Constructing the Moral Community: Women’s Use of Dream Narratives in a Russian-Orthodox Karelian Village
Laura Stark, Irma-Riitta Järvinen, Senni Timonen, Terhi Utriainen
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks 1996 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-24685-4_12 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 3 |
| Key points | Argues that the construction of a 'moral community' through religious values and ritual action can serve as a basis for ethnic identity and be used in discourse to promote arguments about ethnic differences and rights, even when not all members develop ethnic consciousness. The chapter examines the often-hidden processes behind this construction in small, religiously and linguistically diverse villages of the former Soviet Union. |
Abstract
In the wake of the collapse of Communism, religious and ethnic revivalism have emerged as major elements of social change in the former Soviet Union, playing themselves out on national, regional and community levels. This chapter focuses on community, and examines the dialectic between (i) religious values and (ii) the construction of a ‘moral community’, which is in turn a basis for ethnic identity. The construction of a moral community does not necessarily imply an ethnic consciousness in all members, but can be used in discourse to promote arguments concerning ethnic differences and ethnic rights. Questions examined include: What is this ‘moral community’ based on? What are the processes, often hidden from public view, behind its construction? If, as anthropologists suggest, a sense of community is constructed in part through ritual action, how do people identify with this ritual action and how do they decide what ritual action means for individuals and groups? How is ritual meaning utilised in the construction of community at the micro-level in small villages whose inhabitants have different linguistic historical and religious backgrounds?