International and Area Studies Commons^™

Catholics & Cultures As An Act Of Improvisation: A Response, Thomas M. Landy

Journal of Global Catholicism

This essay responds to seven articles published in the same issue of the Journal of Global Catholicism on the use of Catholics & Cultures, a multimedia website, as a pedagogical resource for college classrooms. The site is deliberately presented in a fashion that undermines notions of center and periphery and presents Catholicism from a lay, lived-religion perspective as the multicultural faith that it is, minimizing reference to religious typologies. Particular attention is given to how to navigate tensions around theorizing, categorizing and sorting information for cross-cultural comparison. Given scholars’ current state of knowledge, writing about and teaching about global Catholicism …

The Value Of Online Resources: Reflections On Teaching An Introduction To Global Christianity, Hillary Kaell

Journal of Global Catholicism

Reflecting on my experience teaching Introduction to Global Christianity, this essay ponders questions at the heart of undergraduate teaching: How can we encourage students to utilize online sources? How can we empower them to seek out answers to their questions? It offers practical examples of how I have used the Catholics & Cultures website in my classroom at a large public university. In particular, I reflect on my experience working with students who are mostly of Catholic heritage, but from many cultural and social contexts.

Teaching Sexuality On The Catholics & Cultures Website: A Refreshing Turn Toward The Longue Durée, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

I present a close reading of the Catholics & Cultures (C&C) website’s treatment of sexuality-related issues and discuss this material in relation to debates about how to teach sexuality in religious studies and theology classrooms. The C&C website occasionally and intermittently uses a typical “contemporary issues” approach that considers sexuality in relation to legal and legislative decisions and government policies. In contrast, country profiles consistently situate sexuality in relation processes like nation building, urbanization, and lay Catholics’ growing authority. My interpretation highlights the site’s decision to emphasize the longue durée, long-term and deep structural processes driving cultural and religious changes. …

Ritual Among The Scilohtac: Global Catholicism, The Nacirema, And Interfaith Studies, Anita Houck

Journal of Global Catholicism

More than six decades after its publication, Horace Miner’s 1956 article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” remains a reliable pedagogical tool, remarkably successful in helping students see their own ethnocentric biases. Catholics & Cultures has potential to do similar work. The site lacks some of what makes Miner’s text so effective, in particular its capacity to bring about a sudden shift in perception. The site also shares some of the article’s limitations, particularly in focusing on ritual to the relative exclusion of other aspects of religion. That said, the site can help students gain the religious literacy and develop the …

Focus On The Busy Intersections Of Culture And Cultural Change, Laura Elder

Journal of Global Catholicism

The dynamics of religious resurgence reveal the important ways that religious ritual and performance are meaning making spaces which are not self-contained or cut off from the rest of culture, but rather are a key locus of cultural change. A renewed emphasis on the busy intersections of meaning making – as rituals are connected, disconnected, and reconnected to other domains of social life – would improve the utility of the Catholics & Cultures website for understanding global cultural change. And a renewed emphasis on cultural change would also provide a better means for exploring reflexively by seeking to understand both …

A Widened Angle Of View: Teaching Theology And Racial Embodiment, Mara Brecht

Journal of Global Catholicism

Today’s undergraduate students are digital natives, shaped by constant access to information and countless experiences of encountering the world through the convenience of a screen. The ostensible comfort students have with difference gives way to a paradox, and one that’s made especially apparent in the theology classroom: Students are comfortable with seeing difference and particularity at a distance, but not adept at locating difference and particularity “at home.” I contend that Catholics & Cultures can help students from the dominant culture—namely, white students who comprise the vast majority of Catholic college students—destabilize their notion of the Catholic tradition as tightly …

Introducing Catholics & Cultures: Ethnography, Encyclopedia, Cyborg, Mathew N. Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

In introducing the Catholics & Cultures site and the articles in this special issue, this essay initially locates the overall Catholic & Cultures project within the traditions of ethnography and encyclopedia. Drawing extensively on the work of J. Z. Smith, this essay reflects upon the theoretical implications of emphasizing the diversity of Catholicism in and through a web-based platform that facilitates comparative study and pedagogy. This essay then more specifically considers the web-based aspects of Catholics & Cultures by identifying a nascent cyborgian aesthetic in the site and considering how the site might eventually engage post-modern themes and concerns.

Présence Francophone, Numéro 95

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

La Distribution En France Des Films D'Afrique Sud Saharienne Francophone, Patricia Caillé, Claude Forest

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Since the first such productions of the post-independence era, films directed by African filmmakers from former sub-Saharan French colonies have enjoyed very limited broadcast in theatres in France. Indeed, with very few exceptions, they have hardly been seen by French audiences at all. The image of the "festival film" - a label they were assigned - has had a significant negative impact, reinforcing their status as niche films reserved exclusively for film buffs. The few film titles that come up over and over again have led critics astray, restricting their view of this cinema to the places and stories portrayed …

La Diffusion Des Films Tunisiens Postrévolutionnaires, Emna Mrabet

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

After a long period of stagnation, Tunisian cinema is experiencing a new boom today. The postrevolutionary era is thus marked by an artistic proliferation which is reflected through a multiplication of cinematographic achievements. We witness a diversification of styles and aesthetics and the advent of trends that dare to question society on its taboos and the barriers it poses to the development of the individual. These new productions are often awarded prizes in international festivals and are supported by an essential event: The Carthage Film Festival. In light of these considerations, it is necessary in this article to observe in …

Watch Me If You Can! Un Cinéma Algérien En Quête De Diffusion Et De Réception, Salima Tenfiche

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

After a civil war that left more than 200 000 dead in Algeria in the 1990s, the return to peace in 2003 and the rise in the price of oil allowed Algerian cinema to return to the international scene. The state has invested several billion Algerian dinars since 2005 to revive film production and start renovating the country's four hundred movie theaters that had been abandoned since the late 1980s. Today, fifty-three movie theaters are functional throughout Algeria, yet they do not open their doors to the public. These movie theaters are still perceived as shady places, and they struggle …

Ousmane Sembène : Un Paradoxe Postcolonial Du Cinema Africain?, Mbaye Diouf, Edoardo Cagnan

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

How can we quantify the success of an African film in a postcolonial context? This article aims to answer this question by analyzing the case of Mooladé (2004), Ousmane Sembène's last full-length feature. The issues and the conditions of its circulation show the militant intention of the film-director, and we can notice a subtle competitive relation between the artistic value of the film and its pedagogical content, which is seen as politically acceptable in Africa. Budget and circulation issues put the spotlight on the tight situation of Francophone film industry: the imbalance of power relationships often forces the African film-director …

Parties Annexes (N° 95)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Présentation, Françoise Naudillon

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Le Cinéma Au Village : Les Beaux Jours Du Cinéma Ambulant Dans Les Années 1950, Odile Goerg

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Travelling by cart, but more often by train and later by automobile, films reached small towns and large villages alike. Travelling pictures were the first - and often the only - means of access to cinema for much of the African continent. They made it possible to reach the countryside, albeit randomly and sporadically.

To analyse the development of travelling pictures during the late colonial period, this article emphasises commercial, for-profit ventures rather than official, government-sponsored tours playing educational and propaganda films - though the line between the two was often blurred. Whether they functioned autonomously or were tied to …

« Made In Rdc ». Nouvelles Productions Filmiques Et Distributions Locales, Silvia Riva

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Compared to other African countries and despite the potential size of its audience, until the beginning of the new millennium, Congo DRC seemed to be lagging behind in its local film production. Guido Convents' work on Congolese cinema from the earliest times to the present shows a portrait of cinematography around the Congo, which takes into account cinema "for Congolese, by Congolese or with Congolese actors" for lack of an indigenous productive centrality, if not limited to feature films directed by Mwezé Ngangura and recognized authors of the diaspora (Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda, among others). With the success of the feature …

Abstracts (N° 95)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Front Matter And Table Of Contents (N° 95)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Les Festivals Des Minorités En Europe, Une Passerelle Vers Le Mena, Émilie Wacogne

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

We observe a proliferation of film festivals dedicated to Maghrebian and African cinemas in Europe. Several festivals include movies by directors from the Maghreb, the Near and Middle East, and Africa, as well as films by European filmmakers, descendants of immigrant parents. This phenomenon reflects the need for a visibility that continues to be lacking in European societies. It also shows the long process by which these guest workers settle in some European countries. We will mention the FameckArab Film Festival, the Arab Film Festival in Brussels and the Aflam Festival in Marseille. The link between the presence of festivals, …

La Réception Du Film De Mamady Sidibé, Lnspecteur Sori - Le Mamba, De L'Enquête Au Cliché, Franck Mbadinga

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This reflection shall use Mamady Sidibe's film lnspecteur Sori- Le mamba to question the characteristics of critical reception theories. It takes into account the orientation that the audience may assign to a broadcast film depending on how receptive it is to the film. By distinguishing two types of spectators (model and not), it also connects itself with Umberto Eco's reflections on the reader/spectator. From these reflections, it turns out that the horizons of expectations arising from a visual piece are consubstantial with hermeneutics that question the origins of the piece, not the piece itself. In other words, the film puts …

Index (N° 95)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Radna: The Holy Shrine Of The Multinational Banat Region (Romania), Erika Vass

Journal of Global Catholicism

Radna is the sacral heart of the Banat region in Romania. The shrine has united the Catholics for centuries in veneration of Virgin Mary regardless of their nationality and native language. Roman Catholic Bulgarians, Croatians (called Krashovani), Hungarians, Germans, Roma, Romanians, and Slovakians venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary together, but believers of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church also visit the sacred venue. Until the borders changed after the First World War, a great number of pilgrims had visited Radna every year from the region of the Great Hungarian Plain. The pilgrimage may be considered a rite of passage connecting …

Minor Letnica: (Re)Locating The Tradition Of Shared Worship In North Macedonia, Ksenia Trofimova

Journal of Global Catholicism

This paper addresses trajectories of historical and devotional continuity of the annual pilgrimage to a Marian shrine. It analyzes the ways in which traditional worship of the Catholic Church in Letnica (Kosovo)—a major regional sanctuary of the former Yugoslavia—is relocated and replicated in a small chapel of St. Joseph in Skopje (North Macedonia). Both sites have been for a long period of time institutionally connected and shared by followers of different religious traditions (Catholic and Orthodox devotees, and especially by Muslims). Drawing upon fieldwork carried out in Macedonia and Serbia between 2014-2019, I focus on the processes of social construction …

“Give Me Some Beautiful Holy Images That Are Colorful, Play Music, And Flash!” The Roma Pilgrimage To Csatka, Hungary, István Povedák

Journal of Global Catholicism

This study introduces the Csatka pilgrimage, which is one of the most significant festive events for Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. Csatka, a small and secluded village, became one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Roma since the mid-20th century. Tens of thousands of Roma, entire families from Hungary and the surrounding countries arrive to the feast on Nativity Day at the beginning of September. For them, however, the rite is not only about religious actions, but also about their powerful role in strengthening Roma ethnic identity. Through the analysis of the rite, we can gain a good …

Breaching Boundaries: Homogenizing The Dichotomy Between The Sacred And Profane In Csíksomlyó, Zsofia Lovei

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines how a Marian shrine in Csíksomlyó, Transylvania acts as a Foucauldian heterotopia for Magyar speaking individuals, residing in the Carpathian Basin, and beyond in the diaspora most especially during the annual Pentecost pilgrimage. Following introductory remarks on the site and my stance, I turn to methodology, and Hungarian scholarship on the topic. Afterwards, I provide a “thick description” of fieldwork I conducted on-site in May of 2015. I then turn to various theoretical ties, which I support with emic analysis. Lastly, I turn to ideas of heterotopias, and provide a brief formal analysis. My main incentive is …

Overview And Acknowledgments, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

The Interwoven Existences Of Official Catholicism And Magical Practice In The Lived Religiosity Of A Transylvanian Hungarian Village, Cecília Sándor

Journal of Global Catholicism

During the last five years I have been doing field research in a Transylvanian Hungarian village, Sânsimion (Hu: Csíkszentsimon). I present my research on this religiously homogenous, Catholic community’s worldview. Based on interviews conducted with members of the village’s various age groups, I map religious and magical knowledge passed down through the generations, using the theoretical frame of collective memory and religious transmission. Second, I highlight two different but coexisting “constructions of reality” in this rural community. By “constructions of reality,” I mean interpretations of reality expressed in narrative discourses and local magical practices that are closely and inextricably interwoven …

Rockin' The Church: Vernacular Catholic Musical Practices, Kinga Povedak

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article focuses on the unique dimensions of lived or vernacular Catholicism through the analysis of contemporary congregational music in Hungary. Looking at the musical lives of Hungarian Roman Catholics from the late 1960s to contemporary times can provide us with new understandings of the theological contents and aesthetics, as well as the vernacular religiosity of the community. Christian popular music appeared behind the Iron Curtain relatively early, in 1967 when the first “beat mass” was created and introduced at Budapest. The early Christian popular music sounded astonishingly similar to the songs of the American Folk Mass Movement of the …

Longings, Letters And Prayers: Visitor's Books At Hungarian Marian Shrines, Krisztina Frauhammer

Journal of Global Catholicism

The following study seeks to show the flow of contemporary rituals associated with pilgrimage shrines. I will consider how visitor’s books placed on display at shrine churches are being utilized in the modern context by pilgrims and tourists alike. Requests, words of thanksgiving, and testimony are coupled with an honest, reflexive style that lends to the formation of these individualized prayers. These prayers are original, specific and peculiar as they follow patterns that are informal in nature. These prayers allow pilgrims to initiate contact with the Transcendent through the act and practice of writing. An idiosyncratic form of sacred communication …

Introduction: Consumer Contexts And Divine Presences In Hungarian Catholicism, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction to Hungarian Catholicism: Living Faith Across Diverse Social and Intellectual Contexts, highlighting both the specific contributions of the articles to the study of Hungarian Catholicism and situating them within the broad sweep of Hungarian and Catholic Studies.