Full-text resources of CEJSH and other databases are now available in the new Library of Science.
Visit https://bibliotekanauki.pl

PL EN


2008 | 52 | 3 | 91-108

Article title

'THE STRENGTH OF SILENCE' - EXCERPTS FROM ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE GENDER DIMENSION OF ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITY

Authors

Title variants

Languages of publication

PL

Abstracts

EN
The paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork among converts from Catholicism to a marginal Hindu-rooted, female dominated new religious movement in Poland, the Brahma Kumaris, and explores the role of silence in the religious practices and everyday lives of its members. It argues that silence is a performative act in reconstruction of the respondents' informants' gender identity and is perceived by them as form of self-valuation. From the perspective of the feminist discourse, particularly Western liberal feminism, as well as within cultural anthropology silence is often interpreted as a lack of power and opposition to speech. But drawing on the respondents' experiences, silence can also be understood as and expression of strength and a means of resistance. The authoress presents the ways how middle class, urban women have resort to silence in their aim to deal better with the problems of everyday life as well as with those of economic and cultural transition, Western-style feminism, and Polish Catholicism.

Year

Volume

52

Issue

3

Pages

91-108

Physical description

Document type

ARTICLE

Contributors

author
  • A. Koscianska, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej, ul. Zurawia 4, 00-503 Warszawa, Poland

References

Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier
09PLAAAA06246

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.684a4a0b-9752-39e6-a690-3ceb3d229bbc
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.