Jeho- are carried out in Spanish. Native-born Quebe- vah’s Witnesses and Mennonites in and around Sherbrooke offer extensive material and moral 8 Field observation, Daniela Moisa, postdoctoral re- support to recently arrived immigrants, some searcher.

28 Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

cois members (often married to an immigrant in sions of diversity that can often be found in the group) generally understand Spanish. Meals urban life. Appiah’s (2006) work on the ethics of shared among the members and music that everyday cosmopolitanism that is often rooted in sometimes accompanies them after Mass reflect ethnic or religious affiliations evokes a dynamic the Latin-American origins of the majority. of coexistence and exchange that is quite similar to the notions of conviviality presented here Conviviality as does Werbner’s on “vernacular” (2006) and The notion of conviviality as I am employing “working class” (1999) cosmopolitanism. it here emerges from two sources; one is that At the same time, conviviality goes further of the anthropology of the Amazonian region than certain forms of cosmopolitanism such as where researchers such as Overing and Passes the peaceful coexistence described by Germain (2000) draw inspiration from Ivan Illich’sTools for et Radice (2006), regarding certain neighbour- Conviviality (1973) to describe a sociality among hoods in Montreal. Others; e.g., Ollivier and Frid- social equals, characterized by sharing, mutual man (2004) and Shweder (2000:170, quoted by aid and trust, with a propensity for the informal Hannerz 2007:69) present cosmopolitanism as a and performative rather than the “formal and matter of elitism, much as it was in the eraof institutional” (p. xiii-xiv) (see also Rosengren the “Grand Tour ” (Tomasi 1998, 002). Somewhat 2006). In modern religious contexts, conviviality similarly, Beck (2006) approaches cosmopoli- as we have observed it entails these qualities of tanism as an ideology that has evolved beyond Amazonian conviviality and is similarly framed nationalism and, presumably, narrower loyalties in a common metaphysics of “human and non- such as religion or ethnicity, leaving little place human connectedness”; that is, it entails a com- for “everyday” or “vernacular” cosmopolitanism. mon relationship with a transcendent reality. The other strain of thought I draw upon is that New Religious Convivialities of Paul Gilroy who describes conviviality as In what follows, I describe some of the new religious convivialities that our research in Montreal “a social pattern in which different metropolitan groups dwell in close proximity, but where their brought to light; these include interethnic soci- racial, linguistic and religious particularities do not alities that are unprecedented for immigrants as – as the logic of ethnic absolutism suggests they well as for the host milieu. Also new is the ten- must – add up to discontinuities of experience or dency observed in a number of immigrant reli- insuperable problems of communication” (2006: gious groups to build bridges with various sorts 40). of outreach activities. Later we turn to the some- Gilroy’s notion of conviviality emerges in a mod- what different dynamic that the team observed ern, urban context and emphasizes the potential in smaller, regional localities. of going beyond racial, ethnic or religious differ- “Ethnic” churches made up of members from ences in situations of multiple diversities. Con- the same country of origin are part of Montre- flict and racism still exist, but in conviviality he al’s past, as has also been the case in the United finds the potential for overcoming these. States (Yang and Ebaugh 2000). A few groups Conviviality is similar to what Schiller et al. whose members are of the same national/eth- (2011) describe as a “cosmopolitan sociability”; nic background; for example, Tamil and Laotian here, religious or ethnic anchoring (Grzymala- Catholic missions. In these cases, the diocese Kazlowska 2015) coexists with openness toward has established nongeographical congregations others in daily social interaction. Noble (2013), to accommodate the newcomers. However, the who adopts Gilroy’s notion of conviviality, speaks great majority of the religious groups we found of cosmopolitan habits characterized by “prag- in Montreal are composed of people of different matic openness” as forming the convivial dimen- origins, even when most are immigrants.

29 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Deirdre Meintel

The Spanish-speaking congregations (of the speak of the “language of the heart” by which Catholic Charismatic Renewal or Evangelical participants understand each other without churches) include immigrants from various Latin words. A Chinese woman explains: American countries and, inevitably, a few native- “… people are so nice, we work together, we prac- born French speakers who have learned Spanish tice together, like one family. When I see the people in the context of marriage to one of the immi- here I never say ‘he’s Chinese’ or ‘he’s Vietnamese’, grant members. Ruiz (2014, p. 56) describes the I don’t make difference. The most important thing musical scene in a Spanish-speaking Evangelical for us is: do not discriminate. Like, ‘be close with Chinese people and not that close with Vietnam- church: “The musicians are mostly in their thir- ese’. It’s not the way Buddha taught us.” (Detolle, ties; the regular participants are a Colombian unpublished field notes). drummer, a Panamanian pianist, a bass player from Venezuela, a young Mexican violinist, a Hai- One of the Indian Hindu temples in Montreal tian who plays the bongos. A Quebecois girl and observed by Anne-Laure Betbeder (2012) pres- several Latin American women form the choir … ents another case where religious solidarity The musicians adapt the hymns to popular Latin overrides differences that might have been American music, but they prefer to perform mod- insurmountable in the home country. The tem- ern tunes … sometimes the young people orga- ple, constructed in 1997-8 in a middle-class sub- nize presentations with dancing to the rhythms urb, hosts members originating from several dif- of rock, pop, hip-hop, rap and electronic music. » ferent regions of India. The gods venerated in the In most of the Evangelical (including Pentecos- temple reflect the diverse origins of the group tal) groups we have studied, we find the “soli- and the pan-Indian approach favoured since its darity of belief ” (Glick Schiller et al. 2011: 204) inception. that prevails over differences of national origin The same temple exemplifies a tendency that and those between the majority and immigrant seems fairly widespread among immigrant reli- minorities. Beyond their ethnic affiliations, the gious groups in Montreal. That is, the temple members of such churches consider themselves sponsors blood drives, marches for organ dona- brothers and sisters in Christ such that ethnic tions, and conferences about cultural diversity, differences are considered of secondary impor- while encouraging members to do volunteer tance. For example, in the congregation studied work. We have found the same effort to foster by Géraldine Mossière (2006), Congolese pre- social and political involvement in the host soci- dominate, but there are members from half-a- ety in many Islamic centres and mosques, immi- dozen other French-speaking countries, as well grant Evangelical churches and a Vietnamese as a number of Haitians and a handful of native- Caodaist temple. Members are encouraged to born French-speaking Quebecois. For some, their vote and to participate in the wider community. experience in the church has allowed them to get For example, a number of Caodaists spent days past experiences of racism in the wider society: helping flood victims in the regional town of “I don’t see who is black, who is white, … we are Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in 2011 (Maillé-Poulin all working doing God’s work” (53). 2016). Various mosques in Montreal participated A Vietnamese pagoda observed by Detolle in a “Mosque Open Doors” event in 2012; indi- (2010) counts about 500 people among the regu- vidual mosques also hold such events from time lar attendees, including some forty Chinese and to time. a number of Sri Lankans who do not understand Groups made up mainly of native-born Quebe- the Vietnamese language, the predominant lan- cois appear to becoming more diverse ethnically. guage in the pagoda. Smaller organized groups When I began research on a Spiritualist congre- link people by language who help each other in gation in 2000, it was made up almost exclusively case of need. At the same time, several members of French-speaking Quebecois brought up in the

30 Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

Catholic faith. Over time, it has come to include (Bouchard 2009) in their relations with native- immigrants from many different national and born Quebecois Catholics. In one case, the Tam- religious origins. Catholic churches in the city are ils sought to purchase a Catholic parish church also becoming more ethnically diverse. In a Cath- whose congregation was dwindling in numbers olic parish I have observed since 2009, Congolese but were refused. Another case of minor conflict members have become increasingly prominent arose when Tamil Catholics from Sri Lanka made in ritual activities (giving communion, serving at a pilgrimage to a shrine in the Montreal area. The the altar and reading biblical texts for the Mass Tamil style of pilgrimage involves inviting Hindu from the pulpit). Similarly, a non-immigrant Bud- friends to Mass and communion there, celebrat- dhist group in our study (Laurent Sédillot 2009) ing and picnicking on the grounds, behaviour shows signs of becoming more ethnically diverse, considered objectionable by the local religious as East Asians, Latin Americans and a few Afri- authorities. cans begin to attend its meditation workshops. The hundred or so members of the Ashtanga Regional Variations yoga shala (centre) reflect the makeup of the Outside Montreal, religious conviviality plays out city’s population; they include French- and Eng- somewhat differently than in Montreal. Because lish-speaking individuals born in Quebec, some regional towns and cities are less centrally situ- of whom are of immigrants or ethnically mixed ated in the global economy, they attract fewer parentage, as well as young adult immigrants immigrants, despite decades of policies oriented from Australia, the United States, Morocco, to channel immigrants and refugees toward France, Belgium, Vietnam, Japan, China, India, regions outside of Montreal, in part to compen- Armenia Italy and Haiti (Bouchard 2013: 62). In sate for the movement of regional youth toward these cases, ethnic or national origin is irrelevant the metropolis (Vatz Laaroussi 2011). Thus ethnic in the social relations among participants. diversity is present but to a much lesser degree Our observations in Montreal show almost than in Montreal. no instances of friction along ethnic lines within Immigrants (including refugees) in the regions religious collectivities, though the Ethiopians we studied are usually not numerous enough to and Eritrean Evangelicals studied by Ferran9 form their own religious groups with the excep- (2015) present something of a mixed case. In tion of a few Islamic mosques and prayer cen- 1989 they formed the church that eventually tres. Moreover, Muslim groups are if anything was named Ammanuel, despite the conflicts more discreet than in Montreal in regard to their that have opposed their home countries. It pres- physical presence, occupying private or rented ently numbers some 150 members. Most are spaces with little or no signage. The leader of a Ethiopian and speak Amharic; the Eritreans, who centre for North African Muslims situated in a speak Amharic as well as Tigrinya, their own lan- small regional town asserts that he lives among guage, are in the minority. In 2012, some thirty Haitians, Quebecois, Africans, not just Muslims, Eritreans, professing their desire to worship in and does not want to live in a ghetto. He encour- their own language, founded their own church; ages members to adopt what he calls a certain according to their minister, some still harbour ill “invisibility” so as to avoid hostility toward Islam, feeling toward Ethiopians despite their common speaking critically of a man who attracted atten- faith. We should also note two instances of inter- tion with his Islamic dress and beard. ethnic tension, both involving Tamil Catholics Many religious groups located outside Mon- treal are still composed entirely of Francophones born in Quebec. Typically, as Gélinas and Vatz 9 Ferran collaborated with our project but the research mentioned here was carried out separately Laaroussi (2012) observe in Sherbrooke, immi- from our work. grants join congregations (Catholic, Baha’i, Men-

31 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Deirdre Meintel

nonite, Evangelical and others) where the native- Catholic lay group bring together Africans, Bhu- born predominate. Here they find a space of tanais and locals of different religions. In nearby interethnic relations where the majority-minor- Rawdon, a yearly “Sharing Gathering” (Fête du ity dynamic does not operate in the same way partage) is organized by a local NGO, Alliance des as in the wider society. “They are more likely Nations, in collaboration with the municipal gov- to meet the native-born on an equal footing …” ernment, where different religions and spiritual (2012: 43). In one striking, if atypical, case, a Pen- currents set up displays and hold activities open tecostal church in Saint-Jérôme, is made up of to the public10. Bhutanese from Nepal and Africans from several As in Montreal, ethnic differences are rarely countries, including Senegal and the Republic of a source of tension in religious collectivities, but the Congo. The pastor is Quebec-born and ritu- we did find one exception. An Islamic centre in als are held in French, with bilingual Bhutanese the Saguenay region of Quebec has seen the rise translating for their compatriots. of marked divisions between Senegalese mem- A striking difference between Montreal and bers and more recent arrivals from North Africa the regions concerns interreligious conviviali- regarding issues of language, ritual and politics. ties. In Montreal, impecunious congregations In recent years, sermons are downloaded from of different currents are likely to rent the same Mecca in Arabic, a language not spoken by the space at different times or share the same build- West Africans who originally predominated in ing with other religious groups. Closer ties and the centre. Moreover, they transmit a more con- mutual aid sometimes develop, as between a servative version of Islam than the Senegalese small multiethnic group of Messianic Jews and espouse. Some of the West Africans have ceased the equally diverse Baptist church that shares attending regularly and have formed a prayer their rented space and with whom they feel a group among themselves that meets in a private certain religious kinship. However, interreligious home. collaborations are most evident in the smaller Another case that bears mentioning is that towns and cities in our research. Spatial- prox of a Catholic parish in Sherbrooke; this parish imity fosters contact between groups of differ- includes a sufficient number of Latin Americans ent religious traditions in these localities, while as to hold Masses in Spanish and has a Spanish- small numbers and limited means lead to sharing speaking committee of parishioners along with resources and collaborating for civic and charita- a French-speaking one. The result is, according ble causes. Sometimes these collaborations are to the pastor, “two solitudes; they cross paths, organized by leaders working together; in other but that is all” (Gélinas et Vatz Laaroussi 2012 : cases, they seem to be ad hoc affairs. 46). Finally, we observed anti-Muslim sentiment In Sherbrooke, some of the Muslims who in several Evangelical groups; in one case, an prefer not to frequent the two existing spaces Evangelical leader said in a meeting of represen- of worship for Muslims (a mosque and an asso- tatives of different religions that he wanted to ciation based at the local university) meet in a exclude Muslims from an interreligious coalition Catholic church basement for weekly prayers. A in a regional town. However, this was rejected by devoutly Catholic woman in Saint-Jérôme who the Catholic clergy present, who argued that the wished to help immigrants obtained space in a Pope recognizes Islam and receives Muslim lead- Catholic church complex where immigrants of ers. In the end, the Muslims were included. various religious traditions (Pentecostal, Hindu) In the regions, local populations have long could hold their rituals along with Catholics; the been quite homogenous and their institutions same space also hosts other services for immigrants and for the needy of the region (Boucher 10 http://alliancedesnations.org/fete-du-partage- 2015). Weekly craft activities organized bya sharing-party/ (accessed July 18, 2016).

32 Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

historically less adapted to ethnic and religious challenges for creating unity in the group that diversity than is the case in Montreal. The differ- Ebaugh notes concern the incorporation of eth- ences in the convivialities that develop in such nic customs and the participation by newcomers localities illustrate the importance of scale when in the governance of the group. Glick Schiller et looking at today’s complex diversity. From the al. (2006), on the other hand, allow us to under- local point of view, a few thousand immigrants stand that ethnicity is far less relevant than sta- and refugees of different national and religious tus as a Christian in the churches they studied in origins appear as a kind of super-diversity. Reli- Halle, located in the former East Germany, and gious convivialities in the regions often bring Manchester, New Hampshire. Both of these migrants into social contact with native-born are small-scale, non-gateway cities, which the Quebecois and become an important mecha- authors contrast with the metropolises (“gate- nism for anchoring newcomers in their surround- way cities”) where issues of diversity are most ings and strengthening the social fabric of the often studied, such as Berlin and London. (In local community. Canada, these would be Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.) Conclusion In the churches that Glick Schiller and her col- I have argued that religion-based social ties func- leagues describe, immigrants of various origins tion somewhat differently from ethnic ones and and locals develop networks of support with that religious sociality can offer a powerful base their fellow born-again Christians and are incor- for social relations where ethnic differences are porated as evangelists and Christians into the often secondary. We have seen that believers of wider society and into transnational networks. different traditions can be linked by mutual aid Similarly, Hülwelmeier (2011: 450) describes a and interreligious collaborations for civic and predominantly Vietnamese Pentecostal church charitable ends. This is especially true of smaller, in Germany that “embraces all newcomers with- regional communities where proximity, small out regard to their political past, class or ethnic numbers and limited resources make such col- background or identifications with their resident laborations more likely. nation-state.” Finally, Eade’s (2012) work on the On the whole, our team research found con- increasing ethnic and ritual diversity of Anglican, viviality within and between religious groups to Methodist and Catholic congregations in Britain be far more evident than are conflicts. To what such as indicates that the kinds of convivialities extent might our results be relevant beyond we found in Quebec may also be the case there. Quebec and Canada? Ethnic diversity within reli- Also, the strength of Interfaith networks in Brit- gious groups and interreligious collaborations ain (Baumann 1996) suggests that collaboration have not received extensive attention from social and mutual aid between religious groups of dif- scientists. Ebaugh (2003: 233-234) mentions the ferent traditions are also likely to be found there. possible difficulties that may arise in American In the spirit of Gilroy’s (2006) work on convivial- multiethnic religious groups; e.g., the fact that ity, I would suggest that it is as important to pay when some ritual activities are held in the lan- attention to the new cohabitations, solidarities guage of an immigrant group, parallel congrega- and alliances that today’s diversity occasions as tions may develop, as was the case of Catholic it is to examine any new lines of social fracture church in Sherbrooke mentioned earlier. Other that it engenders.

33 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Deirdre Meintel

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SCHWEDER, R. A. 2000. “Moral Maps, First World ———. 2007. “Super-Diversity and Its Implications.” Conceits, and The New Evangelists.” In Culture Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024-1054.

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———. 1998. “Pilgrimage/Tourism.” In Encyclo- WIKAN, U. 1991. “Toward an Experience-Near An- pedia of Religion and Society, edited by W.H. thropology.” Cultural Anthropology 6(3): 285- Swatos and P. Kvisto. Walnut Creek, CA: Altami- 305. ra Press. Accessed July 17, 2016. http://hirr. WILKINS-LAFLAMME, S. 2014. “Report: Religion hartsem.edu/ency/pilgrigmage.htm. in Canada.” Centre d’Études Ethniques des Uni- TURNER, E. 1994. “A Visible Spirit form in Zambia.” versités Montréalaises (CEETUM), Université de In Being Changed by Cross-Cultural Encounters: Montréal. Accessed July 17, 2016. http://www. The Anthropology of Extraordinary Experience, google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source= edited by J.-G. Goulet and D. E. Young, 71-95. Pe- web&cd=19&ved=0ahukewjg9o7oq4nlahxjej4 terborough: Broadview Press. khetacokqfgh0mbi&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.

———. 1996. The Hands Feel It: Healing and Spirit ceetum.umontreal.ca%2fdocuments%2fcaps Presence Among a Northern Alaskan People. ules%2f2014%2fwilk-en-2014.pdf&usg=afqjcn Dekalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press. g2qgkysvehpipluqhoj3-67fbhzw&sig2=o-kvw- VATZ LAAROUSSI, M. 2011. “Les réfugiés et im- 3cun2fxnjpyytuxug. migrants dans les régions du Québec: pour un WINTER, E. 2011. Us, Them, and Others: Pluralism questionnement politique et éthique.” Vivre en- and National Identity in Diverse Societies. Toron- semble 18(2): 1-4. to: University of Toronto Press. VERTOVEC, S. 2015. “Super-Diversity.” Website YANG, F., and H. R. EBAUGH. 2000. “Transforma- of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Re- tions in New Immigrant Religions and Their Glob- ligious and Ethnic Diversity. Accessed July 17, al Implications.” American Sociological Review 2016. http://www.mmg.mpg.de/research/all- 66(2): 269-288. projects/super-diversity/.

Note on the Author

Deirdre Meintel is professor of anthropology at the Université de Montréal and has authored numerous works on migration, ethnicity and religious diversity. She directs the Centre de recherches en études ethniques des universités montréalaises (CEETUM), a research center for the study of migration and diversity. It includes 50 researchers in the social sciences and humanities from various universities in Québec. Deirdre is cofounder and editor of a journal called Diversité urbaine and directs an interdisciplinary research group of the same name. Email: [email protected]

36 Multi-Religiosity: Expanding Research on Ties to Multiple Faiths in the 21st Century*

by Liza G. Steele (State University of New York at Purchase)

Abstract In the 21st century, it is not uncommon to encounter people with ties to more than one religion. Some examples of such multiple or dual religious ties (referred to as “multi-religiosity” for the purposes of this paper) include the practice of Buddhism amongC hristians and Jews, regular church attendance among those who say they are not religious, and the children of mixed religious couples who might be raised with some level of identification with the spiritual traditions of both parents. Yet, literature and data on the topic of multi-religiosity is scarce. Through an analysis of qualitative data gathered by the author in Brazil in 2007–2008 and data from a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life in the United States in 2009, this paper aims to draw attention to the prevalence of dual or multiple religious ties in st21 -century Western countries, and to encourage a reconsideration of traditional concepts and categories in scholarly approaches to studying religion. Keywords: multi-religiosity, religious pluralism, dual religious belonging, religious superdiversity, sociology of religion

Introduction Among the many cultural changes likely con- In the twenty-first-century Western world, it is tributing to the increasing number of individu- not uncommon for individuals to draw on beliefs als with ties to more than one faith are the and practices from multiple faiths, or even to prioritization of individual freedom and choice, identify with more than one faith. While this greater tolerance toward marriages between phenomenon has been part of Asian religious people from different religious backgrounds, and cultures for centuries, it is relatively new in the increased contact with other religious traditions West (Cornille 2003). Some examples of multiple through globalizing forces such as the spread of religious ties in the West include the practice of technology and migration (Steele 2012). In such Buddhism among Christians and Jews, regular increasingly plural societies, intersectional iden- church attendance among those who say they tities proliferate, and boundaries between - reli are not religious, and the children of mixed religions can begin to break down. Vertovec (2007) gious couples who might be raised with at least coined the term ‘super-diversity’ to refer to such some level of exposure to the spiritual traditions unprecedented social complexity. of both parents. Yet, literature on any form of multiple or dual religious ties in the West is scarce. In recent

* The author would like to thank Robert Wuthnow, years, scholars have taken important steps for- the participants of the Religion and Public Life work- ward in a conversation about how best to - con shop at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion, and the anonymous reviewers for providing ceptualize the complex and nuanced aspects invaluable feedback. of individuals’ engagement with religion in the

New Diversities Vol. 18, No. 1, 2016 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

21st century (e.g., Demerath 2000, Hout and religious ties. Finally, I present theories and find- Fischer 2002; Ammerman 2003; Wuthnow 2007; ings pertaining to engagement with two or more Storm 2009; Voas 2009; Lim, MacGregor, and religions. Putnam 2010; Soares 2011; Droz et al. 2016). However, this conversation has primarily, though Definition not exclusively, focused on better understanding For the purposes of this paper, I define “multi- engagement with single faiths, or the murkiness religiosity” starting from the following broad def- of the “no religion” category. inition of an individual with multiple faiths: Despite the many documented complexities An individual who consciously identifies with more influencing contemporary everyday religion, a than one faith, regardless of beliefs or practices, major obstacle to studying multiple ties - per would be considered to have ties to multiple faiths. sists; most quantitative and qualitative research However, an individual also may be considered to instruments only allow respondents to choose have ties to multiple faiths if s/he draws on beliefs and/or practices from more than one faith, regard- one religious affiliation. If the respondent says less of whether or not s/he consciously identi- that s/he is “not religious,” questionnaire filters fies with or declares ties to more than one faith. often prevent religious participation from being This definition includes individuals who practice, measured at all. adhere to beliefs of, or identify with more than The present study is motivated by an inciden- one established denomination or subgroup of the same larger religious tradition, but excludes tal finding from my research on the role of reli- institutionalized group practices or identities in- gion in the lives of adolescent mothers in Rio de volving the syncretism of multiple faiths (Steele Janeiro, Brazil. Seven of the 32 young women I 2012, 841). interviewed described participation in, or -iden tification with multiple religions, or multiple To this definition, I further specify that those approaches to engaging with religion that simply who say they are not religious, but who regu- did not fit into traditional categories. Although larly attend places of worship1 and/or regularly understanding such ties to multiple faiths was engage in religious practices, would also be not the motivation for that particular study, the considered to have multiple religious identities. regularity with which I encountered this phe- Moreover, adhering to beliefs of more than one nomenon in my interviews aroused my interest religious tradition would only qualify an indi- in the topic. vidual as multiply religious if that belief were not In this paper, I present my preliminary evi- consistent across traditions.2 dence from Brazil to build a case for expanding the consideration of ties to multiple faiths. Religious Ties I then supplement those findings by analyzing First, I address the question of what it means data from a poll conducted by the Pew Research to have a (single) religious tie. Wuthnow (2007) Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life in the observes that the geographic mobility and gen- United States in 2009. The aim of this paper is eral unsettledness of our contemporary society to draw attention to the phenomenon of multi- religiosity in order to encourage further research 1 In this paper, “regular” religious attendance is de- in this area. fined as attending places of worship at least afew times per year. 2 For example, the belief that there is only one God Ties to Multiple Faiths in Scholarly Literature is central to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, among Below, I begin by presenting a definition of multi- other faiths, but an individual who believes that religiosity. Then, I explore theories of religious would not qualify as multi-religious. On the other hand, an individual who identifies as Jewish but be- ties and newer approaches to measurement, lieves that Jesus was the messiah would be consid- including theories and findings about ambiguous ered multi-religious.

38 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

gives opportunities to make spiritual choices son might follow some teachings (cognitive), but that are unprecedented. Similarly, Cornille demonstrate no feelings for her religion (affec- (2003) points out that traditional religions’ geo- tive), and never attend any services or prayer graphical and spiritual monopolies have gradu- meetings (conative). ally dissolved, leaving the religious field wide Another classification schema for the relation- open, and religious belonging increasingly a ship between individuals, religious institutions, matter of choice and degree. Given such- cir and primary group ties can be found in Ham- cumstances, Ammerman (2003) observes that mond’s (1988) work. He describes two contrast- if religious identity ever was a given, it certainly ing views of the church in contemporary society: is no longer; within the everyday marketplace of The “collective-expressive” view, in which involve- modern identity narratives, people can choose ment is largely involuntary because it emerges how and whether to be religious. Just consider- out of overlapping primary group ties not easily ing alone the fact that 56 percent of Americans avoided; and, the “individual-expressive” view, are married to someone of another faith calls in which involvement is largely voluntary and into question the likelihood of singular religious independent of other social ties. In terms of reli- ties in such mixed-religious families (Sherkat gion and identity, Hammond contends that most 2004). Ammerman describes religious identity as people would fall into two categories. One group a dynamic process best understood through the would be church-affiliated people that tend multiple narratives that shape social life, and con- toward collective-expressive involvement in the tends that it is difficult to classify using a check- church, and whose religious identity will tend list of categorical questions. In fact, Ammerman to be of the involuntary, immutable type. The (2003) finds situations where multiple identities other group would be church-affiliated people intersect – as they are remade in new contexts who tend toward individual-expressive involve- (e.g., immigrants) or even where they clash with ment in the church, and whose religious iden- each other (e.g., gay evangelicals) – to be theo- tity will tend to be of the transient, changeable retically interesting because they are exemplars, type. rather than anomalies. A number of recent empirical studies have also Goosen (2007) outlines a framework that aimed to better define contemporary forms of offers one useful way to measure religious engagement with religion, particularly in regards ties in more concrete terms. He examines reli- to the “no religion” category. Demerath (2000) gious involvement through three levels that he examines what he calls “cultural religion” in equates to the three faculties that comprise total Poland, Northern Ireland, and Sweden. He con- human engagement: The intellect, linked to the cludes that substantial proportions of all three cognitive level; feelings, operationalized at the populations reap a sense of personal identity affective level; and actions, represented at the and continuity with the past from religion with- conative level. When people are involved with out partaking in specific beliefs or rituals. On the a religion at all three levels, Goosen describes other hand, using data from the 1998 General them as being totally engaged. For example, a Social Survey (GSS), Hout and Fischer (2002) find Christian would be totally engaged if he believed that most Americans with no expressed religious certain teachings (cognitive), experienced cer- preference hold conventional religious beliefs, tain feelings regarding Christianity (affective), despite their alienation from organized religion. and acted in certain ways, such as attending ser- They find that members of this group, whom vices with others, giving alms to the poor, caring the authors refer to as “unchurched believ- for orphans, or demonstrating against injustices ers,” made up most of the increase in the “no (conative). Yet, many adherents to any religion religion” group (from 7% to 14%) in the 1990s engage on only one level. For example, a per- in the U.S.

39 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

Bridging both of these ideas, through analy- the first day of the week. Until they were thrown ses of cross-national surveys of Europeans, Voas out of the synagogue, they saw themselves as (2009) and Storm (2009) examine what they dub Jews and Christians simultaneously. “fuzzy fidelity,” a casual loyalty to tradition among Cornille (2003) describes multiple religious individuals who are neither regular churchgo- belonging in any combination of any number of ers nor self-consciously non-religious – those religions, citing as examples the Jews for Jesus; who believe without belonging or belong with- Christians who have become deeply involved in out believing. Both scholars find fuzzy fidelity to Islamic (mostly Sufi) religious practices; Hindus be widespread throughout Europe, with Storm who also consider themselves partly Christian pointing out that her findings highlight, “the or, more often, vice versa; and, by far the most methodological issues involved in using single- common phenomenon in the West – Christians scale measures for multidimensional phenom- or Jews who also profess to be Buddhist. ena” (2009, 702). Finally, Lim, MacGregor, and Some of the examples Cornille raises might be Putnam (2010) study individuals with liminal reli- better described as cases of religious syncretism, gious identities, or “liminars” – those who fail to rather than multiple belonging. There is already identify with the ‘no religion’ preference consis- a great deal of scholarship on the topic of reli- tently in panel surveys. They find that, for limin- gious syncretism, though this may be a gray area ars, religious identity is a situational, rather than for the study of multiple religious ties. For exam- a stable, trait that has the potential to vary from ple, Schutte (1974) wrote about dual religious one context to the next, and that the assump- belonging at a Dutch Reformed (Gereformeerde) tions of the stability of religion inherent in the Church in Meadowlands (Soweto), South Africa. theories of the scholars cited above is problem- He found that church members associated two atic. sets of beliefs and practices with the private and public spheres of religion, respectively. In the pri- Multiple Religious Ties vate sphere, ancestor beliefs and worship were While the studies above have substantially of great importance to individuals and fami- enhanced our ability to conceptualize contem- lies. However, Christianity was felt to be closely porary religious engagement in more nuanced related to the public sphere, not only in terms ways, only a couple of scholars have explicitly of worship in the church, but also regarding the addressed the issue of dual or multiple reli- Christian image individuals and families wished gious ties. Cornille (2002; 2003) observes that to project to the outside world in urban life. Yet, the idea of double or multiple religious belong- he observed that these two systems of religious ing seems to have become an integral feature belief were not strictly compartmentalized and of the religious culture of our times. She points separated. A tendency existed among church out that although this phenomenon has been members to fuse the belief in ancestors with the part of Asian religious cultures for centuries, it Christian notion of the Holy Spirit. Despite ten- is relatively new to the West, where a combina- sion with white missionaries and ministers from tion of political and religious forces have shaped other congregations regarding such practices, religious identities around comparatively rigid when Schutte concluded his study, this particular and exclusive boundaries. On the other hand, church appeared to be on the path towards inte- Goosen (2007) points out that dual religious grating the popular practices of members into belonging has actually existed at least from the the normal order of worship. In this case, dual beginning of Christianity. He describes how the religious practice led to syncretism. first disciples, after the death of Christ, used to Since I am interested in the types of multiple go to the synagogue on the Sabbath and then religious ties that are not institutionalized, nor come together to celebrate the Lord’s supper on already on the path to being formalized, as sug-

40 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

gested by the definition above, I would draw ing with several possible selections, rather than the line between syncretism and multiple ties settling down with one. Some of the factors where practices have moved beyond the indi- that increase the likelihood of church hopping vidual level, or a collective movement may be include having lived at more addresses, being coalescing. single, not having children, having parents with Other concepts relevant to the topic of mul- college degrees, as well as having been to col- tiple religious ties are spiritual “tinkering” and lege oneself. Overall, Wuthnow sees church religious mobility. Wuthnow (2007) introduces hopping as partly a function of opportunity the concept of spiritual tinkering. He contends while being unsettled, and possibly also the kind that contemporary circumstances actually make of seeking mentality that comes with higher it necessary for seekers to cobble together their education. faith from the options at hand, which may include In terms of determining when an individual choosing from among many potentially suitable is truly involved with more than one religion, congregations, combining teachings from -dif the framework outlined by Goosen, discussed ferent religions, and selecting innovative ways above, could be particularly useful. This frame- to express spiritual interests. Similarly, Soares work emerged in the context of his study of 33 (2011) and Droz et al. (2016) present the concept adults from the greater Sydney, Australia area of religious mobility or “butinage.” Churchgoers who practiced dual religious belonging. He found engaged with multiple faiths, who combine ele- that they all had some beliefs (cognitive level) or ments from each as part of a dynamic process of religious practices (affective and conative) from individual religiosity, are compared to bees gath- a second faith, though none of them had pub- ering pollen from plants. Soares describes buti- licly declared themselves to have “dual religious nage as a form of commuting between denomi- belonging”; most described themselves with a nations, or “a continuous to and fro, in which the mono-religious title, except for five interviewees practitioner combines various religious contents who used a double religious title to label their into a single religious practice” (2011, 228). religion. Thus, he concluded that dual religious Wuthnow (2007) finds spiritual tinkering to be belonging tends to be adherence to one main quite common among American young adults religion while having a second religion on which and expects it to remain so in the future. Among the individual draws, or with which the individ- adults age 21 through 45, Wuthnow finds that ual engages to varying degrees, on one or more 42 percent say they sometimes attend multiple of the three levels. To establish the existence of places of worship, and 16 percent say they do dual religious belonging, Goosen suggests deter- this frequently. Likewise, in the Paranagua-mirim mining if an individual shows any engagement district on the perimeter of the town of Joinville, with a second religion on the cognitive, affective, Brazil, Soares (2011) finds that many of the resi- or conative levels. If a given person meets one dents move seamlessly among the district’s over or more of the above criteria (levels of function- 70 places of worship, from which each cobbles ing) regarding a second religion, she could be together her own unique religion. said to have dual religious belonging. Three out Wuthnow’s (2007) research shows that a large of three would indicate the top end of the scale minority of American young adults are engaged (a maximalist stance), while only one out of three in spiritual tinkering in two specific ways. The would be the minimum requirement in order to first is “church shopping,” which entails looking say they “belong” (minimalist). for a congregation to attend, presumably one in To summarize, religious ties are increasingly which a person will settle and become a regular mutable in Western cultures. Scholars of religion member. The second, “church hopping,” involves from a range of disciplines have presented theo- staying in the market, or, perhaps better, tinker- ries and findings that call into question the rele-

41 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

vance for our era of traditional modes of classify- Respondents were asked a range of questions ing religious engagement. Yet, precisely because covering their childhoods, relationships with existing forms of measurement are so limiting, family, life in their communities, the father(s) empirical evidence on multiple religious ties is of their children, pregnancy, motherhood, and scarce. Below, I present preliminary evidence religious ties of themselves and members of from both qualitative and quantitative studies their immediate families. Although evidence of that further demonstrates the need to reconsider ties to multiple faiths emerged in the narratives existing schemes of classification. I use qualita- of seven of the women, I had not been explicitly tive evidence to explore narrative accounts that seeking such information; this evidence arose in do not fit into traditional categories, and quan- response to my traditional, but primarily open- titative analysis to explore how some of the ended, questions about their religious identities, characteristics suggested above – such as age, attendance, and practices. My own failure to be university education, having a spouse of a differ- prepared for such more complex descriptions of ent faith, and frequency of religious attendance religious ties is the motivation for this paper.4 – are related to having ties to more than one religion. Preliminary Evidence of Ties to Multiple Faiths I had not anticipated that a number of the women Study of Religion in the Lives of Adolescent I interviewed for my research in Rio de Janeiro, Mothers in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, about the role of religion in their lives A Methodological Discussion would describe participation in, or identification I traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil three times with multiple religions, or multiple approaches over the course of two years (2007-2008) to col- to engaging with religion that simply did not fit lect qualitative data on the role of religion in the into traditional categories. lives of adolescent mothers in the favelas (Steele Among the 32 young mothers I interviewed, 2011). The goal of the study was to understand seven could be classified as multi-religious. how young, unmarried mothers and mothers-to- Among the remaining 25 young women, an be in the favelas of Rio had experienced religious additional eight had ties to multiple denomi- morality as applied to themselves and other ado- nations of evangelical Pentecostalism. Below, lescents in their communities, as well as how I focus on the multi-religious women, presenting religious leaders were grappling with the moral

issue of unmarried adolescent maternity in their groups I observed. I completed 13 interviews with midst. key informants – eight religious leaders (five Pente- I completed 32 semi-structured in-depth costal pastors, one Episcopal priest, and two Catho- interviews with adolescent mothers (including lic priests), four staff members of non-governmental organizations that worked with adolescent mothers, six teenage mothers-to-be and 11 women who and a doctor who worked for the government at the were age 20 or older at the time of our inter- Ministry of Health. In total, 54 interviews were com- view but had first become pregnant at age 19 or pleted. In addition, I conducted participant observation at 10 places of worship (four traditional Pente- younger) who were recruited through three non- costal churches, two Neo-Pentecostal churches, one governmental organizations that worked with Catholic church, one Catholic Charismatic Renewal teenage mothers.3 youth prayer group, and two Umbanda [Afro-Brazil- ian] centers) located throughout the city (inside the favelas, just outside favelas, as well as in middle-class 3 In addition to these 32 interviews, I also complet- neighborhoods), and at the three non-governmental ed six interviews with women who were 20 or older organizations mentioned above. For the purposes of when they first became pregnant, but who were par- this paper, I focus on the 32 interviews conducted ticipating in programs for adolescent mothers, and with adolescent mothers. three with young women who did not have children, 4 For more details about this methodology, please but were affiliated with the programs or the religious see Steele (2011).

42 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

illustrations of some of the ways in which they ments of both collective-expressive and individ- were engaging with more than one religion, or ual-expressive influences. Her identification as expressing their religiosity in multiple, even con- Catholic may be primarily a cultural one, which flicting, ways. Since all lived in shantytowns or on is not consistent with her attendance at a Bap- the streets, they can all be said to be of lower tist church. Thus, she would also be classified as socio-economic status. The religiosity scores rep- multi-religious. resent their answers to the question: “On a scale Jovana, 24, religiosity score=1: of one to five, with one being not at all religious Jovana considers herself Catholic, but says that and five being extremely religious, about how she is not religious. Her family practiced Spirit- religious would you say that you are?” I evaluate ism when she was a child. In the past, she had spent about a year attending various Pentecostal their multi-religiosity by considering their self- and Neo-Pentecostal churches (she mentioned by identification and attendance at places- ofwor name the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God ship; where relevant, I also consider religiosity [IURD], Deus é Amor, Assembly of God, and Amor scores, and family and cultural ties. é Vida) around twice per week. She still attends these churches on occasion, but only for bailes 5 Flávia, age 16, religiosity score=4: (dances). Flávia lives with her family, who are Catholic. Her father is from a Spiritist family, and she attended Jovana may have one of the most complex reli- a Spiritist center as a child, but does not anymore. gious identities of any of my respondents. Her She considers herself Catholic, and sometimes religiosity score of 1 (“not at all religious”) could attends a Catholic church in her neighborhood, possibly be consistent with a family or cultural though she used to go more frequently – twice per week. She also attends a local Evangelical church. tie to Catholicism (when I first asked her if she was religious, she very clearly responded, “yes, While Flávia’s high religiosity score is consistent I’m Catholic”), but her family is actually Spiritist. with her regular attendance at places of worship, Moreover, her attendance in the previous year her attendance at an Evangelical church does not was exclusively at Pentecostal and Neo-Pente- match her self-identification as Catholic. In the costal places of worship – representing at least case of her Catholicism, this may fit with the defi- four different denominations of Evangelicalism. nition of fuzzy fidelity, but her additional involve- She is clearly a multi-religious individual-expres- ment with an Evangelical church qualifies her as sionist, but her religiosity otherwise defies exist- multi-religious. ing systems of classification. Idolina, 18, religiosity score=did not know: Claudia, 19, religiosity score=2: Idolina considers herself “a little bit” religious. She Claudia does not consider herself religious. Her says, “I’m Catholic, but sometimes I go to the Bap- family, with whom she lives, is Catholic. She some- tist church … I’m always looking for God.” Her fam- times goes to both Catholic and Pentecostal (Deus ily, with whom she lives, is Catholic, and they go é Amor) churches. to the church some Sundays. She was much more active in the Catholic Church, including participat- Although Claudia does not consider herself reli- ing in Bible study, when she lived with her grand- gious, she was attending churches from two dif- mother in northeastern Brazil. About a year prior ferent faiths, and held at least some religious to our interview, she had been attending a Baptist beliefs (“there’s only one God”). Thus, “belong- church regularly for several months, and still stops ing without believing” is not sufficiently nuanced by from time to time. to describe her engagement with religion. She is Idolina may be a church shopper or practitioner engaging on Goosen’s cognitive and conative lev- of religious butinage, and seems to exhibit ele- els, but not as clearly on the affective level. Over- all, she demonstrates at least some concurrent 5 To protect the privacy of my respondents, I use ties to Catholicism, Pentecostalism, and nonreli- pseudonyms throughout this paper. gion.

43 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

Isadora, 24, religiosity score=did not know: fidelity, and all of the above. Some aspects of Isadora does not consider herself religious. She the religiosities described above fit well into cat- attended a Catholic church with her grandmother as a child. She says, “I go to church, to the [Spirit- egories outlined by Wuthnow (2007), Hammond ist] Center … everywhere. I believe in everything. (1988), Voas (2009), Storm (2009), and Soares I think that this business of crente, Christian, Cath- (2011), and some respondents may qualify as olic … for me it’s all one God so I go everywhere – a having the liminal ties described by Lim, Mac- little of everything. I’m curious and I go to these Gregor, and Putnam (2010), although I cannot places to find out how they are.” determine that definitively because I do not Isadora seems to be a fairly clear case of a multi- have time-varying data. Yet, many of the cases religious church hopper or practitioner of reli- described above are impossible to classify using gious butinage, in the individual-expressive vein. existing approaches to studying religiosity. She believes and attends, but does not properly While the limitations of much of the data belong to any particular institution. She is engag- we have on religion prevent us from knowing ing with at least three different faiths while iden- just how widespread these complex multiple tifying as not religious. religious ties are, and the evidence presented Plácida, 17, religiosity score=5: above is essentially anecdotal since it was not In the past, Plácida had attended a youth group part of a study systematically gathering data on for a year at a large Neo-Pentecostal church (Sara multiple religious ties, the fact that seven out of Nossa Terra, notable for being one of the few in Rio 32 young women spontaneously provided such that was attracting attendees from a wide range information is compelling in and of itself. At the of class backgrounds). When asked if she was religious, Plácida said, “No. I go to church but I’m not a least, their narratives show that ties to multiple crente. I go with my mother and with my aunt. They faiths are far from unusual in the context of Rio invite me to go and I go” (the church to which she de Janeiro’s favelas. is referring is Evangelical). However, when I asked her how religious she was, she selected a religios- A quantitative excursus: The Pew Data ity score of five – “extremely religious.” In addition, she was baptizing her 2-year-old son in a Catholic To examine the phenomenon of multiple reli- Church to honor the wishes of her child’s father. gious ties more systematically, I sought existing quantitative data related to it in any way. The best Plácida would also be classified as multi-religious; match was a study conducted in August 2009 by she has ties to at least two faiths, and nonreli- the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion gion. She also appears to have a clear collective- and Public Life in which telephone interviews expressive identity, whether she is doing what were completed with a nationally representative her mother and aunt want, or what her child’s sample of 2,003 adults living in the continental father wants. Perhaps when she says that she United States (Pew Forum on Religion and Public is not a crente, her own individual view is given Life 2009a). Because, to the best of my knowl- voice, while her claim to be a “5,” or extremely edge, this is the only existing quantitative data religious, on the religiosity scale, may be a prod- set to systematically measure multiple religious uct of how she thinks those in her primary social ties in a Western country, I analyze it despite group would like her to be. the low response rate (15.3 percent) typical of These religious narratives, all of which repre- Pew polls. In the methodological appendix to the sent forms of multi-religiosity, point to a range of poll, Pew states, “Statistical results are weighted elements influencing how these young women to correct known demographic discrepancies. understand and practice their religiosity – from The margin of sampling error for the complete alternative forms of spiritual seeking, to -oppor set of weighted data is ± 2.7 percentage points” tunities to socialize with or without family mem- (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 2009c). bers, to honoring societal traditions, to fuzzy Given that a paucity of data on the topic of multi-

44 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

religiosity is a problem I aim to address herein, tants or Christians referring exclusively to atten- and that the Pew data represent an important dance at different denominations within their step forward in this respect, for the purposes own faith.6 of this paper, I set aside my concerns about this To take a different approach to examining response rate. multiple religious ties, I also examine religious The other limitation is that ties to multiple affiliation (“What is your present religion, if faiths are not measured along every dimension. any?”), specifically among those who identify The data included a measure of attendance at as nonreligious (atheist, agnostic, or “nothing multiple places of worship, but no measure of in particular”). In addition, to explore the prev- multiple forms of identification. To attempt to alence of one of the most common religious address other dimensions, I thus explore some practices among the nonreligious, I analyze their reported beliefs and practices of those who say responses to a question about prayer (“People they are not religious. Again, because more com- practice their religion in different ways. Outside prehensive studies do not exist at this point in of attending religious services, do you pray sev- time, I contend that analyzing these data repre- eral times a day, once a day, a few times a week, sent a valuable first step, despite the clear limita- once a week, a few times a month, seldom, or tions. never?”).7 All respondents were asked about the fre- Pew only asked questions about attendance at quency of their attendance at any place of wor- multiple places of worship among those respon- ship. They were asked the following: “Aside from dents who answered that they attended religious weddings and funerals, how often do you attend services at least a few times a year. Thus, my religious services… more than once a week, once analytic sample is limited to this group of 1,478 a week, once or twice a month, a few times a respondents (72%).8 year, seldom, or never?” Only respondents who answered that they attended a few times a year 6 Only Protestants/Christians were asked about- at or more were subsequently asked about the fre- tendance at different denominations within their quency of attending different places of worship. own faith (see Q282a); however, in the U.S., this is the only religious group whose members are likely to That question was asked in the following way: have easy access to multiple places of worship with- “Aside from when you’re traveling and special in their own faith. Otherwise, all respondents who events like weddings and funerals, do you always said they attended multiple places of worship were asked about attendance at a Protestant church (if not attend religious services at the same place, Protestant/Christian [Q282b]), Catholic mass (if not mostly attend at one place but occasionally go to Catholic [Q282c]), a Jewish synagogue (if not Jewish different places, or do you go to different places [Q282d]), a Muslim mosque (if not Muslim [Q282e]), on a regular basis?” From this item, I construct and religious services different from the respondent’s that were not mentioned by the interviewer (Q282f) two outcome variables, a dummy for going to dif- (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 2009b). ferent places on a regular basis and a dummy for 7 Descriptive statistics for all variables used in the occasionally going to different places. analyses are presented in Table 1. Control variables include religious affiliation (1=Protestant or what Given the multitude of Protestant denomi- Pew calls “just Christian”; 0=all others), gender nations of Christianity in the U.S., I wanted to (1=male; 0=female), age (1=age 55+; 0=younger than ensure that most respondents stating that they 55), education (1=college completed; 0=college not completed), income (1=annual household income attend multiple places of worship were not refer- of $100,000+; 0=annual household income below ring exclusively to attendance at services of mul- $100,000), race/ethnicity (1=white; 0=African-Amer- tiple Protestant denominations within their own ican, Hispanic, other), and spouse’s religion (1=mar- faith. Indeed, this was not the case. Among the ried to a spouse of the same religion; 0=all others). 8 Listwise deletion of observations with missing data 553 individuals occasionally or regularly attend- on one or more measures used in the analyses yields ing different places, only 83 (15%) were Protes- an analytic sample of 1,155 (78%). Most of the miss-

45 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

Below, I present descriptive statistics of Ameri- any regular prayer.10 The behavior of NIPs and cans with ties to more than one faith and those agnostics is consistent with research about fuzzy who stated that they were not religious (all 2,003 fidelity in that a substantial proportion of these respondents are included in my analysis of the respondents appear to belong, at least to some no religion category), as well as results of esti- extent, without believing. mating a series of logistic regression models. Moreover, among respondents who attend religious services at least a few times per year, who Attendance at multiple places of worship and comprise 73.8 percent of all respondents to the practices of the nonreligious in the U.S. survey, only 50 percent always attend religious The Pew data offer an opportunity to explore two services at the same place; 36.9 percent mostly aspects of ties to multiple faiths – attendance at attend at one place but occasionally go to other multiple places of worship in the U.S. and atten- places, and 12.2 percent go to different places on dance and practice among those who say they a regular basis. In Table 2, I present odds ratios are not religious. Indeed, these data also show for logistic regression models, where regularly that multiple religious ties are far from unusual. (Model 1) and occasionally (Model 2) attending There is clear evidence of multiple or conflict- more than one place of worship (among respon- ing ties in the Pew data. Unlike many survey orga- dents who attend religious services at least a nizations, Pew asked about religious attendance few times per year) are the dependent variables. even among those who stated that they were When all else is held equal, white respondents “nothing in particular” (NIP), “agnostic,” or athe- (compared to black, Hispanic, or other) have ist,” in response to the question, “What is your about 60 percent lower odds of attending mul- present religion, if any?”9 This allows us to see tiple places of worship regularly, and 36 percent further evidence of conflicting claims about ties lower odds of occasionally attending. Being mar- to religion. More than a third (34.0%) of respon- ried to a spouse of the same religion follows dents who said they were “nothing in particular”, the same pattern; compared to having a spouse and more than a quarter (27.8%) of those who of a different faith, the odds of attending mul- said they were agnostic were attending religious tiple places of worship regularly are 47 percent services at least a few times per year. Likewise, lower, and the odds of attending occasionally are more than half of NIPs (52.6%) and almost a third 24 percent lower among those who have a (31.5%) of agnostics reported praying at least a spouse of the same religion. In both models, we few times per month. In contrast, atheists were see that the odds of attending multiple places more consistent with only two (6.1%) attend- of worship are higher among those who attend ing at least a few times per year, more than religious services less frequently, although these 80 percent never attending, and none reporting effects are only statistically significant in Model 2. This is not surprising if attending less frequently is taken to represent a less clear commitment to ing data can be attributed to nonresponse on the in- one particular faith or place of worship.11 come item. Logistic regression analyses suggest that Thus, an individual would be most likely to those missing are older (odds ratio=1.7), but other- regularly attend multiple places of worship if wise do not differ much from the analytic sample in terms of other measures used in the analyses. Sample she was non-white (the odds are highest among weights provided by Pew are applied throughout the blacks) and married to a spouse of a different analyses. 9 In total, of the 2,003 respondents to the survey, 10 215 (10.7%) identified as “nothing in particular,” 33 Three atheists said that they “seldom” prayed, and 30 said they never prayed. (1.7%) identified as atheist, and 54 (2.7%) identified 11 as agnostic. Because of the small number of respons- The effects of being male, older, college-educated, es in the atheist and agnostic categories, those results or Protestant/Christian, or having higher income are should be interpreted with caution. not statistically significant in either model.

46 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

faith. An individual would be most likely to occa- tiple places of worship. Notably, less than 15 per- sionally attend multiple places of worship if he cent of those occasionally or regularly attending was non-white and attending religious services different places of worship were Protestants or only a few times per year. “Christians” referring exclusively to attendance at multiple denominations within their own faith; Summary and a call for future research thus, this measure does truly capture engage- The development of concepts such as fuzzy fidel- ment with multiple faiths. Those most likely to ity (Storm 2009; Voas 2009), cultural religion regularly attend multiple places of worship are (Demerath 2000), unchurched believers (Hout black or Hispanic Americans married to a spouse and Fischer 2002), and liminality (Lim, Mac- of a different faith. The likelihood of occasion- Gregor, and Putnam 2010) represent impor- ally attending multiple places of worship is also tant advances in attempting to understand the higher among blacks and Hispanics than among nuances of contemporary religiosity, particularly whites, and increases as frequency of attendance among individuals who believe without belong- at any services decreases. This inverse relation- ing or belong without believing. However, what ship may exist because attending less frequently appears to be an increasingly widespread phe- overall may represent a less clear commitment nomenon of individuals having ties to multiple to one particular faith or place of worship. These faiths – through the effects of globalization, individuals may be, for example, the church hop- migration, intermarriage, and greater individual pers or shoppers described by Wuthnow (2007), freedom and mobility in super-diverse societies or those practicing what Soares (2011) and Droz – is left at least partially unaddressed by these et al. (2016) call religious butinage, although the theories. data do not offer an opportunity to test those In this paper, I have aimed to encourage future hypotheses. Gender, age, education, income, research in the area of multi-religiosity through and affiliation with the majority religious group presenting preliminary evidence from two empir- (Protestant/Christian) in the U.S. did not have ical studies. I presented a number of illustrations statistically significant effects on either occa- of ties to multiple faiths among young women in sional or regular attendance at multiple places of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which were worship. an unanticipated product of my qualitative inter- My analysis of the Pew data also demonstrates view study there on the role of religion in the the complexity of the nonreligion category. Sub- lives of teen mothers. This study was included stantial proportions of respondents whose reli- because the data unexpectedly yielded some evi- gious affiliation was “nothing in particular” or dence of multi-religiosity. In contrast, an August agnostic reported attending religious services at 2009 study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum least a few times per year, and/or praying at least on Religion and Public Life was designed to delib- a few times per month. Such individuals may fit erately gather some data about ties to multiple the criteria for fuzzy fidelity (Storm 2009; Voas faiths in the U.S. 2009) or being considered unchurched believ- Specifically, the Pew study measured atten- ers (Hout and Fischer 2002); I would also include dance at multiple places of worship among them under the umbrella of multi-religiosity. respondents attending any religious services a Although the Brazil study did not aim to gather few times per year or more, and also measured data about ties to multiple faiths, the findings con- attendance and practices among the nonre- tribute to a growing body of anecdotal evidence ligious. The results of my analysis of the Pew of the prevalence of multi-religiosity. Regarding data indicate that almost half of Americans who the implications of this preliminary evidence, the attend religious services at least a few times a narratives of seven among the 32 young moth- year are occasionally or regularly attending mul- ers interviewed showed multi-religiosity. Some

47 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

had more than one religious affiliation, others much less mobile and globally interconnected attended at places of worship from up to four lives – in which contact with anyone of another different faiths, and, at the least, most were mix- faith was rare for many people, and the oppor- ing seemingly conflicting beliefs, practices, and tunity to attend places of worship of other faiths identities. All of these cases would be difficult or was simply not available. impossible to classify using traditional categories, I concur with Ammerman’s (2003) descrip- or even using the newer approaches to under- tion of religious identity as a dynamic process standing ambiguous religious identities. The nar- that is difficult to classify using a checklist of ratives of these young women reveal a range of categorical questions. However, I contend that forms of engagement with multiple faiths, simi- since categorical questions about religion will lar to the complex narratives found in Goosen’s continue to be widely employed, the measures (2007) research in Sydney, Australia on dual reli- could, at the least, be substantially improved. gious belonging, and consistent with Cornille’s Researchers conducting qualitative studies could (2002; 2003) description of double or multiple be prepared (as I was not) for more nontradi- religious belonging as an integral feature of the tional descriptions of religious engagement, and religious culture of our times. ask more follow-up questions to capture ties to There are important limitations to the gener- multiple faiths. However, at this early stage, the alizability of the empirical findings presented in critical contribution of qualitative research may this paper. The data from Brazil are qualitative come from simply encouraging open, uninter- and were gathered via a convenience sample; rupted narratives from respondents. In the area moreover, because of the original motivation for of quantitative research, religious identification the study, the sample was limited to adolescent questions on surveys could allow multiple selec- mothers from favelas in Rio de Janeiro, a very spe- tions, following the model of the recent revisions cific segment of the population. Finally, the most of measures of race and ethnicity (for example, important limitation of all is that understanding see Jones and Bullock 2012). Another way quan- ties to multiple faiths was not part of the study’s titative instruments could be improved would be design. However, the fact that this information by using filters sparingly so that those who claim arose essentially spontaneously as often as it did no religious identification or attendance would suggests that multiple ties are likely much more still be asked any follow up questions about reli- prevalent in that context than my study would giosity. The Pew study represents some impor- suggest. The generalizability of the findings from tant improvements in this direction. More stud- the Pew data is limited because of the survey’s ies could follow their model of measuring atten- low response rate. In addition, while the Pew dance at multiple places of worship, a practice data show compelling evidence about Americans, that appears to be quite widespread in the U.S. the U.S. is often an exceptional case in the West; While the limitations of much of the data we our knowledge of the prevalence of multiple ties have on religion prevent us from knowing just in Western countries would be greatly enhanced how widespread are the complex multiple reli- by gathering similar data from additional coun- gious ties revealed by my data from Brazil and my tries. analysis of the Pew data, the evidence presented Yet, together, the incidental evidence from in this paper and a growing body of scholarly lit- Brazil and the more systematic evidence from erature related to this topic suggest that, at the the Pew survey pose a strong challenge to the least, multiple ties are far from unusual. validity of existing approaches to measuring and The apparent prevalence of ties to multiple conceptualizing contemporary engagement with faiths revealed by my research suggests a range religion. Such traditional approaches to mea- of questions for future research. First, I call on surement were developed in eras when we lived scholars of religion to explore how measures of

48 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

religious affiliation, attendance, and practice can enhanced by analyses of the country- or com- be improved to better capture the actual ways munity-level factors that contribute to the prev- that individuals engage with religion in contem- alence of this phenomenon. At the individual porary super-diverse societies. Relatedly, future level, qualitative researchers could explore how inquiries might explore whether I am correct in multi-religious people reconcile their attendance defining as multi-religious those who say they at multiple places of worship when one of the are not religious but attend religious services or religions (for example, Protestantism) inherently engage in behaviors like prayer. In the context demands exclusivity. These are just a few of the of better understanding super-diverse societ- many potential research questions pertaining to ies, studies of ties to multiple faiths would be ties to multiple faiths.

Tables

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Variables Used in Pew Analyses

Variable Unweighted % Weighted %

Frequency of attendance at religious servicesa: More than once a week 21.8% 22.0% Once a week 33.2% 29.5% Once or twice a month 22.0% 23.1% A few times a year 23.0% 25.5% Frequency of attendance at multiple places of worship: Regularly attends different places of worship 11.3% 12.5% Occasionally attends different places of worship 36.6% 36.1% Always attends at the same place 52.1% 51.5% Male (female)b 42.6% 47.6% Age 55+ (younger than 55) 44.5% 30.9% Household income $100,000+/year (less than $100,000) 21.0% 18.3% College completed+ (not completed) 40.3% 29.8% White (black, Hispanic, other) 76.2% 68.3% Religious ID: Protestant/Christian (other) 61.9% 59.9% Nothing in particular (other) 4.6% 5.2% Atheist (other) 0.2% 0.4% Agnostic (other) 1.0% 1.4% Married to spouse of same religion (spouse of different religion, not married) 48.6% 48.2%

Note: N = 1,155 a Excludes respondents attending less than a few times a year. b Reference categories are in parentheses.

49 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

Table 2. Logistic Regression Models of Attending More Than One Place of Worship Using Pew Data

(1) (2) Regularly Occasionally Odds ratios Odds ratios

Male 1.35 0.95 (0.33) (0.15)

Age 55+ 1.05 0.86 (0.25) (0.13)

College completed 0.90 1.01 (0.23) (0.16)

High income 1.14 1.02 (0.36) (0.19)

Protestant/Christian 0.68 1.08 (0.17) (0.17)

White 0.39*** 0.64* (0.10) (0.11)

Spouse same religion 0.53* 0.76^ (0.14) (0.12)

Attends 1 time/week 0.51^ 0.98 (0.20) (0.20)

Attends 1-2 times/month 1.14 1.76* (0.44) (0.40)

Attends a few times per year 1.53 2.25*** (0.57) (0.52)

Constant 0.34* 1.06 (0.15) (0.27)

Observations 1,155 1,155

Log pseudolikelihood -1,710.28 -3,316.10

Wald c2(10) 43.73 37.54

Robust standard errors in parentheses

*** p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, ^ p<0.1

50 Multi-Religiosity New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

References

AMMERMAN, N. T. 2003. “Religious Identities and ———. 2009b. “Many Americans Mix Multiple Religious Institutions.” In Handbook of the Soci- Faiths.” Washington, DC: Pew Forum on Religion ology of Religion, 207-224. New York: Cambridge and Public Life. http://www.pewforum.org/ University Press. files/2009/12/multiplefaiths.pdf.

CORNILLE, C. 2002. Many Mansion: Multiple Re- ———. 2009c. Methodology: 2009 Religion & Pub- ligious Belonging and Christian Identity. Maryk- lic Life Survey A. Washington, DC: Pew Research noll, NY: Orbis Books. Center.

———. 2003. “Double Religious Belonging: Aspects SCHUTTE, A. G. 1974. “Dual Religious Orientation and Questions.” Buddhist-Christian Studies 23: in an Urban African Church.” African Studies 43-49. 33(2): 113-120. DEMERATH, N. J. 2000. “The Rise of ‘Cultural Re- SHERKAT, D. E. 2004. “Religious Intermarriage in ligion’ in European Christianity: Learning from the United States: Trends, Patterns, and Predic- Poland, Northern Ireland, and Sweden.” Social tors.” Social Science Research 33(4): 606-625. Compass 47(1): 127-139. SOARES, E. 2011. “Religious ‘Butinage’: Looking at DROZ, Y, E. SOARES, Y. N. GEZ, and J. REY. 2016. Paranaguá-Mirim (Brazil).” Social Compass 58(2): “La mobilité religieuse à l’aune du butinage.” So- 223-234. cial Compass 63: 251-267. STEELE, L. G. 2011. “‘A Gift from God’: Adolescent GOOSEN, G. 2007. “An Empirical Study of Dual Re- Motherhood and Religion in Brazilian Favelas.” ligious Belonging.” Journal of Empirical Theology Sociology of Religion 72(1): 4-27.

20: 159-178. ———. 2012. “Multiple Faiths.” Encyclopedia HAMMOND, P. E. 1988. “Religion and the Persis- of Global Religion. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage tence of Identity.”Journal for the Scientific Study Publications. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/ of Religion 27 (1): 1-11. 9781412997898. HOUT, M., and C. FISCHER. 2002. “Why More STORM, I. 2009. “Halfway to Heaven: Four Types of Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics Fuzzy Fidelity in Europe.” Journal for the Scien- and Generations.” American Sociological Review tific Study of Religion 48(4): 702-718. 67 (2): 165-190. VERTOVEC, S. 2007. “Super-Diversity and Its Impli- JONES, N. A., and J. BULLOCK. 2012. “The Two cations.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024- or More Races Population: 2010.” Census Brief 1054. C2010BR-13. 2010 Census Briefs. Washington, VOAS, D. 2009. “The Rise and Fall of Fuzzy Fidelity DC: United States Census Bureau. https://www. in Europe.” European Sociological Review 25(2): census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-13. 155-168. pdf. WUTHNOW, R. 2007. After the Baby Boomers: LIM, C., C. A. MACGREGOR, and R. D. PUTNAM. How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shap- 2010. “Secular and Liminal: Discovering Hetero- ing the Future of American Religion. Princeton: geneity Among Religious Nones.” Journal for the Princeton University Press. Scientific Study of Religion 49 (4): 596-618. PEW FORUM ON RELIGION AND PUBIC LIFE. 2009. 2009 Religion & Public Life Survey B. Wash- ington, DC: Pew Research Center.

51 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Liza G. Steele

Note on the Author

Liza G. Steele is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies at the State University of New York (SUNY), Purchase. Her research interests center on understanding how social stratification and economic inequality affect the development of beliefs, attitudes, and values from a cross-nationally comparative perspective, incorporating the developing world, with a focus on preferences for redistribution. Dr. Steele’s research has been published in Social Forces, Social Science Quarterly, Social Indicators Research, and Sociology of Religion, among others. She received her PhD from Princeton University. Email: [email protected]

52 Mobility and Religious Diversity in Indigenousness-Seeking Movements: A ComparativeC ase Study between France and Mexico

by Manéli Farahmand (University of Lausanne / University of Ottawa) and Sybille Rouiller (University of Lausanne)

Abstract In this article, the authors seek to explore spiritual diversity as seen in two contemporary movements that arose in the wake of the New Age and the “2012 Phenomenon”: Mexican neo-Mayanism and French Celtic neo-shamanism. They examine the relationship between the dual mobility of leaders (geographic and spiritual) and the hybridization of symbolic references by focusing on the set of objects, accessories and ritual clothing used by adherents in spiritual practice. Their analyses are based on ethnographic research carried out in France and Mexico between 2012 and 2014. The objects are analyzed in terms of symbolic rearrangements, identity innovation and coexistence of referential systems (glocalization). The authors’ analyses reveal that despite the globalized character of the New Age, the practices and discourses of these groups are heavily influenced by the transnational life pathways of their leaders. Keywords: indigenous-seeking movements, spiritual hybridization, transnational mobility, ritual objects, New Age, comparative ethnography, Neo-Shamanism, Neo-Mayanism

21.12.12: A Transnational Event On December 21, 2012, Mother Nah Kin, founder Among those participating were Emoto Masaru, and spiritual leader of the Maya Solar Tradition known in Japan for his alternative research on (MST), organized a spiritual planetary summit the effect of human thought on 3water ; Carl in Uxmal (Yucatán, Mexico), the ancient Mayan Johan Calleman, a Mayanist and author of many city1. This event marks the end of the Mayan works on the Mayan calendar4; and James Long Count calendar – a complex pre-Hispanic Redfield, a well-known writer of the New Age5. system for measuring time – and has come to The event provided an opportunity for leaders to represent Mayan revival movements2. Spiritual recognize and legitimize each other’s efforts on leaders from around the world offered their the religious world stage. teachings, forged ties and encouraged future 3 transnational exchanges, all in the name of unity. In particular, he has published an internationally acclaimed book, The Hidden Messages of Water, Atria, 2005, New York. 1 For an announcement of the event, see: https:// 4 See especially The Mayan Calendar and the Trans- www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nJ6l97bh3Q&list=PLj formation of Consciousness, Traditions/Bear, 2004, Mn1eaYIzUXHUK6dMDhYyWdhReqG9bEY&index=8 Rochester, VT. (accessed February 11, 2016). 5 The Celestine Prophecy (Bantam, 1994, London) 2 For more information about the Mayan ritual cal- tells the story of an initiation in Peru, where a man endar and 21.12.12 date, which corresponds with the searches for an ancient manuscript capable of creat- end of a cycle, see Macleod (2013) and Tally (2012). ing a new humanity.

New Diversities Vol. 18, No. 1, 2016 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller

At 5:12 a.m. on the fated day, about one The Shamanism Festival11, in particular, is an thousand “alternative” practitioners6 prayed annual event in France, which brings together before the imposing Uxmal pyramid while ush- about a hundred shamans from around the ering in the “Golden Age,” a time of “light, love world and welcomes around 2000 participants. and harmony”7. Stationed at the very source of The festival highlights different practices and “maximum reception” of “galactic rays”, people rituals, such as music, dances, sweat lodges danced, sang, cried, embraced, and formed new (e.g., Temazcal, Celtic cauldron), totem and arte- alliances8. This Latin American event marked the fact building, and shamanic journeys. It also fea- birth of new transnational bonds, which, in turn, tures guest lectures and films. Overall, it aims led to the creation of networks whose members to create a pan-shamanic network that unites reproduce and reinterpret these ceremonies in all “the ancestral traditions attached to Mother other settings. 2012 thus became a benchmark Earth and Nature” so that humans can return for non-Mayan alternative practitioners, as well, to their “natural spirituality” as they look for including the Déo-Celtes9, who took part in the answers and an alternative identity by reinvest- event following the invitation extended by the ing in the past (peoples living in Europe during MST10. the proto-historic period and the pre-Columbian Their participation in the Planetary Sum- peoples). mit served to express their solidarity with their “Mayan brothers and sisters.” As part of a global Overview of Issues spiritual exchange, the celebration aimed for This article argues that the mobility of spiritual a communion of energies to raise human con- leaders, which is at the heart of this research, is a sciousness in peace, love and sharing, thus form- factor of diversity within the movements studied. ing an immense fraternal medicine wheel. Prac- Interest in this internal diversity – designated titioners’ interest thus served as a means for here by the process of hybridization (De la Torre laying claim to localized identities (shamanism in 2014) – derives from the fact that these move- the West, celtism in Europe, the Mayan tradition ments are situated in a shared dynamic of norm in Mexico) and for promoting universal goals as construction and similar values, which draw found in New Age movements. on elements of the New Age subculture yet lay The transnational dimension of the Spiritual claim to their specificities. It is in this specificity Planetary Summit is reminiscent of events orga- that comes the diversity of references and iden- nized in Europe by the leader of the Déo-Celtes. tities. This diversity also allows for comparison between the two movements – that is, varia- 6 These are people who have integrated different ho- tion between groups and cultural contexts – and listic spiritual systems of representation with the centrally important experiential dimension. See J. Stolz thus becomes a useful tool. It further enables and M. Schneuwly Purdie (2015). us to grasp the process of “glocalization,” which 7 Speech by Mother Nah Kin: https://www.youtube. is central to our research. We will analyze this com/watch?v=2nJ6l97bh3Q&list=PLjMn1eaYIzUXH UK6dMDhYyWdhReqG9bEY&index=8 (accessed Feb- internal diversity from two perspectives: the ruary 15, 2016). reinvention of traditions and national identities 8 Speech by Mother Nah Kin: https://www.youtube. (Hobsbawn 2006; Thiesse 2001) and transna- com/watch?v=nK8ZUV-HLL0 (accessed February15, tionalism (Bava and Capone 2010; Capone 2004; 2016). 9 Patrick Dacquay’s website for the Déo-Celtes: Argyriadis, Capone, De la Torre and Mary 2012). www.patrickdacquay.com, accessed 10 February We will analyze mobility of the leaders using Edio 2016. The introductory video of the Déo-Celtes for Soares’s notion of “religious foraging” (butinage) the Spiritual Planetary Summit: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=YZFCyOYC_WM (accessed February 10, 2016). 11 The website for the Shamanism Festival in France: 10 For the invitation, see: www.youtube.com/ www.festival-chamanisme.com (accessed February watch?v=nK8ZUV-HLL0 (accessed February 20, 2016). 10, 2016).

54 Mobility and Religious Diversity in Indigenousness-Seeking Movements New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

(2009) and its “glocalizing” effects on practices in the 1970s by Mother Nah Kin is a movement and discourses (Robertson 2012). that claims the return to a Mayan “Golden Age” Throughout this article, we use the terms through the founding myth of Kinich Ahau, a “New Age” and “alternative spirituality” to define supernatural anthropomorphized entity said the settings and networks where interviewees with superior genetic qualities. “Pure of heart” spent their time. Historically speaking, the “New and “Atlantean” in origin13, Kinich Ahau would Age” refers to the widespread spiritual move- have trained many disciples to the “highest of ment with fuzzy boundaries that arose in Cali- Mayan cosmologies.” Mother Nah Kin gives her- fornia between 1970 and 1980, in the form of a self the mission to “reactivate” this cosmology network. Its purpose, themes, goals and history around the world. The MST movement is built on are laid out in Ferguson’s book (1980) – regarded the dynamic processes of glocalization and trans- as the most important text in the New Age move- nationalization. Rites, myths and contents have ment. But in this article, we follow the ethno- local roots (in a revisited Yucatec Mayan tradi- graphic approach of J. Sutcliffe (2003). Sutcliffe tion) and are made up of global images, symbols does not consider the New Age as a movement and uses. The leader and the initiates in this tra- or a homogeneous entity. Rather, he conceives it dition enjoy significant transnational mobility. as a discursive emblem. “New Age” becomes a Mexican mixed-race, Western New Agers and/or code-word reflecting the heterogeneity of alter- spiritual holistic therapists take part in the activi- native spiritualities. Sutcliffe’s book clashes with ties on site and then import these teachings in Western European sociology of the New Age their individual contexts. while more closely resembling Latin American The second group is the French Déo-Celtes, anthropological literature. Americanist authors leaded by Patrick Dacquay and his wife Line including Renée de la Torre and Cristina Gutiér- Sturny, who were the focus of a field study car- rez Zúñiga are not attached to defining the New ried out by Sybille Rouiller14 as part of her mas- Age by its substantive content. They consider it ter’s degree. This French neo-Celtic group lays more a “matrix of meaning,” that is, a framework claim to shamanism – “the ancient wisdom of of “holistic reinterpretation.” They are thus able humanity” – in its Western form. Members are to do away with the issue of typologies and can motivated by the desire to return to the Celtic perceive the New Age as a platform of perpet- “Golden Age” according to a similar logic to the ual meaning-making (De la Torre and Gutiérrez Zúñiga 2013:14). This approach is very useful, and participation in its weekly activities; 3. initiations especially when studying recent hybridization of the Ahaukines lineage, first rank of “solar guide” Kinich processes between indigenous, shamanistic within the tradition; 4. the MST’s annual event, Ahau, a ceremony in the ruins of Uxmal; 5. meeting world-views and New Age representations. with other Maya leaders in Mérida, working outside This article provides a comparative analysis MST; 6. additional observations at the Casa del Sol between two case studies: one of neo-Mayan and final interviews. 13 Mère Nah Kin tells the story of Kinich Ahau in her groups and the other of neo-shamanic groups. first publication in 1997: Kinich Ahau. Sabiduría Solar, The Maya Solar Tradition (MST) in Mexico is Editorial Kinich Ahau SCP, 2012 (1997), Mérida. 14 the focus of a field study carried out by Manéli Sybille Rouiller followed the Déo-Celtes and par- 12 ticipated in their various activities. The data pre- Farahmand for her PhD. The MST originated sented in this article were gathered in several stages: 1. Shamanism Festival in Cogolin, Var region, France, 12 The data presented in this article come from field- March 2013; 2. Shamanism Festival in Dole, French work carried out by Manéli Farahmand in the Maya Jura, April 2013; 3. shamanism internship in Buga- Solar Tradition, Mérida, Yucatán State, and southeast rach, department of Aude, with the déo-celtes Patrick Mexico, conducted between April and May 2014. The Dacquay and Line Sturny, July 2013; 4. follow-up with research was completed in several stages: 1. discus- participants on the Internet or one-to-one meetings sion with a former MST follower about her experience with them during their visit to the alternative therapy in the movement; 2. observations of the Casa del Sol fair in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland.

55 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller

neo-Indians described by Galinier and Molinié together at different times, including the -Spiri (2006). The Celts are regarded as the European tual Planetary Summit in 2012. equivalent of pre-Columbian indigenous peoples. Our study will help us understand the effects of Déo-Celtisme lays claim to a territory-specific participants’ mobility on the processes of hybrid- identity as well as integration in a global network izing spiritual discourses and practices. These will of spiritual exchanges. By drawing on Western be illustrated comparatively16, using the wide representations of “what a shaman should be” range of objects, accessories and ceremonial and what the Celts represented, the Déo-Celtes clothing for each group. We will, moreover, trace devote themselves to constructing a sense of the life pathways of the two leaders who are at authenticity and indigenousness. They create the heart of this research: Mother Nah Kin for discursive and ritual mechanisms that invoke dif- the Maya Solar Tradition and Patrick Dacquay for ferent categories arising from specific historical Déo-Celtisme. We will apply the notions of trans- and cultural processes. nationalization and spiritual foraging (butinage) We drew on a combination of socio-anthropo- in our analysis, thereby emphasizing a physical logical methods to carry out our work: multiple and spiritual dual mobility. field sites; collaboration with photographers; in- In scholarly debates on the mobility of reli- depth biographical interviews; comprehensive, gious figures, the concepts of “glocalization” semi-directed and informal interviews; as well and “transnationalization” refer to different as participant observation during workshops, socio-historical processes, although they may ceremonies, conferences, care and individual be intertwined. These two concepts allow us to practices, group meditations, and talking circles. analyze our case studies in three phases17. The A discourse analysis of the emic literature (pro- first phase involves delocalizing so-called tra- duced by the movements themselves, as in the ditional practices and symbols by disseminat- case of autobiographies and doctrinal texts) and ing them through mystic-esoteric tourism, the on social networks (Facebook) was also com- arrival of shamans/healers/indigenous officiants pleted. in Europe and the circulation of ethnographic lit- Our decision to conduct a comparative analy- erature. The second phase involves translocaliza- sis on these two groups seemed relevant for a tion, the birth of a new movement or stream that number of reasons. First and foremost, the is geographically more widespread. Shamanism neo-Mayans and Déo-Celtes shared many com- or Mayanism thus comes to be understood as mon features and several unique aspects, which cosmic and universal spiritualities whose foun- reflect both the wide diversity of practices that dations rest on the subjective perception of the exist in New Age settings as well as shared glocal individual. Adherents gather together mainly and transnational systems of thinking. Addition- ally, their membership in transnational networks ered “alternative” in comparison with an established of “alternative spirituality” 15 has brought them religion such as Christianity. 16 The comparative approach adopted draws on the “differential comparison” (Mancini 2007). Neverthe- 15 In the second half of the 20th century, researchers less, our approach takes into account similarities that found that the speech of people who frequented New help to grasp the circulation of objects, images and Age circles adopted the category of “spirituality” to ideas in transnational space. Even if diversity is very define their practice, as opposed to the notion of “re- important in terms of practices, references and ob- ligion.” These individuals harboured negative associa- jects, identical forms of logic and processes can be tions with religion in terms of its institutionalization, observed in different groups, which, in the end, tend transcendence, external authority, dogmatism and to produce highly similar outcomes, especially by us- patriarchal structure (Heelas 2002: 362). Spiritual- ing shared concepts. Among these similarities there is ity, by contrast, is connected with the personal, the a common claim of indigenousness. immanent, interiority and direct experience with the 17 On these three phases, see Renée de la Torre sacred (ibid). These forms of spirituality are consid- (2012).

56 Mobility and Religious Diversity in Indigenousness-Seeking Movements New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

on the Web or meet up under temporary and of New Age indigenousness-seeking movements episodic conditions (e.g., internships, festivals, in Mexico revolves mainly around a rereading large-scale rituals or journeys). The third and of the Mayan calendar in relation to the “2012 final phase involves the relocalization of a global phenomenon.” Other characteristics include the Shamanism or Mayanism through remodeling dialectic between an eclecticism of references practices and discourses. These processes are, in and a reclaiming of Mayan purity. The Maya turn, affected by paradoxical forms of logic (uni- Solar Tradition in Mexico stands at the epicentre versalism and particularism) known as “translog- of this emergent Mayanism. Its specificity is to ics” (Capone and Mary 2012). These translogics adopt a spiritual vision of the “ethnic” heritage, govern the dynamics of receiving, appropriating close to the concept of D. Hervieu-Léger (1993) and resignifying in reterritorialized cultural con- “the imagined lineage”. It is not strictly necessary texts. to be “Mayan” to join the movement; A person need to feel a spiritual affinity to participate. Back-to-Indigenousness Movements The Déo-Celtes’s claim to an indigenous iden- Substantial anthropological literature is avail- tity is set against a backdrop of argumentative able on indigenousness-seeking movements pluralism. First, it is a response to accusations that came into contact with a New Age culture of identity-usurping from anthropologists and in Mexico (De la Torre and Gutiérrez Zúñiga 2011 American Indians (Vazeilles 2008) against West- & 2013; De la Peña 1999 & 2001; Molinié and ern neo-shamans. Second, it is a means of con- Galinier 2006). These scholars’ work highlights structing a legitimate identity by locating Euro- how widespread New Age has become in Latin pean “shamanic” ancestors in the pre-historic America at the end of the 20th century, such that ages and antiquity (Hamayon 2003), from a it triggered a wave of appropriation and contex- primitivist perspective (Amselle 2010), that looks tual resignification in local ethnic groups attempt- for the future of humanity in a past “Golden Age.” ing to revitalize their traditions. Conversely, New This type of approach falls into the category of Agers searching for tradition, authenticity and movements of tradition’s invention described indigenousness have also drawn on pre-Hispanic by Hobsbawn (2006). Third, the choice to focus traditions offering them new meanings. The con- on the figure of the Celt or Druid follows the figuration of the Mexican religious field from the theories of folklorist authors in the context of end of the 20th century may be approached from developing national identities in theth 18 and 19th the perspective of diversification. In the litera- centuries (Thiesse 1999). Among those aspects ture on religious diversity in Mexico, geographic needed to claim a national identity, we can men- mobility is considered an important factor of this tion the evidence of ancestors living on the terri- diversification (De la Torre and Gutiérrez Zúñiga tory since the dawn of time, folklore and heritage, 2007:9). Back-to-indigenousness movements and finally the notion of a collective identity. For surface in the 1990s as backlash to the 500th anni- France, the ancestors chosen were specifically versary of the conquest. Those movements take Celts because they represent the very prototype root in the 1970s mexicanidad culture, which was of original inhabitants (Coye 1993). based on an idealized reinterpretation of the past Transnational movements seeking indigeneity and the reinvention of pre-Hispanic traditions develop within New Age as a platform of hybrid- (De la Peña 2001:96). The neo-Mayanist18 trend izations. The literature on these topics highlights the upstream logic of the New Age appropria- 18 The prefix “neo” for “neo-Mayanism” is used main- tions: indigenous traditions are approached for ly from a historical perspective, representing “a new form of Indianness” visible in Mexico since the 1990s (Molinié and Galinier 2006). It is also part of “new tion of local settings with global networks of the New identity generations” brought about by the intersec- Age (De la Torre and Gutiérrez Zúñiga 2013: 155).

57 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller

their exoticism and their alternative model to Fraternity20 (Roberta21, interview, 24 April 2015, the Western capitalism. The selective process is Mérida, Mexico). This Fraternity was one of the also based on specific logic: the mystical Indian primary disseminators of New Age culture in – the Druid in the case of Déo-Celtisme – are Mexico during the 1970s (Gutièrrez Zúñiga and valued for their ancestrality, their knowledge of Medina Jesus 2012). While still young, she was medicinal plants, their “cultural purity,” and their initiated into the practices of yoga, meditation rural lifestyle (De la Torre 2014). Excluded, on and vegetarianism. Within the Fraternity, she the other hand, are the elements deemed con- received the high rank of Venerable Sat Arha. trary to some ideal of harmony, like the sacrifice, Mother Nah Kin became Venerable Mother Nah authoritarianism or the caste system (Frigerio Kin. Subsequently she trained in Metaphysics, 2013). influenced by the I AM theosophic doctrines of Guy Ballard, in the 1930s (Overton Fuller Mobility and Religious Diversity 2005). Transnational and Trans-Spiritual Circulation of Through this stream, she was introduced to Leaders the theory of the “Ascended Masters”, which she The leaders of these two movements are “nodes studied in greater depth in a “Miracle Course,” actors” (agentes nodales) (De la Torre 2014; known throughout Mexico for bridging the Chris- Capone and Mary 2012), who can be recog- tian angelic world and the New Age. Over the nized by their transnational mobility and their next five years, she openedEl Árbol, a vegetarian role in forging ties. Nodes actors know how to restaurant in Mérida. She later trained in meth- use cultural codes and translate them into their ods of Eastern wisdom (in an interview she talks religious register. They appropriate, reformulate about Buddhist and Hindu circles), South Ameri- and pass on traditions. They can be seen at key can Shamanism, and Western esotericism which events, can reconstitute ties and help us under- combines psycho-spiritual approaches, including stand how the network structure works (Capone psycho-astrology, Reiki, lithotherapy, rebirth- 2014). Furthermore, in our case studies, they ing, neurolinguistics, shamanic journeys (power exercise dual mobility, both geographic (trans animal quests), regression to previous lives, and national) and spiritual. Osho dynamic meditation22. At the end of the 1980s, Mother Nah Kin had Mother Nah Kin her first contact with the symbolic universe of Mother Nah Kin19 was born in 1961 in the the Mayans. In 1993, she received The Temple of region of Veracruz, Mexico, where she earned the Sun: On the Sacred Mountain of Uxmal, an her university degree in social psychology. Her esoteric and theosophical North American book spiritual journey began when she was very that revolutionized her spiritual vision. This con- young, following in the footsteps of her shaman Olmec grandmother. She would have inher- 20 A French esoteric stream led by Raynaud de la Ferrière, which spread it throughout Latin America in ited her grandmother’s psi faculties (extra- the 1950s. As it developed, indigenous cosmovisions sensory perception, clairvoyance, precogni- came to be integrated into GFU doctrines, break- tion, mediumship). At the age of 14, Mother ing away from Eastern traditions. The GFU took on Nah Kin had her first contact with the New an ethnic identity and became the Mancomunidad Iniciática India Solar, a source of conflicts and later Age through initiation in the Great Universal of scission in the movement (Gutiérrez Zúñiga and Medina Jesus 2012). For a new reference on this topic, 19 Biographical data on Mother Nah Kin comes from see the H. Gooren’s Encyclopedia of Latin American two main sources: field interviews with her and two Religion by Springer (2015). members of her family, who are highly ranked MST 21 Pseudonyms such as this one are used to protect initiates; crossed with her autobiography, which is the anonymity of the participants. available at http://venerablemadre-nahkin.com/bio- 22 http://venerableabuela.com/bio-ext.html (ac- ext.html (accessed February 22, 2016). cessed June 25, 2015).

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tact marks an important change in her life, a kind consider the possibility of contact with another of “biographic break,” a professional shift from world through altered states of consciousness. therapists’ status in office to spiritual and char- One of the meetings that left the deepest impres- ismatic leader of MST. She became aware of the sion on him in North America was with Algonquin solar figureKinich Ahau for the first time and was spiritual chief William Commanda25, a member said to have felt her calling. Afterwards she went of the Circle of All Nations26 and an organizer of to the temples of Uxmal and received visions the gathering in Maniwaki. Commanda inspired encouraging her to reactivate the Mayan wis- Dacquay to found the Shamanism Festival in dom. At the time, Mother Nah Kin was already France and the Circle of Shamanic Wisdom27 travelling significantly from country to country. that he organizes. He has also travelled to Cali- From the 2000s, she became successful for her fornia to follow the teachings of FSS members28, representations related to 2012, and her transna- led by Michael Harner. Dacquay has become very tional mobility intensified, she used to visit four attached to Aigle Bleu29, an Algonquin mixed- countries a month. She still travels frequently race shaman from Québec, who takes part in throughout the Americas, in Europe and Japan, his festival every year. The two often visit each where she offers her teachings on the “new para- other and travel frequently together. In Mexico, digm” and meets with internationally acclaimed Dacquay met Acamapichtli, a spokesperson for spiritual leaders, such as Emoto Masaru. Her the universal council who invited him to take part travels and the international dimension of her in the Spiritual Planetary Summit in 2012. Since Centre (staff translators, visits from Westerners) then, Acamapichtli regularly joins the Shaman- provide her a social pride. She acquires symbolic ism Festival in France. Dacquay has also travelled legitimacy within the “global religious system” to Africa on several occasions. His most impor- (Beyer 2006). tant visit has been with the Gnaoua brotherhood, whose master now travels every year to the Patrick Dacquay Shamanism Festival with a delegation. Dacquay Patrick Dacquay23 was originally a businessman. has also sampled Vaudou in Nossy-Bé, Madagas- Despite his commercial success, he chose to car, and has travelled to Kenya and Senegal to give it all up following the death of his son and a attend different ethnic rituals. He has even tried divorce from his first wife. This transitional period Iboga in Gabon with the Pygmies30. Last of all, he experienced marked a true severing from his Dacquay has connected with Asia. As an honor- past. He set out on a spiritual quest, which led ary member of a shamans’ association in Mongo- him on different paths of initiation. He has been lia, he has organized several initiation journeys31 active for 18 years in the trade guilds and freema- 25 sonry, and he travels regularly around the world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Comman- da (accessed February 16, 2016). to meet with spiritual guides and try out certain 26 http://www.circleofallnations.ca/http___ psychotropes24. In Ecuador he sampled Aya- circleofallnations_2014NEW_Welcome.html/Wel- huasca but did not retain its use in his shamanic come.html (accessed February 16, 2016). 27 http://chamanismeancestral.org/?page=cercle- practice. This experience, however, led him to desage (accessed February 16, 2016). 28 https://www.shamanism.org (accessed February 23 Biographical data on Patrick Dacquay were collect- 2016). ed in several ways: from interviews conducted in the 29 http://www.aiglebleu.net/fr/accueil (accessed field; from public speeches he made at festivals; from February 16, 2016). texts he wrote and made available on his website 30 This journey is described by Mélanie Navarro in her (www.patrickdacquay.com); and from his book Pa- book, Une occidentale initiée à l’iboga chez les pyg- roles d’un grand-père chaman (Éditions Vega, 2014). mies (Alphée, 2007). http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emis- 24 Photographs of these journeys are available on Pat- sions/macadam_tribus/2008-2009/chronique.asp? rick Dacquay’s website: http://www.patrickdacquay. idChronique=44917 (accessed February 16, 2016). com/#!enseignants-et-initiation/c24ml, accessed 31 http://www.mongolie-voyage.org/voyage-a-la- 16 February 2016. decouverte-du-chamanisme-et-du-bouddhisme-

59 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller

with the shamans Har Sono and Tenger Huu. Inspired by the ascetic Sri Verabramindra Swami, the master Balayogi32 and the mythology of Ram33, Dacquay has travelled to India on many occasions for spiritual retreats. The country has influenced his workshops and training sessions on tantrism. This hybridization between Indian and Celtic influences follows its own natural logic since Dacquay defends the idea that the druids were similar in function and in social position to the Brahmin Indians. Figure 1: Esoteric shop at Casa del Sol, April 2014, © O. Gschwend

Equipment, Accessories and Objects of Power: initiation activities, the Casa offers courses in Materiality in the Spiritual Quest tai chi, yoga, Osho dynamic meditation, “angel Maya Solar Tradition meditations”, readings of the Mayan calendar In the 1990s, Mother Nah Kin founded the organi- (Tzolkin), group therapy, women’s circles, and zationKinich Ahau in the city of Mérida, the capi- “Mayan kinesiology”35 consultations. In the tal of the State of Yucatán. In 2008, she founded shop, alongside the five shelves of Mother Nah Casa del Sol, an annex on the outskirts of the city, Kin’s publications, there are shelves filled with which became a training and initiation centre for books on Esoterism, neo-Hinduism and New Age. the Maya Solar Tradition. The Casa also offers They have been placed beside books on medi- holistic activities that are open to everyone. umship, the celestial hierarchy, new spirituali- The space is quite large. There are three ties, psycho-spiritual therapies, aromatic plants, large rooms, a reception area with an “esoteric” lithotherapy, Hawaiian and Eastern wisdom, shop34, a large classroom, a garden for initiation alternative therapies, reincarnation and “karmic” rituals, a kitchen with local and imported prod- registers. ucts (organic and vegan), and a consulting room On sale are stones, Mayan Tzolkin calendars for individual therapies upstairs. Along with MST with a pendulum as a working tool, figurines of archangels and fairies, and key rings with sym- mongol-avec-patrick-dacquay (accessed February 16, 2016). bols of the World Religions. Also available are the 32 Poumi Lescaut, a friend of Dacquay who also takes items needed for MST ceremonies: purification part in the festival, wrote a book on this spiritual mas- accessories (e.g., sprays, liquids, balms, essences), ter: http://www.poumi.com/ecritures-bio/publica- items for altar preparation, clothing, headbands, tions/balayogi-lalchimie-du-silence (accessed Febru- ary 16, 2016). educational material (e.g.,C Ds, brochures, books, 33 This recurrent mythological character from neo- textbooks, goddess oracle cards), stickers and druidic movements serves as a link between Hinduism symbolic jewels, copal incense (resin tradition- and Celtism because he travels between Europe and India to share his knowledge and thus gives rise to the ally used in Mayan ceremonies), Casa del Sol druids and the Brahmins. The Indomania of the 18th t-shirts, and pre-Hispanic musical instruments. century attained its full importance when it revived As Jean-François Mayer (1993) says in his druidism (François 2012: 39-42). See Dacquay’s text on Ram: http://www.patrickdacquay.com/#!druide- analysis of esoteric shops in Switzerland, each et-brahmans/c22tz (accessed February 16, 2016). of these items can function separately, but their 34 With a variety of objects from the Western esoteric circuits as well as neo-Mexicanidad circles. 35 Program of the centre, April 2014.

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Figure 2: Key rings featuring the world religions, Figure 3: Ahaukine, a new initiate, in front of the April 2014, © M. Farahmand Sign of New Times, April 2014, © O. Gschwend

juxtaposition is not trivial. It shows the existence symbols of the Tradition: the Sign of New Times of a “cultic milieu” in Mexico, where groups like and the Kinich Ahau. the MST continually draw on symbolic resources. As an initiation costume, the “solar Mayans” J.F. Mayer uses this concept in reference to Colin generally wear white as a symbol of purity and Campbell’s (1972) work. It designates a network- light. The red band worn as a belt around the enhanced setting, a kind of spiritual subculture, waist serves as protection against the encroach- where “meaning seekers” circulate, together ment of “negative entities” during meditations, with themes, objects, images and symbols. ceremonies and therapeutic sessions. The orange The platform is constantly maintained as new headband helps to maintain an “awakened con- products and new generations of actors arrive. sciousness” in order to integrate information Within this “spiritual marketplace”, believers are from Nah Kin (session on 30 April 2014, Mérida, directed towards commercial items (Mayer 2006: Mexico). Initiates wear these bands in a spe- 98). This subculture also encourages “syncretism” cific way: with their hand, they form the Sign of due to the quick circulation of actors through the New Times before putting the band on and then great diversity of its movements (Mayer 1993: repeat this gesture before taking it off. Wearing 15). In Mexico, the cultic milieu is similar to neo- the ceremonial outfit is a mark of respect for the mexicanidad with its New Age leanings. Tradition. Throughout the activities, the ceremonial Initiates carry their power stick hooked onto clothing, objects and accessories play a central their belt. Regarded as a symbol of spiritual role. Some workshops are not accessible with- authority, the stick shows the rank of the initiate. out the proper “solar Maya” adornment. Before The smallest one, bearing an amber stone at its the Level One Maya Solar Tradition training head and the Sign of New Times engraved on its week, participants already have all the equip- side, reveals the status of Ahaukine. Conversely, ment required. Experienced participants wear Ahaukanes, the great MST initiates and mas- pendants or earrings that feature the two main ters of the elements, carry more imposing rods

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made from wood with a snake at the head and about such things as performing initiations in feathers indicating the spiritual level attained their homes using less expensive resin rather in different traditions (more feathers suggests than gold. For each event, a long table was set more spiritual experience). The colours of the up for selling ceremonial wear, accessories and costumes also match the participants’ differ- objects. The solar Maya adornment appears ent roles during the ceremonies. Those wearing to aesthetically enhance initiates’ experience. red are the guardians of the element fire; those Mother Nah Kin herself considers it as a vector in yellow, the earth; those in black, the water; of day-to-day transformation, a way of reaching and those in white, the air. Only guardians of an altered state of consciousness and of nego- the elements – primarily the Ahaukanes, who tiating entry into the space and time dimen- have attained the highest ranks – can carry out sions of the rite. After removing the ceremonial initiations. clothing, initiates can return to ordinary life, Along with the official MST outfit, initiates transfigured36. have their own personal accessories, some of The processes of accessories significations which are made individually whereas others reveal a range of influences, which raises the are acquired from other spiritual traditions. For question of how the movement articulates the example, pendulums are used openly in class. local and the global. This articulation may be Stones may be worn as pendants; Lakota-type related to Mother Nah Kin’s transnational jour- feathers are often worn on the ears. Initiates may ney. The MST symbols reflect the doctrinal ele- have Huichol-type bracelets or homemade power ments, which may be qualified as heterogeneous. sticks. MST leaders allow for this wide range of The Kinich Ahau symbol refers to the spirit of the accessories. Between activities, participants rush sun that already exists in local Yucatec sources to the shop to pick up new educational materials. (Villar Maria 1989). The symbol is visually taken They then line up at the reception desk to discuss up by the Maya Solar Tradition by applying the contents and prices. They buy Nah Kin’s latest theory of “2012.” It represents the face of Kinich publication, an important resource for following Ahau: it’s open eyes signify an “awakened con- along in the workshop. They might also purchase sciousness” and it’s open mouth signify “solar a censer for purifying their home or stickers fea- respiration.” The symbol also represents moving turing the two MST symbols. into a new era in the wake of the “2012”. During the workshops, participants who The second symbol, the Sign of New Times, receive a dose of “negative energy” or experi- depicts a circular motion, facilitating the inte- ence “heavy tiredness” spray their environment gration of harmony, peace, health, creativity, and immediately purify their table companion. beauty and love – all qualities of the new era. In Cards are used for visualization exercises, where therapeutic terms, the symbol corresponds to a participants contemplate them, breathe them in, “Christ-like mudra,” a specific body posture. The and tilt their head to “allow in the image.” The fusion of a Sanskrit term of Vedic origin with a images vary. They may be geometric or arche- Christian figure, here represented in the New typal female figures from different cultures Age sense of “Christ energy”37 demonstrates the (e.g., Mary Magdalene, Young Ixchel, Kali, Venus, process of cultural hybridization. This is hardly Isis, Gaia). surprising, given that Mother Nah Kin has been The prices for certain accessories can be in contact with traditional Indian gurus such as quite high, which led me to observe partici- Swami Tilak, the Tibetan Masters and Osho for pants deliberating their purchases on the basis 36 of appropriation, symbolic association or - per Interview with Mother Nah Kin, 13 May 2014, Mérida, Mexico. sonalization. When the rituals were over,- par 37 In reference to the qualities of the Christ without ticipants secretively murmured to themselves his religious frame and meanings.

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some time. This kind of hybridization has a posi- Much like freemasonry, Déo-Celtisme is struc- tive connotation and is viewed by the group as tured around three initiation phases: Abred’s original and enriching. Visible Circle (Discovery); Keugant’s Invisible Circle (Initiation); and Gwenved’s White Circle The Déo-Celtes (Silence)38. In this way, the objects represent During the Shamanism Festival and an intern- an individual’s social evolution within the group, ship in Bugarach (France), objects were used in progress along the spiritual path (a sign of learn- healing ceremonies, a sweat lodge, a shamanic ing and revelation) as well as access to a new journey, and a forest vigil. The Shamanism Fes- practice (a therapeutic practice for others, a tival also featured a New Age shop, but one ori- relationship to specific entities). Each object is ented more towards American Indian cultures. It invested with a particular meaning, and the set sold jewels, pipes, drums, rattles, fabric, clothing, of tools as a whole symbolizes each person’s spir- leather bags and dream-catchers. Other stands itual pathway. sold crystals, Tibetan bowls and a wide range Despite the discourse on “returning to Celtic of books on the history of indigenous peoples, origins”, these objects also reveal a diversity of spiritual leaders’ writings and personal spiritual references and therefore reflect the phenom- experiences’ accounts. This space served as an enon of mobility of actors, concepts and objects. excellent example of European neo-Shaman- Dacquay explains39 that Déo-Celtes acquire at ism’s dual relationship with the New Age and least five objects over the course of their train- American Indian cultures. As Danielle Vazeilles ing: a broom, a golden sickle, a drum, a rattle (2008) has noted, these references are not only and a medicine stick. These objects are some- the product of white people culturally usurping times acquired while abroad in places that holds indigenous peoples. Some well-known indig- particular spiritual meaning. They may be given, enous and mixed-race leaders, such as Archie received or, as is more often the case, made by Fire Lame Deer and Ed Mc Gaa, came to Europe the individual user. to promote and at times “sell” these cultures to One of Patrick Dacquay’s brooms comes from Westerners. the Ashram of his master Balayogi, where it was Few scholars describe in detail the objects originally used to clean the place. A broom can be used by neo-shamans. They mention them in made from plants that are symbolically meaning- passing, as “a fashion item sold in a specialized ful or with a given therapeutic property in mind. shop” (Vazeille 2013) or “a new perverse form of For instance, the Déo-Celtes use brooms made colonialism” (The Elders Circle cited by Vazeilles from fir tree branches, a plant typically used to 2008). To be sure, these shops exist and their help alleviate sore throats and respiratory dif- relationship with American Indian cultures is ficulties. A broom is used to clean the energies indeed problematic. However, this does not pre- of people before they take part in a ritual. I was vent us from presenting a different kind of analy- able to observe its use during the Shamanism sis (without, of course, negating the first), which Festival, specifically before the sweat lodge ritual. highlights other forms of valuing. I also saw it used while I was in Bugarach, dur- While the contents of the shaman’s set of tools may seem random, it does indeed reflect 38 This structure is present in other neo-druidic move- the dialectic of the group and the individual. ments, including with the Breton druid, Yan Sukellos (Open letter to readers of the Atlantis, Atlantis: sci- Some objects are common to all adherents and entific and traditional archeology: Meeting with the are gradually acquired over the course of one’s eternal druidism: 1. The Trinitarian doctrine, 272). initiation training, often during a rite of passage. 39 These explanations were given at the presentation Taking a closer look at these objects may be fruit- during the Shamanism Festival. Dacquay also discusses it in his book. I received other information during ful for ethnographic analysis. the internship in Bugarach.

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manic journeys and healing rituals. For Dacquay, they symbolize the Earth due to their round shape and heart- beats because of the sound they emit. He owns several, some acquired overseas (in Mexico and Ecuador) and others made by himself or his wife using special wood imported from Africa and goatskins from Brittany. The rattle is a medical Figure 4: Line Sturny’s altar, Bugarach, July 2013, © S. Rouiller instrument that can be ing a healing ritual. In this case, the brooms were made from hollow wood, short and held in one hand. While some had a a dried and hollowed fruit or vegetable, a shell, wooden handle, others were simply branches a sewn leather case filled with seeds, beads or tied together. minerals. Afterwards, it is decorated with leather The sickle, one of the druid’s essential tools in straps, ribbons, feathers, beads and drawings. the European imagination, is given to Déo-Celtes The rattle may, of course, be used to play music, about to complete their training. It is, first and foremost, an object that signifies a particular rank, but it can also be used in therapy to “sever ties with bad energies”. The drum is the ulti- mate symbol of shamanism in the West- ern imagination, as the success of many drum-making work- Figure 5: Drum and medicine stick, Bugarach, July 2013, © S. Rouiller shops would attest. Different cultures may use different forms of the but the Déo-Celtes have adopted it in treatment instrument, but the one used most often among rituals for “recentring the soul in the body,” focus- the Déo-Celtes is similar in style to those of the ing a patient’s attention on the present moment Siberian, Mongolian and Russian shamans. It can or inducing an altered state of consciousness be held in one hand and is struck with a stick. through alternating bilateral stimulation, as with Every drum is adorned with things like ribbons, other hypnotic techniques. bells, feather, and leather. It may also be deco- The medicine stick is used on different occa- rated with drawings or paintings (animal totems sions: during treatment rituals, where it serves or symbols) that have particular significance for to connect and direct cosmic energy and vor- the owner. Drums are used to transport people tex; to protect oneself from heavy or harmful into altered states of consciousness during sha- energy in certain places; or to channel energy

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during a collective ritual. Each Déo-Celtes must make his own medicine stick. Dacquay places great importance on manual work for investing objects. He believes that shaping the material is in itself an act of refocus- ing, a form of meditation. This work prevents one from cheat- ing and allows one to confront oneself. A poorly cut stick will be defective and therefore ineffective, just as a poorly made drum Figure 6: P. Dacquay and L. Sturny in Bugarach, July 2013, © S. Rouiller will not sound properly. A person must be fully invested in this creative activ- jewels, bells, shells, crystals, representations ity and be fully aware of the impact of his or her of animal totems, and photographs of spiritual daily gestures. Creating a good, solid medicine masters. These objects are generally collected stick provides confidence in a person and in his by chance and selected for the energy they hold or her creative abilities. In this way, the stick is within. Sometimes they are given. Each one is invested with the positive energy that its creator associated with a certain kind of power that may has put into making it. Such energy will then be be used therapeutically. They are seen as con- retransmitted during treatment rituals to future nected with the kingdoms of living things and patients. the elements. As for ceremonial clothing, the Déo-Celtes The Déo-Celtes consider stones to hold tel- wear white outfits and white headbands with a luric energy that, in turn, enable them to draw “triban” in the centre. This symbol of three con- in heavy and negative energy. Whether they are verging lines also appears in other neo-druidic found in a river, on a sacred site or in a forest, the movements. In Dacquay’s view, the triban sym- stones’ rates of vibration varies and can help to bolizes the sacred number three (three worlds, heal different diseases. three circles, three shields of love, strength and The Déo-Celtes believe that the kingdom of wisdom). It is a sign of membership in a Celtic animals can pass their energy on in different lineage and a protective seal. Its colour indicates ways: by appearing in a vision, a dream or dur- the Déo-Celte’s rank: red stands for the circle ing a shamanic journey; through an image or an Abred, green for Keugant and gold for Gwenved. object representing them or a part of their body The triban’s shape is reminiscent of a triangle, (e.g., feathers, paws, tail, talons, teeth). If they which symbolizes the links between microcosm find a part of an animal in nature, the Déo-Celtes and macrocosm, the telluric world and the cos- interpret it as a sign that the animal offered itself mic world. By wearing the headband, a person up to help heal humans. Dacquay, for example, signals his or her membership in the universal has an owl’s wing whose feathers, he says, allow lineage of shamanism, since “all shamanic peo- him to work much like an acupuncturist using ples wear them”. By securing it to the forehead, a the energy of birds. The feathers free up blocked person cut off mental activity and would be thus energy points and help restore fluidity and light- guided by intuition. ness. The neo-shaman’s set of tools also include All of these objects are used as mediation items known as objects of power: stones, feath- tools between different levels of representation ers, water, tobacco, medicinal herbs, images, within a “creative imagination” process. By way

65 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller

of these symbolic meanderings, a person con- pathway. Neighbourly relations were the social structs his or her identity and achieves thera- imperative guiding Soares’ foraging in the quar- peutic goals. Focusing on these objects, first of ters of Joinville, Brazil. By contrast, the influence all, takes us back to the countries and cultures of families and couples initially transformed from which these symbols and artefacts come Mother Nah Kin’s foraging. It was because of her and guides us along the life journey of the per- grandmother that she first explored Olmeca sha- son who owns them. The “healer’s set of tools,” manism and then later through a family friend moreover, shows the symbolic recomposition of that she met her first master within the Great referents from different cultures – Siberia, Latin Universal Fraternity. Her daughter is the official America, Europe, India – and provides some indi- MST heiress, whereas her niece is an initiate cation of how a shaman is represented. of MST higher rank. Mother Nah Kin travelled among the different streams ofneo-mexicanidad Comparative Analysis with her first spouse. Today, her husband leads Dual Mobility and the Logic Behind Foraging some MST activities. Her foraging is also guided Mother Nah Kin and Patrick Dacquay reveal by a personal sense of spiritual evolution. She a dual mobility that is both spiritual and has moved successively from stream to stream physical. “inhaling the nectar” of each one along the way 1. Both leaders have circulated from one and feels that she has evolved over time. After spiritual stream to another, following the same arriving in the Yucatán and encountering the dynamic of “religious foraging” (butinage) that medium Kinich Ahau, she decided to settle there Soares (2009) describes. They have expanded permanently, convinced that she had come to their symbolic referents and contexts of practice. the end of her journey. With each successive Their foraging is a mobile and creative way of spiritual contact, she has integrated a missing looking after their symbolic universe and -enliv piece of herself. Having reached the universe of ening it by adding elements gathered from other the Mayans, Mother Nah Kin feels “completely universes (Soares 2009: 30). The forager circu- reintegrated.” lates among religious streams multidirectionally Dacquay’s travels around the world have and synchronically, over time and across space, made him more legitimate for his public, particu- always moving back and forth from one point to larly when he talks about Universal Wisdom and another (Soares 2009: 57). oppressed peoples. He has drawn a lot of insight In our case study, transnational mobility and from these experiences, which he has incorpo- leaders’ spiritual foraging40 are interconnected. rated in his own spiritual quest and in his devel- This spiritual mobility, in turn, generates cul- oping practice, both from spiritual/symbolic tural hybridizations that vary from one context (i.e., concepts, representations, cosmologies, to another. For Soares, the foraging is neither a pantheons) and physical/material (i.e., ritual cultural response nor a process ending in a spe- practices, therapeutic techniques, objects) cific symbolic system. A similar dynamic can be standpoints. Dacquay’s foraging has further led seen in Patrick Dacquay and Mother Nah Kin him to broaden his social network. He keeps in life pathways, except that they both show evi- touch with many people he has met while abroad. dence of diachronic mobility that drove them He welcomes them to his festival or visits them to create complex, hybridized systems. Mother from time to time. In December 2014, he opened Nah Kin foraged in a linear fashion along her an international College of Shamanism41, which counsels and informs those interested in receiv- 40 Unlike E. Soares, we stipulate that it is a “spiritual,” not a “religious,” foraging for all the problems that the use of the notion “religion” raises in contexts outside 41 http://chamanismeancestral.org/?page=accueil of Europe. (accessed February 16, 2016).

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ing care or training. The college has become an initiation activities, and the number of these authoritative body for practitioners and- follow objects continues to grow the further along ini- ers alike. Despite its claims of being part of an tiates proceed on their spiritual journeys. The oppressed group, Dacquay, as leader of several groups promote a kind of “humanitarian” con- international networks, has wound up once again sumption by selling objects specifically designed assuming the role of company director, although for militant association activities (e.g. environ- money is not his primary motivation. mental and indigenous rights movements). These 2. Both leaders have also expanded their trav- spaces of commercial transaction are highly vis- els and “initiation” meetings beyond the borders ible at large social events, such as festivals and of their own country. Thanks to their networks, conferences, but they are also accessible via the they have travelled extensively across continents Internet. Neo-Mayan and neo-shamanic leaders and have come into contact with Indian tradi- have their own websites where they can sell their tions and South American forms of shamanism. wares and can refer those interested to related The dynamic of their movement through glocal organizations. space extends not only from their own transna- Apart from their market aspect, the objects tional mobility (movements for single events, pil- play an important symbolic role. For both groups, grimages, professional travel, migration) but also owning or using these objects was essential to from national and international mobilizations participating in the rituals, even during practice (political, environmental and identity-related sessions and the Shamanism Festival. If -par demands). Their mobility is asserted individu- ticipants come without the required objects, ally through symbolic reconstruction of their life they must quickly find someone from whom to course and personal transnational trajectories. borrow them. Once the ritual is over, they are At the same time it is asserted collectively through encouraged to buy or make their own. Initiates the formation of networks that provide a sense who frequent these settings understand the of permanence and attachment. This dual mobil- important role the objects play and typically find ity has led to on-going rearrangements within out in advance from the leader, other members their respective systems. Such hybridizations are or in books what supplies they will need to bring. notably reflected in the wide range of Maya Solar Coming “properly equipped” demonstrates that and Déo-Celte accessories available. one is prepared, ready to receive the teaching, the care, and the “energy” that comes from tak- Materialization of the Spiritual: Hybrid Objects ing on an active role in the ritual. Moreover, it and Transnationalization is a sign that one recognizes the legitimacy of The two groups adhere to the logic of the mar- the group and the rituals it performs. The expe- ketplace through commodifying and publicizing riential dimension is crucial in these settings: their activities while developing their customer to find out whether a given practice or group is loyalty 42. To accomplish this, they act on several suitable for their purposes, prospective initiates levels. They create the need for initiates to edu- must “have their own direct experience,” physi- cate themselves by asking them to do readings cally and spiritually. It is not possible to be a pas- related to their internships. They require initiates sive observer. Owning the basic set of equipment to own certain objects in order to participate in thus ensures the best possible experience for participants. 42 For the discussion around consumerism and coun- The two groups wear similar ceremonial cloth- terculturalism in the historic evolution of the New Age movement, see Paul Heelas (2008). On the relations ing: a white outfit and appropriate headbands. In between symbolic marchandise, believer logic, and both cases, white is associated with the spiritual market logic, see Renée De la Torre and Cristina Guti- world, cosmic light and purity. The headbands errez Zúñiga (2005).

67 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Manéli Farahmand and Sybille Rouiller

are symbolically invested in a number of similar an object made by oneself is initially perceived ways: as “an imitation” or an inauthentic version. The 1. Placing the band on the forehead suggests material used is very important, and it is gen- performing work “on the consciousness,” or erally expensive. Alfredo, a Mayan guide from the “third eye”. MST and Déo-Celte followers Mérida unaffiliated with the Maya Solar Tradi- often talk about “chakras.” According to this tion, explained, for example, that the best power system of thought, the chakra is located in the stick would be one given by a “grandfather” dur- forehead and can communicate with other ing a long initiation journey. Here, making one’s worlds. Wearing the headband thus represents own object is one way of subverting the system one way of psychologically preparing oneself while still being able to participate in all regular to enter a given state of open consciousness. activities without having to spend large sums of 2. The headband is also invested as a social and money and thus thwarting the market logic. For hierarchical marker. Its colours vary depending Déo-Celtes, making one’s own object is an end in on the rank of a given member within the itself because it is part of spiritual and therapeu- group. The headband can indicate a position tic work. Authenticity does not derive from the of novice or authority. material of which an object is made but, rather, 3. Generally speaking, wearing a ritual costume from the intention that the object’s maker put is comparable to putting on a uniform. The into it or from the status of the person who pre- clothing communicates our status to others. viously owned it. It is a symbolic and physical way of entering a community. The two-featured groups differ in Overall Conclusion the symbols that adorn their costumes, which In this article we have focused on the internal serve to express aspects of their local identity. diversity of two movements that have reinvented The fact that the group comes together their ethnic and cultural traditions by drawing appropriately “dressed” underlines the time on spirituality in their process of ritual creativity. and sacredness of the ritual and initiates’ We have sought to understand this diversity as journey from the “profane” to the “sacred” world. an evolving process, or a pluralization, by looking specifically at a range of objects, accessories These objects are material evidences of “spiritual and ritual outfits. We justified adopting acom- foraging” and the actors’ mobility. Even becom- parative perspective due to the transnational ing part of a group that has well-developed ini- character shared by these two movements and tiation practices and hierarchical structures does the central importance given to material aspects. not prevent a person from embarking at the Through this approach, we observed symbolic same time on a comparable personal “quest.” and functional variation and similarities around This helps to explain how those movements, ritual objects, which led us to conclude that even if they claim to define themselves through mobility and diversity are closely intertwined. “clan-like” or “traditional” collective approaches In our study, we examined mobility through the are no less modern as individual lies at the cen- lens of geographic and inter-spiritual movement, tre. as evidenced by leaders’ transnational journeys In our two case studies, the protagonists and the effects of this transnationalism on diver- acquire a variety of objects coming from around sifying points of reference. the world and from different spiritual traditions. Whereas research on cultural and religious However, we note two points of divergence con- super-diversity within urban spaces has typi- cerning whether objects are industrially pro- cally focused on the intersectionality of gender, duced or “home-made” and how the relationship migration, social class and age, our study makes to authenticity is established. For neo-Mayans, an original contribution by analyzing diversity

68 Mobility and Religious Diversity in Indigenousness-Seeking Movements New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

in terms of the intersectionality between the New Age and joint participation in community mobility (physical and religious) and the plu- events, such as the 2012 Spiritual Planetary Sum- ralization. Religious diversity lies at the heart mit. In this way, neo-Mayans and Déo-Celtes can of power relations, which pertain to issues of identify with each other as spiritual brothers and social recognition and identity. By approach- sisters. Finally, our two examples illustrate per- ing diversity and pluralization in the light of fectly the three-phase process of delocalization, materiality and mobility, we emphasize, first of translocalization and relocalization, described all, the relationship between local and global by Renée De La Torre. The ceremonial objects in the two case studies. The objects illustrate appear like the CV or the DNA of the movements, both transnationalized themes of the New Age serving as concrete testimony for the group and (specifically, the pervasiveness of Hindu themes, its leaders. crystals, card games and ethnic jewelry) and the desire to promote an indigenous community with its particular characteristics (sticks, Celtic References and Mayan symbols, drums, pre-Hispanic instru- ARGYRIADIS, K., S. CAPONE, R. DE LA TORRE, ments). Secondly, materiality serves to recog- A. MARY, eds. 2012. Religions transnationales nize the groups’ ritual legitimacy and doctrinal des Suds. Afrique, Europe. Amériques. Paris: Har- mattan. specificity. Third, it constitutes a social marker AMSELLE, J.-L. 2010. Rétrovolutions. Essais sur les and underscores the power structures inside primitivismes contemporains. Paris: Stock. and outside the movements, thereby acting as a BEYER, P. 2006. Religion in Global Society. New factor of inclusion and exclusion. Fourth, mate- York: Routledge. riality, in both cases, is a way of positioning one- CAMPBELL, C. 1972. “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu self within a local and global context of diversity, and Secularization.” InA Sociological Yearbook of since it creates borders and gives rise to issues Religion in Britain, 119-136. London: SCM Press. of authenticity between different groups. Fifth, CAPONE, S. 2004. “A propos des notions de globali- the distinction between manufactured objects sation et de transnationalisation.” Civilisations and “home-made” objects reveals that mate- 51. Accessed December 15, 2015. http://civilisations.revues.org/634. riality acts as a space for negotiating power

———. 2014. “La religion des orisha: Les enjeux structures, a place for continually defining one’s d’une transnationalisation religieuse ou le - syn individual position within a particular religious crétisme revisité.” Conference paper. Colloque community. de Recherche de l’ISSRC, Enquêter en Sciences Finally, we note that this “foraging” is not ran- Sociales des Religions: Psychologie de la Religion, dom and holds meaning for the actors involved. Sociologie des Religions, Sciences Sociales des It is tied to their journeys that at once touch upon Migrations. Lausanne: University of Lausanne. spirit, emotions, psychology, family, identity and CAPONE, S., and S. BAVA. 2010. “Religions trans- geography (travel, pilgrimage, migration). When nationales et migrations: regards croisés sur un champ en mouvement.” Autrepart 4(56): 3-15. we look at the photographs of neo-Mayans and CAPONE, S., and A. MARY. 2012. “Les translogiques Déo-Celtes at the 2012 Spiritual Planetary Sum- d’une globalisation religieuse à l’envers.” In Reli- mit in Mexico, we see them wearing very similar gions transnationales des Suds. Afrique, Europe, outfits. The two groups have shown consistency Amériques, edited by K. Argyriadis and S. Capone, in their transnational, glocalized discourses et al., 27-45. Paris: Harmattan. and practices through their objects. Each has COYE, N. 1993. “Celtes.” Encyclopédie berbère, 12. found its unique spiritual path and expresses Aix-en-Provence: Edisud. it through a growing number of objects. At the DE LA TORRE, R. 2011. “Les rendez-vous manqués same time, shared “global” objectives and ideals de l’anthropologie et du chamanisme.” Archives de sciences sociales des religions 153: 145-158. are expressed through “classic” symbols of the

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———. 2001. “Milenarismo, nativismo y neotradi- HERVIEU-LEGER, D. 1993. La Religion Pour cionalismo en el México actual.” Ciencias Socia- Mémoire. Paris: Cerf. les y Religión 3(3): 95-113. HOBSBAWM, E., and T. RANGER, eds. 2006. DE LA TORRE, R. and C. GUTIERREZ ZUÑIGA. L’invention de la tradition. Paris: Editions -Am 2005. “La lógica del mercado y la lógica de la cre- sterdam. encia en la creación de mercancías simbólicas.” JOERG, S., and M. SCHNEUWLY PURDY. 2015. Desacatos 18: 53-70. “Quatre profils de l’(in)croyance.” In Religion et DE LA TORRE, R. and C. GUTIERREZ ZUÑIGA, eds. spiritualités à l’ère de l’ego, edited by J. Stolz et 2007. Atlas de la diversidad religiosa en México. al., 75-89. Genève: Labor et Fides. México DF: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios MACLEOD, M. 2013. “Mayan Calendrics in Move- Superiores en Antropología Social. ment in Guatemala: Mayan Spiritual Guides or

———. 2011. “La neomexicanidad y los circuitos Day-keepers Understandings of 2012.” The Jour- new age. ¿Un Hibridismo sin fronteras o múltiples nal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropol- estrategias de sintesis espiritual?” Archives de ogy 18(3): 447-463. sciences sociales des religions 153. Accessed MANCINI, S. 2007. “Comparativism in the History June 2014. http://assr.revues.org/22819. of Religion. Some Models and Key Issues.” Reli- DE LA TORRE, R., C. GUTIERREZ ZUÑIGA, and gion 37 (4): 282-293. N. JUAREZ HUET, eds. 2013. Variacones y apro- MAYER, J.-F. 1993. Les nouvelles voies spirituelles. piaciones latinoamericanas del New Age. México, Enquête sur la religiosité parallèle en Suisse. Lau- DF: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superi- sanne: L’Age d’Homme.

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———. 2008. “Connexions entre le néo-cha- VILLAR MARIA, M. 1989. Cuando los Dioses Des- manisme et le néo-druidisme contemporains. pertaron. Conceptos Cosmológicos de los Antig- Etude en anthropologie/ethnologie comparée.” uos Mayas De Yucatán Estudiados en el Chilam Cahiers d’études du religieux. Recherches inter- Balam de Chumayael. México City: Universidad disciplinaires 3. Accessed February 15, 2016. Nacional Autonoma de México. http://cerri.revues.org/161#text.

Note on the Authors

Manéli Farahmand is a PhD student at the Institute of Social Sciences of Contemporary Religion, University of Lausanne, and the Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa. Her ethnographic research, jointly supervised by Professors Irene Becci and Peter Beyer, focuses on the emergence of transnational neo-Mayanism since the “2012 Phenomenon.” Email: [email protected]

Sybille Rouiller is a PhD student at the Institute of Culture, Religion and Modernity, University of Lausanne, and the Unit for Humanities and Social Sciences, Haute École pédagogique de Lausanne. Her ethnographic research, jointly supervised by Professors Nicole Durisch Gauthier and Raphaël Rousseleau, looks into how religious diversity interacts with the school environment in French-speaking Switzerland.

When Homogeneity Calls for Super-Diversity: Rome as a Religious Global City*

by Valeria Fabretti (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’) and Piero Vereni (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’)

Abstract This article addresses the way religious diversity is ‘taking place’ in Rome. In particular, it brings some religious manifestations into a broader understanding of the diversification of religious spaces in the city. Instead of seeing diversity as an unintended consequence of global flows, we trace it back to a sound religious spatial identity. Ever since globalization was set in motion, Rome has functioned as an attracting field of visibility for established religions. At the same time, the city has provided a shared grammar for inflecting diversity into religious idioms. Religious super-diversity as seen in Rome is the combination of a strong local religious identity that acts as a stage where old actors hope to be invited to give new performances and the audience itself is incessantly pushed to tread the boards. The article concludes with a tentative hypothesis that super-diversity may yield to postsecular modes of social life. Keywords: religion, diversity, urban space, postsecular society, globalization, sacred places

Introduction This article addresses the way religious diver- Within the context of renewed attention sity ‘takes place’ in Rome. Obviously embedded towards the ‘spatialization of religion,’ the study – not only culturally but also ‘spatially’ – within of cities has become a privileged ‘detector’ for Catholicism, the city also hosts a heterogeneous understanding religious diversity in contempo- set of non-Catholic presences and places. This rary secular societies. Although Italy has been heterogeneity is located at the smaller hyper- researched very little in this context, it offers a local scale of worship, but also reveals itself at rich laboratory in which complex religious and a macroscopic level, in terms of macro-places secular processes that are currently taking place of worship whose relevance and links transcend can be analyzed. Italian boundaries; this exposed visibility calls for interpretation. Instead of considering -diver

* We dedicate this article to the memory of our sity as a mere consequence of globalization and friend and colleague Massimo Rosati (1969-2014). We had the privilege of collaborating with him on a number of occasions through the activities of the spaces, and identify the sociological features of post- Centre for the Study and Documentation of Religions secular sanctuaries (Rosati 2012 and 2015). The idea and Political Institutions in Post-Secular Society (CSPS), of a CSPS research project on religious places in Rome the research group he established at the University was starting to take shape when Massimo unexpect- of Rome Tor Vergata. In his last work, Massimo ad- edly passed away. This article is a partial outcome of dressed the relationship between space and religion those first theoretical and explorative steps. To him and suggested how a Durkheimian reading of the sa- we express our gratitude and endless affection. cred ‘grammar’ can help to understand the specific- We also thank Mariachiara Giorda for providing help- ity of sacred places, trace their difference from social ful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

New Diversities Vol. 18, No. 1, 2016 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

international migrations, we suggest reading a bountiful environment, while others practi- the apparently paradoxical situation in the light cally suffocate in isolation. Similarly, cultural tra- of the following broad hypothesis: namely, the ditions and genealogies are also relevant, since widely recognized status of Rome as a ‘religious some are used to shy away from visibility while city,’ due to its extensive Catholic legacy, which others require a stage for their public perfor- promotes ongoing religious ‘appropriation’ of mances. Another issue is institutional accept- the urban space by various groups. This appro- ability, according to which differences can be priation occurs when the two levels (hyper-local perceived or described as further from or closer and global) overlap on the terrain where Catholi- to the extant cultural and religious environment. cism is historically rooted in Rome (the patron There is no contradiction, in our view, between saints of the districts vs. St. Peter). the attractiveness of Rome to difference and the On a more theoretical level, this hypothesis hurdles that this difference often encounters elaborates on the contradiction between the when attempting to display itself, since they are interpretation and use of a given message (Eco quite separate processes. One is a potential eco- 1990) and the bi-dimensionality of cultural iden- logical pull, the other a strategic path of concrete tity, namely external categorization and internal adaptation. To expand on the same metaphor, identification processes (Jenkins 1994). Rome different species may be attracted to the same as a national brand carries the general meaning area, yet they adopt utterly different strategies of the Catholic City. The city brand conveyed by of visibility, and, likewise, the area itself habitu- its banal Catholicism is spread via the standard ally expresses its own preferences and policies of channels of the imaginary, namely mediascapes relative acceptance. and tourism. Yet once this robust identification – Within this broader theory of attraction and Rome is the centre of Catholic Christendom – is acceptance, we approach our topic by recalling liberated and disseminated via worldwide com- that the study of the urban space needs to be munication systems (from the big media of TV handled with new narratives on the relationships broadcasts to the small media of tourists chat- between religion and modernity, above and ting to their social circles via Instagram), it is set beyond the strict idea of secularization. In this free from authoritative interpretations to be article, the postsecular is seen as a notion that used and given different meanings by casual or can frame religious diversity in contemporary cit- intentional audiences. Different categorizations ies and be used to examine the case of Rome as may prevail – like the notion that Rome is a place an increasingly pluralized city. We go on to pres- where religion is a shared jargon for talking about ent the Eternal City as a sui generis case where reality. Instead of being interpreted as a unique the Italian scenario can shed light on the macro- expression of its local identity, Catholicism can global stage of religious non-Catholic places. be seen as just a token of its type, i.e. religion, A heterogeneous series of meaningful and large- which attracts religious difference as a potential scale projects – from the ‘old’ synagogue to the stage of expression. Mormon temple currently under construction Of course, the intensity with which the city – are traced and finally reconnected, in the two attracts difference does not totally correspond concluding paragraphs, with a broader under- to that difference’s capability, or will, to mani- standing of Rome as a ‘religious global city’: fest itself. The ways that imported difference a city in which non-Catholic groups, far from expresses itself, becomes visible or is even aware just being pressured to conform by the Catholic of its public role depend on a set of complex model and passively adapting to it, perform their variables. The specific localization of difference identities not only by silently insinuating them may play a central role in rendering it visible: into the narrow alleys of Rome’s districts but some forms of difference may publicly thrive in also by playing them aloud on a brightly lit global

74 Rome as a Religious Global City New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

stage. The growing relevance of religious diver- communities, respond to a greater or lesser sity in the space of Rome potentially exposes the extent to their religious needs, are socially/eco- city to the triggering of postsecular social prac- nomically connected to the surrounding area to tices, although cultural, political and juridical a greater or lesser extent, and so on. The second constraints still seem to limit their transforma- direction is a pluralization and innovation of the tive potential. ways in which the sacred place1 is conceived and used: parallel to the establishment of canonical Framing religious diversity in the urban space places of worship for different traditions, a series In the new century the city once again becomes of alternative, more flexible and even hybrid ‘a lens for social theory’ (Sassen 2010), as it was places are increasingly being used as prayer conceptualized for urban sociologists in the early rooms (Gilliat-Ray 2005) or multi-faith places 20th century; the conjuncture between space (Crompton 2013, de Velasco 2014)2 located in and religion finds a privileged context for analy- social spaces (parks, squares, shopping malls, sis here (Harvieu-Léger 2002, Knott 2005, Knott etc.) and institutions (prisons, hospitals, univer- and Vasquez 2014). Seen from this angle, urban sity campuses, etc.); or even part-time sanctuar- dimension offers a more appropriate observa- ies, virtual prayer rooms in cyberspace, and so on. tory than the nation-state level for capturing and Religious places of this kind not only express the showing the space, role and changes in religion in trend of individualizing and spiritualizing beliefs contemporary societies (Glick Schiller and Cağlar and praxis, as some scholars have pointed out 2011, Becci, Burckhardt and Casanova 2013). (Gilliat Ray 2005, Heelas and Woodhead 2005, What contemporary cities mainly reveal, as Becci, Burchard and Giorda 2016), but also a reli- many scholars in recent decades have helped gious ‘punctuating’ of social spaces by non-con- clarify, is an increase in religious diversity ventional sacred places, which are additional to, (Beckford 2014). or sometimes a substitute for, traditional ones. International migration and globalization, Such pluralization of ‘spatialized’ forms of which firstly provoke the de-territorialization of religion is also reflected in the differentiated religious traditions, end up implying processes set of strategies through which religious groups of re-territorialization, by which communities relate to the urban space. This means that the appropriate new urban spaces without giving up city is not merely an arena traversed by struggles their own religious beliefs and customs. By dint among communities for the distribution of the of these processes, which accompany changes same resources. Besides strategies of appropria- specific to the religiosity of ‘autochthonous’ tion, exclusion and resistance to such domina- populations, ‘old’ and ‘new’ religious presences tion (Chidester and Linenthal 1995), we may find populate, in ways that are both traditional and diverse communities taking specific paths and innovative, usual and unusual spaces dislo- following different approaches across the vari- cated between the centre and periphery of our ous city zones: i.e. the mostly dominant Chris- metropolises, ‘mega-cities’ or even small towns. tian traditions negotiate spatial regimes through Concerning the ‘emplacement’ (Smith 1987) of place-keeping strategies; diaspora and migrant religion in urban spaces, we may add that reli- religions adopt place-making strategies, while gious diversity seems to travel in two main direc- 1 We agree with the broad distinction between the tions. The first is the pluralization of traditional terms space and place that identifies the first as a ba- places of worship for different religions: cathe- sically abstract concept and the second as more spe- drals, churches, synagogues and mosques, which, cific ‘practice’ space, in which the sacred is localized depending on the particular case, comply to a (Giorda and Hejazi 2013). 2 See the research project ‘Multi-faith Spaces – greater or lesser extent with the canons of the Symptoms and Agents of Religious and Social Change’ respective traditions, attract smaller or larger - ‘Religion and Society’ Program, 2007-2012.

75 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

new religious movements and practitioners main ‘sociological conditions’ (Rosati and Stoekle of contemporary spirituality are place-seekers 2012, Rosati 2015) suggests that the following (Becci, Burchard and Giorda 2016). features should be present in society: 1. The role Taken as a whole, these tendencies may legiti- and ‘voice’ of religions – especially those that mize the use of the concept ‘religious super- Jakelić called collectivistic religions (2010) – in diversity’ (Vertovec 2007), which accurately high- social and public life not just as a residual but as lights the multisided spatial practices of both ‘old’ a persistent and mutating element; 2. In paral- and ‘new’ religions in urban life (Becci, Burchard lel, the sacred that inhabits our time not only as and Giorda 2016). an immanent, but also a transcendent and het- We could, however, add a further consider- eronomous force; 3. An overcoming of religious ation. Taken as a whole, all these tendencies monopolies and a plurality of individual and col- recount a relationship between religion and lective religious beliefs and practices; 4. The sec- modern society which can hardly be interpreted ular and the religious without rigidly separated in terms of mere secularization. To put it another borders: constant, reciprocally induced adjust- way, the study of religion through the observa- ments and transformations as a result of their tion of contemporary pluralized cities absolutely presence in and use of a common space (urban, needs to be approached through the prism of political, institutional, virtual, etc.). Arising from the current reframing of religion in late moder- the aforementioned factors, another key feature nity, moving away from the theories that fore- of a postsecular society is: 5. Secular and religious saw the automatic secularization of urbanization beliefs and practices interacting in a way that can in modern life. We see the notion of postsecular sometimes move and reshape the dividing lines as the most fruitful narrative that has emerged between them, which also gives rise to the pos- as an alternative to the failures of classical the- sibility of new configurations interpenetrations– , ories of secularization to address the renewed in Gőle’s terms (2005) – of both secular and reli- role of religion in the contemporary urban and gious viewpoints and practices (see Day, Vincett public realm (Casanova 1994, Habermas 2006, and Cotter 2013). It is assumed that in situations Molendijk, Beaumont and Jedan 2010, Rosati of co-presence, such dialectic relationships are and Stoekle 2012). We will argue briefly that if fostered by reflexivity, as a modern competence city is the space in which religions and the sacred attributable not only to secular (Habermas 2006) appear in previously unforeseen places and ways, but also religious forms of life (Seligman 2004). and if city is therefore the space in which the bor- Finally, Rosati (2015) also suggests that only in ders between the religious and the secular are the presence of these five sociological condi- constantly being redefined, then the postsecular tions does the proper normative statement of probably offers a useful frame. the postsecular – pluralism as an orientation Some scholars are skeptical about the use of towards mutual exchange or, in Habermas’s well- the postsecular for studying the urban space known expression (2006), complementary learn- (Burchardt, Wohlrab-Sahr and Middell 2015, ing – make sense. Postsecular means a change in Giorda 2015) and about framing religions within content of a society’s central value system: from institutional settings (Beckford 2010, 2012). a secular self-understanding, in which the secular What is apparently not often clear in these criti- and the religious are perceived as two antagonis- cisms is that the concept does not – or should tic camps, to a postsecular one, in which they are not rigorously – mean an overcoming of secular- part of the same field. ization – or multiple secularizations (Burchardt, The features of the postsecular are mostly, but Wohlrab-Sahr and Middell 2015) – or even a sort not solely, characteristic of late capitalist cities in of re-sacralization of the public sphere. A recent the West. However, we refer to them as some- attempt to deconstruct the postsecular into its thing ‘in the making’ and highly dependent on

76 Rome as a Religious Global City New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

context: individual cases may display a number plays of religious symbols and rituals (Ooster- of features, whose combined effect may trigger baan 2014) – or rather the possibilities for dia- processes of complementary learning, or these lectic relationships and complementary learning features may be absent or ineffective. The use- that arise during the processes of territorializa- fulness of the notion of postsecular in social tion of religions. research is precisely the possibility of detect- ing through this lens elements and dynamics in The Changing Scenario in Italy urban life that might well be hidden to a differ- Although Italy is still perceived to be mainly ently oriented view (Baker and Beaumont 2011). and persistently ‘Catholic,’ despite seculariza- In this contribution we limit the analysis to tion (Garelli 2011, Marzano 2012), the religious a preliminary interpretation of the situation in composition of the population has clearly been Rome, where some of the listed features of the changing over the past few decades, as is also postsecular are displayed. In particular, the vis- the case in other European countries. This is a ibility of different religious groups, demands, result of different drivers: on the one hand, the places and strategies of territorialization, which diversification in Christian affiliations of Italians is growing in Italian public and social spheres, is (primarily, the huge increase in Jehovah’s Wit- particularly expressed in Rome. As we argue in nesses and Pentecostal congregations) and the the following paragraphs, diversity in this city is growth of individual forms of spirituality; on the represented both at hyper-local level and at a other hand, it is the outcome of the growing macroscopically large-scale one. As an (apparent) presence of ‘other religions.’ Italy’s huge involve- paradox, we emphasize that in Rome pluraliza- ment in international migrations has led to the tion does not exist despite but as a result of the presence of people from almost 190 countries mainly Catholic legacy and the moulding effect around the world: a ‘diversity within a diversity’, of this specific religion on the city. Such super- consisting of Muslims from different traditions; diversity signals a condition that ideally enriches different Orthodox groups (Romanians, Ukraini- the city ecologies that are characterized by ans, Serbians, Moldovans, Greeks, and Russians), hybridization, change and mutual learning char- with their specific traditions; Sikhs, Buddhists, acteristic of a postsecular urban space. At the Hindus, Christians and Tamils from India;- dif same time, the transformative potential deriving ferent versions of Pentecostals (Africans, Latin- from ‘postsecular interactions and practices’ – in Americans and Chinese) and so on (Pace 2014: a word, the creation of potentially conflictual but 94). In broad terms and in the absence of specific also cooperative relationships between differ- data which are still not systematically collected ent religious and secular actors and groups – is in our country, an estimated 7.6% of people liv- constrained by a broader scenario still hesitant, ing in Italy belong to religions other than Roman from a cultural and juridical and political point of Catholicism, many of which practice Islam, the view, to fully embrace pluralism. As we stress in Eastern Orthodox Church, and a robust Protes- the next paragraph, this can be considered one tantism (Pentecostalism and Baptism) from Asia of the main reasons for the difficult emergence and Africa (Pace 2013 and 2014). of religious places and practices at the very local Similarly, the socio-religious geography of Italy level in Rome. and the religious ‘punctuating’ of social spaces In this sense, a further, more detailed stage in our cities are also changing, making - diver of our research work that will be carried out in sity more and more visible. However, some of upcoming months, will require focusing on spe- this diversity still seems to be hidden from the cific areas in Rome and expanding on the con- eyes of Italians. Furthermore, we gauge a sort ditions under which conflict and struggles arise of ‘mutual invisibility,’ a relative fragmentation – e.g., in relation to building permits, public dis- (each segment of religious difference knows very

77 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

little about the others) and a lack of purpose- Of particular relevance is the distribution of the ful public discourse that could bring the issue different denominations of Pentecostal churches, to the fore. Religious super-diversity is thus a largely dominated by Ghanaian and Nigerian growing and permeating phenomenon with a Pentecostals and mainly concentrated in south- side still-hidden: the specific case study we will ern Italy. Finally, Sikh organizations are under- be discussing clearly exemplifies the theoretical going a gradual process of institutionalization connections between invisibility and pervasive- involving apparently smooth negotiations with ness. As we anticipated, the hidden side of reli- local authorities leading to the appropriation of gious super-diversity is probably related to cul- spaces such as former industrial sheds for wor- tural and political-institutional unpreparedness ship. regarding recognition of pluralism. This is more This multitude of different religious and differ- than evident in the complex and ambiguous ently sacralized places throughout the national set of regulations on places of worship and the territory is rapidly changing and extremely dif- absence of an overall law of religious freedom ficult to map for social research (Pace 2013:11). and even specific agreements between the State and many religious communities, first and fore- The ‘Eternal City’ as a sui generis case most of which, certainly in terms of size, are the Against the backdrop of the scenario just dis- Islamic organizations. cussed, we argue that Rome constitutes a sui However, social and public awareness is only generis case. In the world capital of Catholicism, recently starting to grow with the appearance in a country where the political and religious of a series of religious and social sciences stud- spheres have always overlapped to a certain ies that map the presence of places of worship extent, Rome has rapidly become religiously across the national territory and in a number of superdiverse at a microscopic, but also macro- local areas (Allievi 2010, Pace 2013, Angelucci, scopic level. Bombardieri et al. 2014, Giorda 2015). These It is certainly true for Rome, as for other Euro- studies permit a gradual shift from vague esti- pean and Italian urban areas, that the process mates to a more accurate, although still far from of re-territorialization of religions, intended as complete, cartography. a necessary consequence of the de-territorial- According to the most detailed study carried ization caused by globalization and international out on a national level (Pace 2013), the places migrations, has resolved itself into a dislocation of worship related to the ‘new presences’ in of different communities at a hyper-local scale. Italy are mainly Islamic, Orthodox, African neo- Rome is near the top of the list of cities most Pentecostal and Buddhist. But 36 Sikh temples concerned by migrations, both in terms of stable (Gurudwara) have also been counted. The spa- communities and people in transit, and it is clearly tial situations of these places vary to a large an excellent social laboratory, in which not only degree. Islamic places of worship – over 600 cultural but also urban-spatial features are con- scattered across the national territory, mostly stantly being redefined. As a number of studies in urban areas in the North where the economy and ethnographies covering the city as a whole has attracted immigrants from Muslim-majority and certain districts in particular have shown in countries – are mostly musallayat organized in the past few years (Macioti 2013)3 , the city and very precarious and inappropriate spaces. Con- versely, the emplacement of Orthodox churches 3 Other precious sources of data on religious diversity and places in Rome include various yearly reports, from 2000 onwards, appears much more stable, Immigrati a Roma e Provincia. Luoghi di incontro e di partly as a result of Roman-Catholic bishops facili- preghiera, edited by the ‘Caritas Diocesana di Roma’ tating the use of small formerlyC atholic churches and ‘Migrantes Roma e Lazio’ associations; the publi- or chapels, often located in urban peripheries. cation from theOsservatorio Romano sulle Migrazioni by the IDOS research centre, and the Luoghi comuni,

78 Rome as a Religious Global City New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

its province are dotted with a multitude of small From the Synagogue to the Mormon Temple: religious places. These places may be Catholic, Old and New Macro-Religious Places in Rome Islamic, Orthodox, Protestant or Buddhist, and It is a little-known fact that Rome hosts a third are often side by side and embedded within Jewish tradition alongside the much better highly multicultural zones. The specific history of known Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions, urban development – i.e., the chaotic expansion namely the Roman tradition, which has its own of the city limits with no regulations other than rites and local variants. The very existence of this those imposed by housing needs and economic tradition shows the long historical continuity of exploitation of land (Cellamare 2014) – has not the Jewish presence in Rome ‒ there is even a yet allowed for the insurgence of spatial sectari- saying to the effect that if you are looking for anism or other clear-cut territorial divisions. Even Romans who can trace their ancestry back seven though in recent years a slow process of ethnic generations, you’ll find them in the ghetto. Expo- territorialization has gained relative momen- nential urban growth4 has been multiplying non- tum, so far this only shows as an extremely frag- Roman strands of the city since the 1870s. This mented patchwork on the map and in no way demographic explosion has made Roman-ness matches the level of complexity and refinement an extremely scarce resource, bringing about the of the now highly specialized ethnic division of moral irony that – for historical, ideological and labour. As a consequence, religious difference is political reasons barely discernible in the origi- scattered across the map without any apparent nal meaning of the word ‘ghetto’ – it is best pre- pattern and we are forced to include this evident served by a racialized religious minority. The last lack of design in our representation of the situa- preserve of genuine local identity, Roman Jews tion that focuses on small case studies. embody the paradox of representing Otherness As we mentioned, within the tightness of the in the name of Self: while Rome stereotypically urban structure at this hyper-local level, the embodies a uniform and potentially universal invisibility of non-Catholic religious places is cer- (‘Catholic’) Christianity, its cultural identity and tainly related, as it is for the country as a whole, specificity seem to be preserved at its best by to the legal and political governance of religious a population that, from the 15th century if not diversity and the constraints imposed on reli- before, was systematically targeted as a moral gious communities in terms of manifesting their culprit and a literal scapegoat. presence through architectures that are ‘coher- Jews in Rome can boast a 2000-year-old present’ with their traditions and conceptions of the ence (Cappelletti 2006) and that alone grants the sacred place (Pace 2013: 245). city a sort of splendour by proxy and, conversely, However, Rome’s original role also involves a very specific sense of locality to Roman Jews, representing religious diversity on a macroscopi- steeped, willingly or not, in the archaeological cally large scale. With its two ‘record places of grandeur of Rome. In a postsecular exercise of worship’ – the largest mosque in the West and ‘cultural intimacy’ (Herzfeld 1997) their existence the largest Buddhist temple in Europe – and can be publicly derided and disdained (anti-Sem- a number of other relevant old and new reli- itism is still very much alive in Rome) and simul- gious establishments, Rome constitutes a sort of taneously intimately recognised and praised as ‘brightly lit religious stage’ on which different tra- the best evidence of true local identity. While the ditions and organizations play their institutional- rest of the city seems to be falling apart under ized and international role. the pressure of global economic forces and gen- trification (Herzfeld 2009), the Jewish ‘ghetto’ –

luoghi in comune report documenting the research 4 A population of 200,000 at the time of Italian uni- project carried out by the ‘Centro Astalli’ association fication (1871) had already increased to one million in 2015. sixty years later, which almost doubled by 1961.

79 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

although entirely demolished at the time of the organised around a single belief attracts diversity Italian emancipation (Scott Lerner 2002) – still as a field of potential religious wealth. represents a bastion of Roman-ness. This fact The process we are attempting to highlight has attests the existence and relevance of a non- a long history and can be traced back to at least Catholic foundation of Roman identity. the Middle Ages. However, it became visible in In other cases, the intertwining of religious all its dimensions in the early 1980s with the and civic identity tended to be imposed on the arrival of non-Judeo-Christian and non-European Catholic Church by the religious minority rather cultural traditions of global migrations from the than the other way round, expressing once again post-colonial world. the strong attractiveness of the Catholic main- The biggest mosque in Western Europe is a stream, which, however, lacks the power to prominent sign of this social transformation in homogenise. Until 1870, when Rome was first Rome. It is located in the northern sector of the ruled by a religious authority, reformed Christian city, and its construction exposes the conjunc- churches were not allowed to officiate in spe- tion of economic, political and entirely symbolic cialised religious buildings (i.e. ‘churches’ and drivers of social life. ‘temples’) within the Aurelian walls. This restric- In the early 1970s, Italy was still a country of tion was subsequently extended to the city limits emigrants (positive net migration was reached and then to the border with the Ager Romanus in the mid-1970s) and there were few Muslims wilderness. Once papal Rome fell into the hands in Rome or Italy as a whole, with the exception of the Italian Army and became Italian, the new of the staff in the embassies and consulates of constitution allowed freedom of worship on Muslim countries and a few scattered histori- national territory, including Rome. Less than two cal communities in Sicily. One cannot help but weeks after this was sanctioned, Episcopalians in wonder exactly why “the Islamic Cultural Centre Rome resolved to ask for funds to build a church and the ambassadors of all the Muslim countries ‘within the walls’5. Two years later, they were assigned to Italy and the Vatican” (Salama 2001: able to purchase land on the newly planned, 3) informally requested the Italian President to then incomplete, via Nazionale. In November give them a place on which to build a mosque in 1872, the ground was broken for the foundations Rome. Nor is it self-evident from purely demo- of the new church, to be dedicated to Saint Paul, graphic data why the then King Faisal of Saudi ‘Apostle of the Gentiles.’ Since Rome already had Arabia, in the same period, expressed his desire a basilica called San Paolo outside the walls, the to make a generous contribution towards the new church was spontaneously, yet symbolically building of a new place for Muslims to pray in no less relevant and confrontational, named St. Rome. Understanding how this external desire Paul’s Within the Walls. St. Peter and St. Paul, who of a tiny presence led to the construction of the had always represented two rather distant con- huge Roman Mosque and Islamic Centre is a ceptions of Christianity that eventually came to complex matter and involves untangling a -par epitomise Catholic and Protestant views respec- ticularly Roman strand of local political life. tively, were now sharing the same place, the city The growing economic and political relevance of Rome. The pattern seems clear: the presence of Muslim countries from the 1970s onwards and public manifestation of religious diversity is brought about a newly constructed represen- triggered by the image of compact homogeneity tation of Islam as a sign of difference from ‘the the city is keen to present to the unaware visitor. West’. The Muslim faith was seeking renewed Far from levelling out alternate religious beliefs visibility, and ended up becoming the pivotal and practises, a strong unified political centrality element of a multiplied, multifarious notion of modernity where religion acquired an utterly dif- 5 http://www.stpaulsrome.it/visit-us/history/ (Ac- ferent meaning from that of standard modernity cessed 2 March 2016).

80 Rome as a Religious Global City New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

theories (Hefner 1998). While this global flow of cultural maintenance of ethnoscapes, the Islamic revival was taking shape across the world, push and pull of migration creates the con- Rome was attempting a new approach to religion ditions for a highly likely confrontation with in the public sphere, via the transformation of religious diversity. ‘When in Rome, do as the local politics. Romans do’ should be read differently from In 1975 the famous art historian Carlo Giulio its usual interpretation. The saying does not Argan was elected to the city council in the lists necessarily imply social pressure to conform of the Communist Party and appointed Mayor of or a passive adaptation to the law of the land. Rome. This was a significant transformation for Rather, it could be read as ‘when confronted a city where the secular authorities had always with a local context, learn local forms of com- paid formal respect to the Vatican with a long list munication and adapt to them.’ Since Rome of Christian Democrat mayors since 1946. Shortly is commonly seen as a religious centre, once after the new start heralded by his appointment, diversity enters, it starts communicating sub Argan made the ‘post-secular move’ of foster- specie religionis, namely expressing itself ing a brand new form of dialogue with religion. according to a religious language, whatever Instead of taking the modern layman’s approach that may be. Conversely, for those seeking of disregarding the role of Catholic power as a to emphasize their religious specificity, there naturally declining relic from the past that was could be no better stage than Rome, where yielding to the secular, Argan opened the door every religious detail is highlighted by the to dialogue with religious difference, donating genius loci. There is positive feedback here on 30,000 m² of land to the Muslims in Rome for two levels: Rome tends to ask difference for building a mosque. An international contest was a translation into a religious jargon in order announced for the following year and the con- to make this difference understandable to struction project was launched. Notwithstand- the local inflection; and the city attracts reli- ing major difficulties, delays and the opposition gious difference like a magnet in its quest for of Italian residents in Rome, the premises were visibility and recognition. We argue that this inaugurated in 1995 and now house an impor- speaks volumes about why there are other tant library of Islamic books, a conference hall ‘record-breaking’ religious premises in Rome, and a stunning mosque that opens its doors to a such as the Buddhist Temple, or the Mormon truly international Muslim community for meet- Temple currently under construction. ings and prayers every Friday. The first, Hua Yi Si, run by the eponymous The point we are seeking to make here is association in collaboration with the ‘Unione quite simple but nevertheless central to any Buddhista Italiana’ (UBI), is the biggest Chinese theory of religious diversity: Rome would not Zen Temple in Europe and opened a year after host the biggest mosque in Western Europe an agreement was signed in 2013 between the were it not for the moral and spiritual dimen- UBI and the Italian State. It was built with funds sions of St. Peter’s Square. Nor would it have donated by the Chinese population in Italy and St. Paul’s within the Walls without St. Paul’s Taiwan. It is located in the eastern suburbs of the outside, and the city’s strong identity and city, in the Chinese community’s wholesale busi- cultural ethos would be less clear without ness district, which moved to the area in 2000. the Jewish bastion of Roman purity, however The pagoda-style temple stands out among the paradoxical that might seem. A pure image warehouses and containers. Initially designed as of uniform belonging calls for religious diver- a branch of another smaller temple in the Esqui- sity, and once globalization sets in motion lino district, Hua Yi Si has become more impor- religions as ideoscapes (Appadurai 1996), tant due to its size and value as perceived by i.e., ideological frameworks necessary to the the community. It particularly represents immi-

81 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

grants’ communities – its inauguration in Rome The five examples we have discussed so far, was attended by Chinese communities from cit- although they are different, nonetheless share ies such as Naples, Pisa, Brescia – while its bonds a common generative matrix, namely the rela- with Italian Buddhist communities are quite tion between urban space, religious diversity weak (Scialdone 2013). and identity processes. Were there a rule, it If we now consider the Mormon Temple of would probably read: no matter what your his- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, torical or geographical distance from Rome, once we again witness an extraordinary process of you settle in Rome you should establish your emplacement by a non-Catholic religious group own architectural expression of your religious in a mainly Catholic city. The Temple, which will specificity. When in Rome, build as the Romans be completed in late 2017 (although no official do; in other words, use the language of public opening dates have been announced), will be building design to display your specific identity. the twelfth temple of its kind in Europe and the In this way, the emancipated Jews accordingly first in Italy as a further step in the international accepted the total destruction of the ghetto, expansion of one of the most opulent religious which was replaced with a grandiose synagogue organisations in the world. According to the pre- with unusual ‘Oriental’ décor in one of the city’s sentation given by the community, the temple is districts; the Episcopalians wanted to have their a grandiose religious, cultural and architectural non-Catholic church as close as possible to the project, designed to measure ‘up to’ the Eter- city center; the Muslims created a place far too nal City. The vast construction site stands on an big for their numbers; the Chinese de-ethnicized elevated 15-acre site in northeast Rome, and and re-spiritualized their presence in Rome, and will become a magnificent temple with a center- the Mormons are still attempting to avoid local piece consisting of a complex of buildings with a prejudice by erecting their magnificent temple. meeting house, a visitor center with exhibitions There are, of course, differences among these about the Mormons, a family history library pro- stances and they most likely attest the inner het- viding facilities and equipment for genealogical erogeneity of spatial strategies within the ana- research6, and an accommodation centre. For lytical category of place making (Becci, Burchard the Mormons, as for the Buddhists, the process and Giorda 2016). The Jews and the Chinese of seeking a concordat with the Italian State, present a statement of their religious identity which occurred in parallel with the rapid growth against the background of what could other- of the Mormon Church in Italy (around 30,000 wise be perceived as an ethnic or even a racial members, with over 2,000 in Rome alone)7, was character. The Muslims and the Mormons wield relatively quick and was finalized by 2012. The their grandiloquent architectures as guarantors relative rapidity of this legal recognition, com- of their religious relevance, while the Episcopa- pared to other religious groups that have been lians are more interested in promoting a defi- present for much longer in Italy, indicates the ant image of non-submissive Christians. They all remarkable efficiency of this community, sup- seem to have “expressed their inner identity” by ported by its close bonds with the United States, embedding it in the ethos of their places: The a cultural context which was (is) – if not fully hos- Jews have accepted modernity, the Episcopalians tile – rife with prejudice toward the Mormons have once again denied Papal authority, the Mus- (Naso 2013). lims have humbly raised their heads, the Chinese have superseded materialism and the Mormons 6 The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints continue wearing their usual ties and badges. practices ‘Baptism for the Dead’ which requires gene- Difference (old and new, social or racial, con- alogical research for the ‘salvation of ancestors’ souls’. solidated or fragile) in Rome expresses itself in a 7 See the presences counted by the CESNUR research group (www.cesnur.com). religious form through the identification of spe-

82 Rome as a Religious Global City New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

cific places that entail dialogue or confrontation ranean river’ of diffuse (Cipriani 1988) or implicit with ‘traditional’ (namely, Catholic) places of reli- (Nesti 1994) religiosity, while keeping their speci- giosity. ficity and respective distance. Even if they do not attend church, locals tend to participate in parish Rome and Diversity: The Local and the Global activities like processions and patron saints’ fes- We have seen how the homogenous image of tivals and, more importantly, they participate in Rome attracts self-aware religious diversity like ‘their own’ patron saint’s festivals, and not others. a brightly lit stage, inciting those who come for This is related to the fragmentation of the urban other reasons to express themselves in a reli- fabric, which conjures up the image of many gious jargon. As we approach the conclusion, we pockets of Roman-ness half-heartedly fighting need to explain how Catholicism has worked in a one another. Like all village processions in the double sense, both as a producer of locality and Catholic world, each parish procession winds as a public projector of its Roman image on the its way around its borders and delimits the par- transnational stage, in order to understand how ticipants’ sense of belonging. In the summer in it intensifies both the local and the global dimen- particular (although there are also processions in sions of religious diversity. winter), different parts of the city, from the cen- In the last fifty years, as a participant in the ter to the periphery, are decorated for the ‘Feast mediatization of social life, Rome has emphati- of the Saint.’ A few roads are closed to traffic and cally offered itself as a perfect representative stands are installed for the fair, while the com- of ‘urban religiosity,’ and a ‘religious brand’ to mittee prepares the inevitable lottery and lucky the world (Usunier and Stolz 2014). At the same dip, enlists the brass band to lead the procession time, locals and newcomers alike must translate and organizes the fireworks. From Madonna dei their cultural diversity into a religious discourse, Monti to the Immacolata of San Lorenzo, to the thus transforming foreigners into residents at lesser-known parishes outside the walls, there the very local level of literally parochial identity. are dozens of processions in Rome, all perform- In a nutshell, while a pious Muslim (or Ortho- ing their role of reinforcing the territorial bound- dox Christian, or Buddhist, or other) comes to aries of the parish – as the notion of ‘parochial Rome because s/he recognizes the Eternal City package’ indicates (Nelson and Gorsky 2014). as a successful brand of global religiosity, s/he The pervasive presence of small urban shrines, is of course aware of that quality before coming, tiny chapels and kiosks fortifies this foundational and s/he will retain this idea, which will become role of religion at a local level, but in Rome it heightened in his/her further movements; a takes a particular twist with the inclusion ofa non-pious Muslim (or other) may re-discover the pilgrimage. While processions confirm the -par faith of his/her ancestors when confronted with ticipants’ territorial ownership, pilgrimages the intrusive religious discourse that permeates place the pilgrims outside their known world Rome at a very local dimension, and relate that and challenge them to reach to the sacred place reborn religious identity to ongoing local prac- by crossing the unknown. In this respect, pilgrim- tices. age is structurally linked to tourism (Badone and From a socio-anthropological point of view, Roseman 2004) and migration because, out of we note first of all the apparently flamboyant necessity, it offers the opportunity of inclusion to diversity of popular Catholicism practiced by the stranger. The pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of ordinary Italians, in which Rome creates various Divino Amore (Divine Love) is a good example of and well delimited senses of locality and con- the way pilgrimages can be incorporated into the tributes to the emergence of an overall urban city structure as well as generate a sense of local- dimension in the form of a patchwork of popular ity. The story of this pilgrimage recounts that, in pieties. Together they then flow into a -‘subter 1740, a traveler got lost on his way to St. Peter’s

83 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

Church in Rome and was attacked by a pack of (ex-voto), notes jotted in many scripts and lan- stray dogs in the wilderness. In great distress, guages and left by non-Roman, non-Italian citi- he saw an icon of the Holy Virgin and cried out zens on the sanctuary walls, as well as around for help to the Mother of God. The dogs calmed the city. Ex-voto are very important in popular down and the man was rescued by some shep- Catholicism because they connect people to a herds who gave him directions to Rome. The saint and to a specific place through the saint’s story of the miracle quickly spread, and a sanctu- image. There are many small shrines in Rome ary was built on the site of the icon, becoming (at least 23, according to our investigation) with a devotional pilgrimage destination. During the replicas of the Divino Amore. These shrines are Second World War the Pope consecrated the city the object of an intense movement of people of Rome to the Virgin of the Sanctuary of Divine from all over the world that engenders a sense Love as protection against the bombardments of locality, i.e., it enables those who participate (Canta 2004: 198). Once the war was over, the in this aspect of popular piety to feel they ‘own’ Romans paid their debt to the Virgin and began the city. building a new sanctuary, which was inaugurated However, this is only half the story. While the by John Paul II in 1999. Catholic Church has become a source of local- The key point we want to make is this: what ization by offering a discourse of piety in which was originally a pilgrimage that brought Romans religious difference has been able to carve up its ‘fuori porta’ (outside the walls), became, with role and space in the city, it has also been able urban expansion, a movement of and within to exploit its universal role to propose a truly the city itself, transforming the pilgrimage into global dimension of its image by accepting and a meta-procession that established the over- taking its stereotypical image as the heart of arching city limits. Instead of setting Romans in Christendom seriously. The principal advocate motion, the Divino Amore pilgrimage produced of this globalized approach to the Catholic reli- Roman citizenship, expanding the geographical gion was John Paul II, the Polish Pope who revo- and social dimensions of belonging. What used lutionized the relationship between Catholicism to be a journey to the sacred for Roman popular and the media (Mazza 2006). He was fully aware piety and the lower classes, steadily turned into that the media not only represented social real- a rite of passage towards a fully-fledged Roman ity but also worked to create it (Fazio 1997), and identity for the multitudes of immigrants from from the outset of his papacy, he travelled the central and southern Italy that were striving to world, establishing a global Pope-scape that find their place in the metropolis in the second made him one of the most influential political half of the 20th century. Just as Romans went leaders of the 20th century by intersecting the to Divino Amore (when it still was a pilgrimage mythical and mystical dimensions of the papacy crossing the unknown to the sacred), immigrants (Melady 1999). He organized media events like from southern Italy – who came from villages the World Youth Days, which have had a last- where the sense of participating in the patron ing effect on the overall communication system saint’s procession was strong – became Romans of Catholicism and other religions. For our pur- by participating in the Divino Amore meta-pro- poses, suffice to say that his papacy signaled the cession. This discourse of belonging through a entry of Catholicism into the global mediascape, local rhetoric of piety has been employed by for- a growing intersection of images and words that eigners as well, as is shown by the many foreign- circulate across the globe and arrive in specific ers from Catholic, Christian Orthodox and even territories to be read according to local knowl- Muslim backgrounds who go to Divino Amore edge. This is the opposite movement to the (Canta 2004: 123-134). Visual evidence of this one described in the Divino Amore procession, can be seen in the profusion of votive offerings namely an explosion of local identity onto the

84 Rome as a Religious Global City New Diversities 18 (1), 2016

global scene. The ‘Roman means of religious pro- business into the global form for which the par- duction’ became morally available to the rest of ticular city had developed a specific expertise. In the world, which has reacted by refracting the our hypothesis, the increase in religious diversity model into its multifarious local forms. Once in Rome works on a similar double development again, though, diversity takes off and is enhanced path. The strong social representation of Rome by the compactness of the model to which it as a religiously marked area attracts assorted responds. self-aware religious presences at the same time as pushing other forms of diversity to express Conclusion: Rome as a Religious Global City themselves in a religious configuration: attracted We maintain that super-diversity is developing religious diversity plus diversity uttered in a reli- on a global scale by means of the same two- gious inflection equals religious super-diversity. fold path (hyper-local and global) that we have Looking back at what we have collected in the described for the Catholic tradition in the urban form of stories and narratives of the places of space of Rome. More generally, the more a place worship we have discussed, there seems to be has a recognizable religious dimension, the more a persistent coherence between these – albeit it may become a producer, a place of exchange global – spatial projects with the inner grammars and consumer of religious diversity. The widely of their specific religious traditions and cultures. recognized status of Rome as a ‘religious city’ As far as developing research allows us to gen- due to its historical conjunction with theC atholic eralize, we would not refer to this as a standard- Church is precisely what appears to contribute to ization, or in Roy’s terms ‘formatting’ (Roy 2010: the ongoing and growing macro-appropriation of 187-91), effect of globalization on religions, if the urban space by diverse religious groups. the notion entails a disentanglement of religions We have striven to provide evidence that this from their local frameworks to circulate more paradox is only apparent. A handy way to clarify freely worldwide and intersect with other ‘float- the point one last time is by using the theory of ing cultural markers’. Nor does it seem possible the global city formulated in the 1980s. Accord- to claim that the Catholic model has been working to this theoretical perspective on the eco- ing as a pressurizing element, inducing ‘other nomic process of globalization in an urban con- religions’ to somehow reproduce this model, text, the headquarters of big transnational cor- e.g. in the design of architectures, spatial orga- porations began to concentrate in post-industrial nization of the sacred or chaplaincy services and cities such as London, New York, San Francisco so on. However, in cases when this pressure is and Tokyo at a time when the availability of basic applied – we guess more at the hyper-local than service infrastructures for banking, accounting the macroscopic level – it is more likely the lack and legal support transformed these cities into of resources and unequal distribution of power global attractors (Cohen 1981, Friedmann and that force the ‘less equipped’ into certain social, Wolf 1982, Sassen 1991). Whatever their busi- cultural and spatial constraints. ness, if firms wanted to ‘go global,’ they had to Our reconstruction also moves away from con- rely on complex service networks, only avail- servative theses that claim theC hristian-Catholic able and fully efficient in very few ‘global- cit tradition and civitas are the ‘core’ of religiosity, ies.’ This made those spaces even more ‘global’ the guardian of sacredness per se and the neces- in a snowball effect where an initial nucleus of sary controller of the ‘traffic’ of pluralism (Pabst services catered to the needs of the precursors and Milbank 2012). Instead of being a center while simultaneously attracting new competitors. around which religious diversity revolves for Conversely, corporate groups historically present good and for bad, Catholicism in Rome seems to in the global cities tended to adapt to the new work more as a glittering stage, enticing old play- economic environment by converting their core ers that are still seeking fame and fortune and

85 New Diversities 18 (1), 2016 Valeria Fabretti and Piero Vereni

even attracting those who had never thought of the variously religious and spiritual. According to treading the boards before. our data and analysis, Rome is definitely a clear The global city effect does not resolve itself case of religious super-diversity. To what extent into absorbing diversity into a monolithic model. that diversity is a precursor of postsecular social On the contrary, only a few cities have developed life in terms of values and deeds is something into distinct global cities and have allowed, if not that remains to be further explored in future facilitated, a tremendous growth of difference research. within their confines. We should not forget that both the global city standard theory (Sassen 1991) and the super-diversity theory (Vertovec 2007) References were elaborated with a central model based on Angelucci, A., M. Bombardieri, and D. Tac- a very restricted set of cities, one or two in par- chini, eds. 2014. Islam e integrazione in Italia. ticular, namely London and New York. Keeping Venice: Marsilio. Allievi, S. 2010. La guerra delle moschee. Venice: this paradigm in mind, we are now able to accept Marsilio. once and for all that economic globalization does Appadurai, A. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural not always mean cultural homogenization, and Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: Min- quite often, it means the opposite. If we take nesota University Press. religions as a specific case of cultural difference, Badone, E., and S.R. Roseman, eds. 2004. Inter- there is no apparent contradiction in combining secting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrim- the moulding effect of one specific religion for a age and Tourism. Urbana: University of Illinois city (Catholicism for Rome) with the bourgeon- Press. ing of religious diversity in the same place. Baker C., and J. Beaumont. 2011. Postsecular Cities: Religious Space, Theory and Practice Finally, super-diversity in Rome, from a spatial . Lon- don: Continuum. point of view, refers to an articulated and com- Becci, I., M. Burchardt, and J. Casanova. plex stratification and partial overlapping of- lay 2013. Topographies of Faith. Religion in Urban ers from hyper-local to global. If super-diversity Space. Leiden: Brill. were able to open up new opportunities for mul- Becci, I., M. Burchardt, and M. Giorda. (2016). tifaceted identities to meet and exchange, as we “Religious Super-Diversity and Spatial Strate- hypothesize, this condition potentially seems to gies in Two European Cities.” Current Sociology, configure Rome as an overexposed space for post- doi: 0011392116632030. secularism. The postsecular condition that this Beckford, J. A. 2014. “Re-Thinking Religious Plu- article explores involves a complex interaction ralism.” In Religious Pluralism: Framing Religious Diversity in the Contemporary World, edited by of communicative spheres that may be syntheti- G. Giordan and E. Pace, 15-30. New York: Spring- cally represented as two spaces: the first space er. is composed of secularism and religiosity, while Burchardt, M., M. Wohlrab-Sahr, and the second space involves different religions. In M. Middell, eds. 2015. Multiple Secularities these two spaces, actors confront, debate and Beyond the West: Religion and Modernity in the communicate in the public sphere. The fact that Global Age. Berlin: De Gruyter. religious communities and social places both Canta, C.C. 2004. Sfondare la notte. Religiosità, strive to keep their own identities alive and well modernità e cultura nel pellegrinaggio notturno – locating them, of course, in the Italian cultural, alla Madonna del Divino Amore. Milan: Franco Angeli. social and geographical context – guarantees the Cappelletti, S. 2006. The Jewish Community of common will to make that space of diversity sur- Rome. From the Second Century B.C. to the Third vive in Rome, while possibly triggering virtuous Century C.E. Leiden: Brill. – and not necessarily hostile – relationships and Casanova, J. 1994. Public Religions in the Mod- mutual reconfiguration between the secular and ern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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Note on the Authors Valeria Fabretti earned a PhD in sociology in the program entitled ‘Social Systems, Organizations and Public Policy Analysis’. She teaches Sociology at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ and she is a research fellow in Sociology at the Department of ‘Social and Economical Sciences’ of the University of Rome ‘Sapienza’. She is a member of the ‘Centre for the Study and Documentation on Religion and Political Institutions in Postsecular Society’ (CSPS). Her studies mainly regard pluralism and the governance of cultural and religious diversities in public institutions and social spaces. Her recent publications include: Learning from religions. Post-secular Schools and the Challenge of Pluralism, in ‘Italian Journal of Sociology of Education’, n. 2 2013; Dealing with Religious Differences in Italian Prisons: Relationships between Institutions and Communities from Misrecognition toMutual Transformation, in ‘International Journal of Politics,C ulture and Society’, volume 28/1 2015. Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Piero Vereni is associate professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ and contract professor of Urban and Global Rome at Trinity College – Rome Campus. He did fieldwork in Western Greek Macedonia (1995-97) and the Irish land boundary (1998- 99). He is now working on fatherhood and globalization in Rome. His publications include: “Foreign Pupils, Bad Citizens. The Public Construction of Difference in a Roman School”, in Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City, edited by B. Thomassen, I. Clough Marinaro (2014); “Cosmopolitismi liminari. Strategie di identità e categorizzazione tra cultura e classe nelle occupazioni a scopo abitativo a Roma”, ANUAC, 4, 2: 130-156 (2015). Email: [email protected]