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Book: Methods for the Study of Religious Change

Chapter: Chapter 7 Fieldwork on Language: Artists Express their Worldviews

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.24442

Blurb:

In Chapter 7 on spiritual language the central methodological question is: how to study forms of secular and spiritual worldview-making? In this chapter the worldview-making of a few dozen Dutch artists is the central issue. The researcher demonstrates in this chapter that a (playful) combination of ethnography and literary analysis of the language in life narratives of the research “objects” can be a fruitful methodology for arriving at two remarkable observations: first that many de-churched artists are searching for worldviews which apparently replace traditional religious worldviews; second that the seemingly unique and singular life stories of the artists can be modelled in “only” five patterns of worldview-making.

Chapter Contributors

  • Rhea Hummel ([email protected] - rhummel) 'Department of Arts, Culture and Media (Faculty of Arts) of Groningen University'