Centre for the Study of Culture and Society

English abstract: In this article, I will demonstrate how feasts and festivals serve as effective analytical tools to comprehend the diversity within the Hindu tradition. I will use the two festivals: Holī and Dīvalī as examples. Additionally, I aim to explore whether the historical anchors of a festival, or multiple anchors, have significance for the interpretative potential associated with the festival today. I will particularly focus on whether the festival is strongly or weakly tied to one or more myths and whether it has a tribal/early archaic or archaic origin. I will also investigate if certain festivals within the Hindu tradition seem more adaptable to new contexts outside of India than other. Dansk resume: I denne artikel vil jeg demonstrere, hvordan fester og festivaler er et godt analyseredskab til at forstå den hinduistiske tradition i sin mangfoldighed, men også til at undersøge, om festens historiske forankringspunkt eller forankringspunkter har betydning for det fortolkningspotentiale, man kan knytte til festen i dag. Her vil jeg særligt tage udgangspunkt i de to fester Holī og Dīvalī. Et analytisk omdrejningspunkt er, om festen knytter sig stærkt eller svagt til en eller flere myter, og om den har et tribalt/tidlig arkaisk eller et arkaisk ophav. Jeg vil også undersøge om visse fester inden for den hinduistiske er mere adaptiv til nye sammenhænge uden for Indien end andre. Keywords: Holī; Divāli; adaption; mythological strong, mythological weak

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between Old Norse feasts and gender. Following Michael Dietler’s claim that examinations of gender offer insights into the practices of feasts of a given culture and vice versa, I analyse two Old Norse myths that both depict the god Thor attending feasts hosted by giants. I argue that Old Norse feasts were domains where relations were regulated and maintained, and where everyday norms were transgressed in order to strengthen and maintain society. In both myths, masculinities in particular are challenged and transformed. I apply gender theories by R. W. Connell and Judith Butler to analyse how transformations of masculinity provide insights into the established gender order of Old Norse society. DANSK RESUMÉ: Formålet med denne artikel er at undersøge forholdet mellem norrøne fester og køn. Inspireret af Michael Dietlers påstand om at studier af kønsforestillinger tilbyder indsigter i en given kulturs festpraksisser og omvendt, analyserer jeg to norrøne myter om guden Thor der indebærer hans deltagelse i jættefester. Jeg argumenterer for at norrøne fester var domæner hvor dominans blev reguleret og opretholdt, og hvor hverdagens normer blev overskredet for at styrke og opretholde samfundet. I begge myter bliver især maskuliniteter udfordret og transformeret ved festerne. Jeg anvender kønsteorier af R. W. Connell og Judith Butler i min analyse af hvordan transformationer af maskulinitet tilbyder indsigt i den etablerede kønsorden i det norrøne samfund.

På Aarhus Universitet er Arabisk- og islamstudier en selvstændig uddannelse, som er knyttet til Afdeling for Religionsvidenskab. Den 29. oktober 2021 afholdte afdelingen sit 30-års jubilæum. I den anledning præsenterede Mattias Gori Olesen denne tale om ‘ægteskabet’ mellem Arabisk- og islamstudier og Religionsvidenskab.

ABSTRACT: Inspired by the concept of Cultural Christianity, we investigate if something like Cultural Asatru exists in Denmark. A Cultural Asatru person may not believe in or worship the Old Norse gods, but may still identify with a pre-Christian heritage, believe that Danish values stem from Old Norse culture, and see Old Norse myths as original expressions of these values. We have used qualitative and quantitative methods to examine such beliefs and attitudes in 30 participants. The study was designed as a proof-of-concept study to evaluate whether cultural Asatru exists in Denmark, and if so, how this construct can be measured empirically. We find that national conservative Danes identify with Christian as well as Old Norse culture. The virtues of strength, courage, and vigor seem to be strongly associated with Old Norse heritage, while forgiveness, love, and compassion are associated with a Christian heritage. Gender equality, appreciation of nature, and the concept of Danishness appear to be associated more with Old Norse culture than with Christian culture. Strength and courage, which seem to express the essence of Old Norse culture, are heavily associated with the god Thor and the widespread wearing of Thor’s hammer pendants.
 RESUME: Vi undersøger danskernes forhold til oldnordisk kultur. Inspireret af begrebet kulturkristendom undersøger vi, om der også findes kulturasetro i Danmark. For at være kulturasetro behøver man hverken at tro på eller dyrke de hedenske guder. Til gengæld identificerer man sig med den oldnordiske kulturarv, anser danske værdier for at være oldnordiske og opfatter oldnordiske myter som oprindelige udtryk for disse værdier. Vi har undersøgt 30 deltageres forhold til oldnordisk kultur og mytologi ved hjælp af både kvalitative og kvantitative mål. Undersøgelsen er designet som et proof-of-concept studie, der i første omgang skal vurdere, om der overhovedet findes kulturasetro i Danmark. Vi finder i undersøgelsen, at nationalkonservative deltagere identificerer sig med både kristen og oldnordisk kultur. Generelt tilskrives værdier som styrke, mod og handlekraft en oldnordisk kultur, mens tilgivelse, kærlighed og barmhjertighed tilskrives en kristen kultur. Lighed mellem køn, naturglæde og selve begrebet danskhed forbindes i højere grad med oldnordisk kultur end med kristen kultur. Styrke og mod synes at udgøre selve essensen af oldnordisk kultur, og disse kerneværdier kædes sammen med guden Thor og med det at bære thorshammeren om halsen.

This chapter wishes to understand the mechanisms of how conceptions of gender and love developed in ancient Israelite-Jewish culture without leaving the effects of material aspects of gender and love beyond analytical commentary. To do so, it synthesises Foucault on power’s investment in points of resistance, Butler on the premises of subversion, Haraway and Barad on the effects of materiality in diffraction patterns, and Grosz on individual impetuses to resist discursive pressure. With this theoretical apparatus, biblical and early rabbinic texts are analysed to assess when genderqueer bodies and deviating practices of love affect in/-tolerance and/or ex-/inclusion.

Review-artikel: Paulus som forløber for det liberale demokrati: en trosfanatikers budskab til nutiden

angles and their signi icance to everyday life.The editors and contributors believe that research on such a multifaceted and potentially elusive phenomenon calls for cooperation between diverse disciplines to conduct a cross-methodological investigation.The book therefore offers the audience a variety of methods, approaches, and, expectedly, results.The structure of the book proposes therefore a division into three thematical sections, preceded by introductory remarks on political developments on eleventh-to twelfth-century Iceland by J ó n Vidar Sigurdsson (University of Oslo).