Shifting Contexts
Asynchronous Session
Self-Transcendence and Consumerism in Late Capitalism: From Dichotomy to Dialectic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session William Tilleczek
A common critique of contemporary capitalism is that it incites to consumption: more food, more drink, more luxury goods; the very success of capitalism as an economic and social system is predicated on this consumerism. According to cultural critics like Daniel Bell and Philipp Rieff, capitalism thus represents the death of an ancient and honorable form of ethical life known as ‘asceticism.’ It is no longer possible to live a life of self-deprivation oriented towards super-material, spiritual, ‘higher’ purposes, whether personal or political. With the advent of neoliberalism, however, and the emergence of new markets in self-improvement, this traditional assessment needs to be complicated. Neoliberal capitalism requires a form of consumption that is at the same time an asceticism, in the proper sense of the term: repeated practices of the self that transform the practicing self. Yoga, mindfulness, fitness, and even the classically ascetic practice of fasting have become so many products to purchase and ‘consume.’ This is a form of consumption that is directly ascetic and a form of asceticism that passes via the consumption of product-practices. Indeed, one can even speak of an ‘ascetic imperative’ today in so far as the maximization of human capital requires a constant work on the self in order to remain competitive in the market economy. In a word: producers consume practices that maximize their productive capacities in turn. A full understanding of the role of spirituality and asceticism in contemporary society requires moving from an asceticism/consumerism dichotomy to a subtler dialectical approach.
The Images of the Female Monastic in the Nectar Ritual Paintings : Gender, Public Space, and Ritual Authority in Chosŏn Buddhism View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hyangsoon Yi
This paper concerns the representation of Buddhist nuns in the Buddhist nectar ritual paintings. Originating in the Chosŏn kingdom (1392-1910), these paintings depict Buddhist rites that are performed to save sentient beings from the sufferings of samsara by offering sweet nectar to them. Presently, there are about seventy extant paintings. I analyze the nuns’ images in the nectar ritual paintings from a socio-religious point of view. I first explain the definition of this genre and the historical context of its emergence in the sixteenth century. The second part of my paper examines the salient iconographic characteristics of the Buddhist nun figures, focusing on their robes and postures. In the last section of my article, I discuss the social and religious significance of the display of the nun images in the public space during a Buddhist salvation ritual. My paper counters the widely accepted view that the nuns’ lineage had vanished by mid-Chosŏn due to anti-Buddhist measures taken by the pro-Confucian kings. The vibrant iconographic representation of the nuns strongly suggests that they were actively engaged in the lives of the commoners, contrary to the claim that they had become “invisible” in mainstream Chosŏn society. As evidence of my point, I show the surprising portrayals of the nuns as the performers of the ritual, which clearly attest to the historical continuity of their sangha throughout Chosŏn.
The Emergence of Free Market (Religious) Pluralism in the U.S. Military (1970s-1990s): The Chaplaincy’s Role in its Enactment View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jessica Sitek
This paper examines the model of religious pluralism promoted in the U.S. military through the agency of the chaplaincy in the period between the Vietnam and Gulf Wars--a model I call free market (religious) pluralism. I demonstrate the way this form of pluralism was informed by a shift in US constitutional jurisprudence in which there was a growing emphasis on the free exercise of religion over the separation of church and state. This shift is especially evident in the Katcoff v Marsh case of 1979 in which the military chaplaincy was charged with violating the U.S. constitution. In response, the military began to frame the work of the chaplaincy as a “free exercise” role meant to protect the constitutional right of religion among individuals who are free to choose a form of religious expression from among military sanctioned options in the marketplace of religion. Close reading and analysis of the Military Chaplains’ Review, a Department of Defense (DOD) publication (1971-1992), along with literature on pluralism, will be used to show more clearly the institutional production of free market (religious) pluralism within the military, and the challenges this posed for its chaplains who were tasked with its implementation. Ultimately, the religion positive posture of free market pluralism recast the chaplaincy as a generic service to all military personnel, without addressing the existential tension many military chaplains began to feel between expressing their particular religious identity and being a generic something to everyone they serve.
Commercialized Consecration: Pop Culture Villainy in Modern Spirituality View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Matthew Hodge
The ever-growing fusion of popular culture into belief systems has produced a 21st-century boom in commercialized religious and spiritual byproducts. Subsequently, practitioners of belief systems are also simultaneously consumers of mainstream entertainment. From comic book themed sermons and graphic adaptations of the Bible, to the influences of Disney and cultural fairy tales onto cartomancy and divination decks, spiritual practices now offer a welcoming gateway for modern generations who feel affection towards pop culture fandoms. This paper explores various ways that religion and spirituality have commercialized and celebrated beloved fictional stories — especially in ways that highlight the deep fascinations contemporary audiences feel towards villains. Whether in a comic book, a Disney movie, a literary fairy tale, or biblical scripture, the pondering of ‘good’ versus ‘evil’ have never been more colorful or entertaining — especially the ‘evil’.
