cotutelle PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Münster and Comparitive Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. Graduate student at the Center for Religious Studies in partnership with the University of Bochum (DE). “Mediated girlhoods in an age of religious pluralism: A blended ethnography in Germany and the Netherlands” Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Christel Gärtner and Prof. Dr. Kim Knibbe
This article explores religious sexual morality, American teenage girlhood, and the regulation of... more This article explores religious sexual morality, American teenage girlhood, and the regulation of the young female sexual body. First, I explore the “ho” and how the discourse of dangerous sexuality functions within the girls’ daily lives. Second, I consider what it means to fall on the other end of the moral spectrum and how being a an “innocent little baby” places the girls in an uncomfortable position for ridicule from their peers. I argue that this moral dichotomization and social/sexual dilemma contribute to what the girls describe as anxiety. The purpose of this article is to continue bringing stories of young female religiosity into view so that we may better understand the processes of young female sexuality as it pertains to (patriarchal) moral religious structures.
There has been little work on the ways that children learn to be religious (with some notable exc... more There has been little work on the ways that children learn to be religious (with some notable exceptions, including Csordas 2009 and Fader 2008). Even less has been said about the ways children learn about intersections of religion and socioeconomic conditions. Based on a short-term ethnography undertaken with two Evangelical girls’ bible study groups in the American Midwest, this article will explore how, through peer-talk, lessons from the group leader, reflexivity, and particular literacy practices, two groups of high school girls worked to make sense of the intersections of morality, Christianity, and socioeconomic status. While the girls came to the study group with some conception of Christianity and ‘goodness’, in their interactions with the bible study leader, they learned new ways to reflect on and assess the morality of their own actions and those of others, new ways to engage with religious texts, and new discourses for framing their relationships to God. Through these new practices and concepts, the girls experienced a kind of “social and cosmological reorganization”, in which individual wealth, household composition (i.e. ‘stable’, two-parent homes), and appropriate morality and faith were tightly interlinked and even causally related (Schieffelin 2002: S15). Ultimately, there emerged a particular image of a ‘good’ Christian girl as one who is relatively well-off, likes horses, active in sports, succeeds in school, and keeps herself ‘pure’. Over time and with ongoing input from their group leader, the girls began to teach and correct each other when they deviated from this order, actively reproducing this worldview. With this article, we aim to suggest new opportunities to address the dearth of adolescent and childhood studies literature focused on religion, to explore the intersections of religion and concepts of class, and to add children’s perspectives to the ever-growing body work on the anthropology of Christianity.
This article explores religious sexual morality, American teenage girlhood, and the regulation of... more This article explores religious sexual morality, American teenage girlhood, and the regulation of the young female sexual body. First, I explore the “ho” and how the discourse of dangerous sexuality functions within the girls’ daily lives. Second, I consider what it means to fall on the other end of the moral spectrum and how being a an “innocent little baby” places the girls in an uncomfortable position for ridicule from their peers. I argue that this moral dichotomization and social/sexual dilemma contribute to what the girls describe as anxiety. The purpose of this article is to continue bringing stories of young female religiosity into view so that we may better understand the processes of young female sexuality as it pertains to (patriarchal) moral religious structures.
There has been little work on the ways that children learn to be religious (with some notable exc... more There has been little work on the ways that children learn to be religious (with some notable exceptions, including Csordas 2009 and Fader 2008). Even less has been said about the ways children learn about intersections of religion and socioeconomic conditions. Based on a short-term ethnography undertaken with two Evangelical girls’ bible study groups in the American Midwest, this article will explore how, through peer-talk, lessons from the group leader, reflexivity, and particular literacy practices, two groups of high school girls worked to make sense of the intersections of morality, Christianity, and socioeconomic status. While the girls came to the study group with some conception of Christianity and ‘goodness’, in their interactions with the bible study leader, they learned new ways to reflect on and assess the morality of their own actions and those of others, new ways to engage with religious texts, and new discourses for framing their relationships to God. Through these new practices and concepts, the girls experienced a kind of “social and cosmological reorganization”, in which individual wealth, household composition (i.e. ‘stable’, two-parent homes), and appropriate morality and faith were tightly interlinked and even causally related (Schieffelin 2002: S15). Ultimately, there emerged a particular image of a ‘good’ Christian girl as one who is relatively well-off, likes horses, active in sports, succeeds in school, and keeps herself ‘pure’. Over time and with ongoing input from their group leader, the girls began to teach and correct each other when they deviated from this order, actively reproducing this worldview. With this article, we aim to suggest new opportunities to address the dearth of adolescent and childhood studies literature focused on religion, to explore the intersections of religion and concepts of class, and to add children’s perspectives to the ever-growing body work on the anthropology of Christianity.
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