Objects of Transcendence: Scots Protestantism and an Anthropology of Things

Joseph Webster

Objects of Transcendence: Scots Protestantism and an Anthropology of Things

Joseph Webster

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Abstract

This anthropological essay takes as its ethnographic point of departure two apparently contrasting deployments of the Bible within contemporary Scotland, one as observed among Brethren and Presbyterian fisher-families in Gamrie, coastal Aberdeenshire, and the other as observed among the Orange Order, a Protestant marching fraternity, in Airdrie and Glasgow. By examining how and with what effects the Bible and other objects (plastic crowns, ‘Sunday clothes’, Orange regalia) enter into and extend beyond the everyday practices of fishermen and Orangemen, my aim is to sketch different aspects of the material life of Scottish Protestantism. By offering a critique of Bruno Latour’s early writing on ‘quasi-objects’ via Alfred Gell’s notion of ‘distributed personhood’, I seek to undermine the sociological assumption that modernity and enchantment are mutually exclusive.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Material Religion in Modern Britain: The Spirit of Things
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Pages	17-35
ISBN (Print)	978-1-137-54055-3
Publication status	Published - 01 Aug 2015

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title = "Objects of Transcendence: Scots Protestantism and an Anthropology of Things",

abstract = "This anthropological essay takes as its ethnographic point of departure two apparently contrasting deployments of the Bible within contemporary Scotland, one as observed among Brethren and Presbyterian fisher-families in Gamrie, coastal Aberdeenshire, and the other as observed among the Orange Order, a Protestant marching fraternity, in Airdrie and Glasgow. By examining how and with what effects the Bible and other objects (plastic crowns, {\textquoteleft}Sunday clothes{\textquoteright}, Orange regalia) enter into and extend beyond the everyday practices of fishermen and Orangemen, my aim is to sketch different aspects of the material life of Scottish Protestantism. By offering a critique of Bruno Latour{\textquoteright}s early writing on {\textquoteleft}quasi-objects{\textquoteright} via Alfred Gell{\textquoteright}s notion of {\textquoteleft}distributed personhood{\textquoteright}, I seek to undermine the sociological assumption that modernity and enchantment are mutually exclusive.",

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N2 - This anthropological essay takes as its ethnographic point of departure two apparently contrasting deployments of the Bible within contemporary Scotland, one as observed among Brethren and Presbyterian fisher-families in Gamrie, coastal Aberdeenshire, and the other as observed among the Orange Order, a Protestant marching fraternity, in Airdrie and Glasgow. By examining how and with what effects the Bible and other objects (plastic crowns, ‘Sunday clothes’, Orange regalia) enter into and extend beyond the everyday practices of fishermen and Orangemen, my aim is to sketch different aspects of the material life of Scottish Protestantism. By offering a critique of Bruno Latour’s early writing on ‘quasi-objects’ via Alfred Gell’s notion of ‘distributed personhood’, I seek to undermine the sociological assumption that modernity and enchantment are mutually exclusive.

AB - This anthropological essay takes as its ethnographic point of departure two apparently contrasting deployments of the Bible within contemporary Scotland, one as observed among Brethren and Presbyterian fisher-families in Gamrie, coastal Aberdeenshire, and the other as observed among the Orange Order, a Protestant marching fraternity, in Airdrie and Glasgow. By examining how and with what effects the Bible and other objects (plastic crowns, ‘Sunday clothes’, Orange regalia) enter into and extend beyond the everyday practices of fishermen and Orangemen, my aim is to sketch different aspects of the material life of Scottish Protestantism. By offering a critique of Bruno Latour’s early writing on ‘quasi-objects’ via Alfred Gell’s notion of ‘distributed personhood’, I seek to undermine the sociological assumption that modernity and enchantment are mutually exclusive.

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

SN - 978-1-137-54055-3

SP - 17

EP - 35

BT - Material Religion in Modern Britain: The Spirit of Things

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

CY - New York

ER -