Ethnologia Europae 40-1-2010

Ethnologia Europaea
Rhythm! Simon Rattle’s wonderful music and dance

experiment with pupils from all walks of life in Ber-
lin, captured in the documentary Rhythm Is It!, is an
inspiration in many ways. It also seems to bring a new
movement into cultural analysis. Thus far, there has
been little work on how everyday rhythms intersect with
cultural processes and creation. Two papers in this issue
address this topic from a quite different perspective and
they will hopefully stimulate both further research and
thought. Even today, as everyday life is described as
fragmented and in constant flux, there is a stable under-
current of rhythms organizing people’s lives.
Another underdeveloped topic that is treated in this
issue deals with daydreams and fragrances, looking into
how the perfume industry tries to produce scents linked
to specific dreamscapes or nostalgic settings. The wor-
ship of martyrs and heroes in post-Soviet Russia is the
theme of another contribution and the last paper deals
with the economy and morality of elopement in rural
Turkey.
Ethnologia Europaea
40:1
Journal of European Ethnology

2010
issn 0425 4597

40:1 2010
ISBN 978 87 635 3636 3
Museum Tusculanum Press

Ethnologia
Europaea
Journal of European Ethnology
Volume 40:1
2010
Museum Tusculanum Press · U n i v e r s i t y o f C o p e n h ag e n

Ethnologia Europaea
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CONTENTS
Dorothee Hemme
Harnessing Daydreams. A Library of Fragrant Fantasies 5
Mika Pantzar and Elizabeth Shove

Temporal Rhythms as Outcomes of Social Practices. A Speculative Discussion 19
Sonja Windmüller
Rhythm – a World Language? Reflections on Movement-Oriented Cultural Analysis 30
Milena Benovska-Sabkova
Martyrs and Heroes. The Religious and Secular Worship of the Dead in Post-Soviet Russia 42
Kimberly Hart
The Economy and Morality of Elopement in Rural Western Turkey 58
© Museum Tusculanum Press :: University of Copenhagen :: www.mtp.dk :: info@mtp.dk
HARNESSING DAYDREAMS
A Library of Fragrant Fantasies
Dorothee Hemme
Smell works in many contexts as a trigger for fantasies: a scent reaches your nose surprisingly or
familiarly and evokes memories and daydreams. Although associations with scents are extremely
personal, they are also subject to conditioning factors that may be cultural, temporal or contex-
tual. This paper traces conditioning factors and fantasies connected with smells by analysing the
creations and marketing strategies of the Library of Fragrance, a company that commodifies the
close relationship of smelling and daydreaming. What associations and atmospheres are chosen
to be turned into perfume and how do perfumers find them? Which culturally constructed smell
associations are profitable? How do individuals resist commodified scent-associations and where
are the limits of instrumentalisation? Furthermore, what can we glean from smell regarding the
practice of daydreaming?
Keywords: perfume, daydreams, memory, rationalised scents, smelling, revelling
“Playing in it.......lying on it......or even mowing quotation from the Library of Fragrance, a perfume
it....Grass smells wonderful.”1* While reading these company that markets its scent “Grass” with these
evocative sentences, one might (and is expected to) words. “Grass” is one of a wide selection of scents
imagine the smell of grass and playing football with the Library of Fragrance borrows from everyday life.
friends on a summer afternoon or lying on one’s “Demeter Fragrance Library, the first company to
back in a flowering meadow, looking up into the sky, recognise scent as your memory’s best friend, stands
wondering what objects the steadily changing clouds out from the designer fragrance crowd. We bottle
might reveal. Such drifting, daydreaming and send- down-to-earth scents that evoke pleasant memories
ing one’s mind on a journey is a cultural practice and experiences of everyday life.”2 These two sen-
that we all follow every day, whether in long business tences constitute the philosophy of the young Amer-
meetings, when looking out the window at the sky, ican company that sells perfumes related to collec-
waiting for the train, sitting in the bath, or driving tively shared, thought-stimulating atmospheres and
a car. The words invite us with their olfactory em- situations. As a counter-movement to designer per-
phasis to let our thoughts wander back to happy lei- fumes, the Library of Fragrance does not search for
sure situations. It is not, however, a quotation from a new, never smelled prestigious perfumes. Instead,
grass seed salesmen of crafty intellect. Rather, it is a memories, thoughts and sensitivities produced or
ethnologia europaea 40:1 5
Ethnologia Europaea. Journal of European Ethnology: Volume 40:1

E-journal :: © Museum Tusculanum Press 2010 :: ISBN 978 87 635 3659 2 :: ISSN 1604 3030
http://www.mtp.hum.ku.dk/details.asp?eln=300291
recalled by smells are at the centre of their busi- cultural-historical contextualisation of daydreams,
ness idea. A person might choose regular perfumes as well as questions concerning the inspiration of
as a means of self-presentation or to express his or daydreams or their shared cultural framework. In
her membership of a certain status group (Classen, this context, Ehn and Löfgren (2008a) pointed out
Howes & Synnott 1997: 161ff.); the Library creates that dusk and dawn have been cultivated as times for
perfumes like “Mama’s Cake Dough” or “Washing daydreams and are associated with emotions of all
Kitchen” as an additional option, intended to en- kind (not only) in Swedish society. Further studies
hance well-being by evoking daydreams and memo- showed that popular narratives or film motifs also
ries. The company’s philosophy emphasises this: serve as frequent settings or narrative backdrops for
“Scent can make you remember what you like best our mental journeys. The Finnish cultural anthro-
and take you places you’d rather be, no matter where pologist and journalist Sven-Erik Klinkmann, for
you are or what’s happening around you.”3 example, found out that the motif of falling, as it is
hauntingly staged in popular films like those of Al-
An Approach to a Transient Phenomenon fred Hitchcock, is a common element of daydreams
The Library of Fragrance is a business idea that capi- (2008). Additionally, German cultural anthropolo-
talises on the connection between scents and mental gist Silke Meyer (2008) proved in empirical surveys
journeys. Its concept is evidence for both the every- that imaginatively adopted visions of heroism, found
day relevance of the cultural practice of daydream- in fairy tales and other popular narratives, help
ing and mental travelling as well as the possibility of young people to handle their everyday school life.
their instrumentalisation. Neither practice has until Scents are another trigger for daydreams, more ef-
now received much scholarly attention. This seeming fective than sights. A scent is perceived as pleasant
lack of interest from cultural researchers can be ex- either in surprising ways or by invoking the familiar;
plained with the empirically hard to grasp nature of it invites one to remember or daydream. Although
the phenomenon. All research on the subject of day- scent associations are – like daydreams – extremely
dreaming faces the same methodological difficulty: personal, they are also subject to conditioning fac-
daydreams are no longer daydreams once research- tors that may be cultural, temporal or contextual.
ers want to look behind the stream of consciousness This was pointed out by Alain Corbin (1984) in his
that constitutes them. Once we empirically question study of the sense of smell and social imagination
the contents of such mental images and try to make in the period from the eighteenth to the nineteenth
their implicitness explicit, the quality of the images century. Since the 1980s, not least inspired by Patrick
changes. The first investigations concentrated on the Süskind’s novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
prevailing cultural conditions, situations and stim- (1985), numerous studies concerning all aspects of
uli for daydreams in contemporary or historical per- olfaction have been carried out.4 The particularly
spective. Swedish ethnologists Billy Ehn and Orvar close relationship between being lost in thought and
Löfgren examined the cultural and social organisa- scents has often been accentuated, generally also
tion of everyday imagination in the course of their with reference to the Proustian hypothesis of odour
study of idleness (2007). They emphasised that “al- memory (Proust 1999[1913]). Nevertheless, there is
though daydreams and fantasies often are seen as in- hardly any research on the role which olfaction plays
tensely personal, they are produced within a shared in the culture of remembrance and the connection
cultural framework, drawing on all kinds of raw ma- between scents and daydreams respectively.5
terials from different forms of social interaction to Perfumes are consumer products. When consid-
media images and narratives” (2008b). An approach ering how to explain the seemingly endless desire
based on the material basis and prevailing condi- for novelty that forms the basis of late modern con-
tions allows one to answer questions concerning sumption, Colin Campbell (1987, 1994) points to the
typical situations in which daydreaming occurs, the importance of daydreams. In his theory of “modern
6 ethnologia europaea 40:1

autonomous imaginative hedonism” (1987: 77–95) perfumes.8 An interactive forum is also maintained,
he defines daydreams as “an activity which mixes in which experiences with the perfumes can be ex-
the pleasures of fantasy with those of reality” (1987: changed, scent wishes posted, or scent mixtures can
85). In contrast to traditional consumption theo- be discussed with the company’s “experts”.9 One
ries,6 which state that things are bought for their aim of the present analysis is the division of avail-
social or practical usefulness, Campbell postulates able scents into categories (cf. Köck 2007). Further
that we buy things to come closer to the dreams we insights into the topic are sought via these two ques-
have of our personas. “The essential activity of con- tions: which associations and atmospheres are cho-
sumption is thus not the actual selection, purchase, sen to be turned into perfume, and which culturally
or use of products, but the imaginative pleasure- constructed scent associations are profitable? Using
seeking to which a product image lends itself, ‘real’ the characteristics of olfaction, the backgrounds in
consumption being largely a result of this ‘mentalis- which specific scent associations work will be pre-
tic’ hedonism”7 (1987: 89). According to Campbell’s sented, and this question discussed: how do indi-
theory, that which we consume should allow us to viduals resist commodified scent-associations and
draw conclusions about our daydreams. what are the limits of instrumentalisation? A final
What pleasant imaginations are hidden behind discussion will then examine what we can extrapo-
a perfume called “Grass”? I first discovered a small late from scents about the practice of daydreaming,
advertisement for the Library of Fragrance perfumes its profitability, and its multiple constructions.
in a women’s magazine. This magazine usually con- The aim of this paper is thus to present prelimi-
tains full-page advertisements for classic perfumes nary thoughts about the connection between scents
with images of beautiful women dressed in the latest and daydreams using the media texts of the Library
styles, which implicitly invite daydreams of a world of Fragrance as a basis. These primary considera-
of beauty and light-heartedness. Classic perfumes tions can then be used to further the study of the
are used to surround one’s self with pleasant scents cultural practice of daydreaming.
and the feeling of luxury, to increase one’s well-be-
ing, and sometimes to demonstrate one’s status or The “Associative Sense”
membership of a group. In contrast, the Library per- Olfaction was often judged depreciatively in the his-
fumes are targeted at the user’s thoughts: these per- tory of philosophy, as a “mean” sense which would
fumes are used to create an olfactory environment in lose its appeal and was not technically controllable.
which one feels intellectually comfortable. In contrast, seeing and hearing were considered
In order for the Library of Fragrance to make a “far” senses, and were often brought into connection
profit, it must find scent associations or daydreams with objective thinking. They were also appreciated
that are shared by many people. Successful perfumes as traditional theoretical senses. As for olfaction,
created by the company thus might shed light on the Immanuel Kant regarded it as a subjective sense of
culturally shared predilections that allow scent- pleasure with antisocial and obtrusive character-
evoked fantasies in everyday life to be turned into istics, because it cannot be evaded (Diaconu 2005:
commodities. 182–202, esp. 289). Even today people in western
The Library of Fragrance explicitly states the as- society share the opinion of French anthropologist
sociations the perfumes are intended to elicit on Annik Le Guérer (2002: 3) who states that scents are
their homepage, both through the names of the per- more important as a sensory pleasure than for the
fumes and other information. This information was intellect. In his conceptual considerations of “smell
examined using media text analysis (cf. Köck 2007; scapes”, British geographer Douglas Porteous (2006:
Hengartner 2007) on the homepage of the company. 91) refers back to Kant’s terminology in differentiat-
The Library of Fragrance’s homepage lists product ing between visual and olfactory perception:
information for all of the currently available 250

Vision clearly distances us from the object. We 352–357) the perfumes presented on the homepage
frame “views” in pictures and camera lenses; the shows that the scents of the Library can be divided
likelihood of intellectual response is considerable. into four main categories:13
By contrast, smells environ. They penetrate the
body and permeate the immediate environment, 1. Leisure Time
and thus one’s response is much likely to involve This category contains a substantial product
strong affect. line, “the happy hour collection”, which is dedi-
cated to cocktail scents such as “White Russian”
Nevertheless, olfactory perceptions are tightly con- or “Mojito”. This set seems counter intuitive, for
nected with thoughts, but it is more subtle, wan- cocktails generally produce visual and gustatory
dering ways of thinking rather than more directed impressions – though of course scent is necessary
styles of thought. Some philosophers from the nine- for full gustatory impact. But the scents in this
teenth century, who rehabilitated olfaction and were category refer to leisure time – together with other
devoted to the qualities of odours, were aware of perfumes related to intoxication such as “Canna-
this: Arthur Schopenhauer thus identified the sense bis” – and they capture the escapism of alcohol-
of smell as a memory sense (although he banished induced inebriation. The latter simultaneously
olfactory pleasures from aestheticism just as Kant dulls and animates the senses while helping the
did), and Friedrich Nietzsche, who was called “the drinker forget the everyday. Scents that refer to
fine nose of philosophy” by philosopher Madalina different customs are also included in this cat-
Diaconu, valued olfaction as “Inbegriff einer intui- egory. “Bonfire” and “Springbreak” are two such
tiven, vorbegrifflichen Erkenntnis” (2005: 196, trans- scents that embody situations outside of everyday
lated as: “the epitome of intuitional, pre-categorical life. Other scents such as “Fireplace”, “Flower-
perception”). Brian Moeran, who has put forward show” (meant to evoke the Philadelphia Garden
ideas on the anthropology of scents in the context Show), “Christmas in New York”, or “Kahala Ha-
of his research on scent-marketing in Japan, denotes waiian Surf” evoke other leisure time contexts.
smell as the “associative sense” (2007: 157). The Li-
brary of Fragrance harnesses these characteristics of 2. Childhood and Nostalgia
scent perception. Another category focuses on odours like “Baby
Powder”, “Play Doh” or “Crayon”, a perfume that
Creations and Marketing Strategies smells like “that fresh box of crayons on the first
of the Library of Fragrance day of school.”14 This category refers to child-
Cocktails and Candy, Nature and Nostalgia hood experiences. Various candy-perfumes such
To earn money out of the Library of Fragrance en- as “Cotton Candy” or “Bubble Gum” are also in-
deavour, perfumers have to find collective, shared cluded in this category. The latter smells of the
scent-associations. How do they capture shared well-known “Bazooka Bubble Gum”, and in its
“scents of everyday experiences”?10 In an e-mail, description the Library’s homepage explicitly re-
the company’s owner revealed that he takes his in- fers to the connection between scents and memo-
spiration from meandering through the world with ries: “As a matter of fact, a psychological study of
an open nose, perceiving everyday scents around tastes and smells that bring back memories found
him.11 Inspiration is also drawn from a wish-list that one of the most frequently identified items
maintained on the company’s web log.12 Many sug- was Bazooka Bubble Gum”.15 Scents like “Glue”,
gestions are made – from wet asphalt, dentist’s of- “Record Vinyl”, or “Washing Kitchen” that evoke
fices, and burning leaves to clover – and some posted nostalgic memories and sensitivities are also cen-
suggestions tell a lot about the writer’s olfactory and tral components of this category. As a matter of
memory universe. Coding of (compare Köck 2007: fact, the Library offers a “Back to School Essen-

tials Mini-Set” which includes perfumes like ern ones. Many perfumes, especially the ones related
“Crayon”, “Golden Delicious”, “Paperback” and to childhood, refer to consumer goods that are not
“Pure Soap”. Finally, the perfume “Christmas available all over the world.
Tree” promises “Happy tree memories, all year!”.16 The Library’s assortment suggests that people’s
preferred memories and mindscapes circle around
3. Nature leisure time, childhood memories, nostalgic tastes,
This category contains a lot of flower-perfumes flavours, food and experiences within nature. Why
like “Dandelion” or “Daphne”, but also less spe- are these domains expected to evoke culturally
cific scents such as “Rain”, “Wet Garden”, “Grass”, shared (positive) reactions? Besides techniques such
“Dust”, “Salt Air”, “Snow” and “Dirt”. The latter as extensive descriptions of scents, I would first like
is a perfume which both actor Clint Eastwood and to present three reasons that pertain both to the
supermodel Kate Moss have claimed they wear.17 scents themselves and their physiological percep-
This shows us that unlike designer perfumes, the tion.
Library’s scents are not gender-specific. Does this
mean that men and women share the same scent- Standardised Components
related daydreams? The childhood fascination of Perfumes that utilise the tight connection of scents
particular animals is also turned into scent, for and tastes – like the cocktail and kitchen perfumes
example in the perfumes “Earthworm” or “Fire- – benefit from the standardised composition of in-
fly”. The descriptive text on the homepage aims gredients: A Mojito tastes and smells the same all
to help those who cannot remember what fire- over the world. For perfumes inspired by consumer
flies smelled like: “Demeter’s Firefly seeks to cap- goods, standardised ingredients also play a central
ture the essence of an early north-eastern spring role. The description for the fragrance “Baby Pow-
evening at dusk, the smells associated with the der” explains, for example, that the Company John-
kind of magical night when the first fireflies of the son & Johnson started importing Italian talc in the
year appear.”18 late nineteenth century and “shortly thereafter, that
scented talc was being sold as baby powder, creat-
4. Food(stuff) and Aromas ing the link in our minds between the scent of baby
The many perfumes that exploit the close connec- powder and fresh cleanliness”.20
tion between the senses of smell and taste come
under this category. These perfumes include “Earl Olfactory Childhood Memories and Nostalgia
Grey”, “Espresso”, “Cranberries”, “Cucumber”, Olfactory childhood memories are a central cat-
“Basil”, and “Beeswax”. There are also more ex- egory in the library’s assortment. This is surely due
otic aromas such as “Dregs”: “While the ‘bottom to the deep impressionability of a young person –
of the barrel’ connotation associated with dregs is everyt hing awaits categorisation at that stage. The
negative, it is essential to a full-bodied red wine, relevance of childhood memories and nostalgic
and therefore, not surprisingly, a full and pleasing emotions for the Library of Fragrance’s assortment
aspect of the bouquet of a fine red wine. It is that can be explained by a characteristic of olfactory per-
aspect of the bouquet represented in Demeter’s ception: There are no innate olfactory preferences.
Dregs.”19 During our lives we learn all kinds of associations
and meanings connected with scents. The percep-
In terms of culturally conditioned factors, it is obvi- tions of scent thus consist not only of the sensation
ous that the culture of remembrance shaping these of the odours themselves, but of the experiences
perfumes pertains to western post-industrial socie- and emotions associated with them. Jim Drobnick
ties. The scent of cocktails would likely invoke dif- (2006: 5) pointed out that this dialectical nature of
ferent associations in Islamic societies than in west- scent is interdisciplinarily accepted:

An ambivalence between objective and subjec- narratives and images. Grandma’s kitchen or other
tive factors accompanies any odorous experience, nostalgic kitchen scenes are used as verbal or visual
yielding an intimate interplay between the physi- abbreviations in food advertisement to give products
cal level of materiality and physiology on the one attributes such as reliability, naturalness and au-
hand, and the symbolic level of culture and ideol- thenticity. The Library does draw on such culturally
ogy on the other. Perception, as researchers have condensed narratives and pictures, but not prima-
pointed out, is inevitably influenced by the so- rily with the perfumes themselves.
cialization of the senses and the contexts in which
olfactory practices are engaged. Contrastive Situations
Contrastive situations seem to be a crucial founda-
In a small survey conducted for this exploratory pation for the conscious perception of everyday scents,
per, a friend of mine told me that during her first stay and therefore also for the olfactory settings on which
as an au pair in Japan, she always smelled a cedar the Library capitalises. The description for the per-
wood desk to ease her homesickness. The smell re- fume “Wet Garden” for instance takes the customer
minded her of peaceful childhood experiences in the into a spring garden: “Our Wet Garden takes place
garage of her mother, who worked as a wood sculp- at Easter, full of early spring flowers, including
tor. The British social anthropologist Alfred Gell young shoots and buds, after a hard April rain. It is
pointed to this “extreme determination of olfactory the combinations of those flowers, the rain and the
meanings by non-olfactory contexts” (2006: 402). oils from the rich spring soil that comprise this fra-
He characterises odours as being “incomplete” since grance.”23
their relevance for the individual can only develop in The conjunction with spring is important for
the particular context in which they are perceived. the mechanics of our olfactory memory: against
As a symbol for this specific context, a scent is able to the background of a long winter we notice spring’s
evoke the whole situation and all the associated emo- odours much more intensively. This olfactory mem-
tions. Therefore, Gell (cited after Drobnick 2006: 5) ory is for example also used in advertising for clean-
calls this status of scents “semiological ambiguity”, ing agents. Douglas Porteous (2006: 90) described
because scents can be both, stimulus and sign.21 the physiological backgrounds for this effect as an
During childhood the first and therefore most “habituation effect”: “The perceived intensity of
insistent contexts that are linked to scents are devel- scent declines rapidly after one has been exposed to
oped. Physiological dispositions improve the com- it for some time. Not that the scent disappears, but
modification of these impressions from the distant the perceiver becomes habituated to it.” This mecha-
past. According to a study in experimental psychol- nism is at work in many perfumes created by the Li-
ogy, olfactory memories are predominantly embed- brary, as for example in the olfactory aspects of rain.
ded in areas of the brain housing long-term memory The scent of rain can only unfold itself against the
(Engenn, Kuisma & Eimas 1973). Scents can thus backdrop of a long period of drought. This is utilised
evoke the long-forgotten especially well. This may in the perfume description of the Library:
explain the strongly nostalgic emphasis of the Li-
brary of Fragrance. Nostalgia is a melancholy, often It does seem that on summer days when it is hot
idealised and misty-eyed remembrance of the past, and dry, with a thunderstorm brewing just over
and not just a subjective feeling, but also an expres- the next hill, you can “smell the rain.” Well, you
sion of a collective way of thinking.22 Forms of nos- can smell something, but rain? Have you ever
talgia shared within societies are shaped, reflected tried to smell this same rain in January when the
and often strengthened by media and other forms ground is frozen solid? Not a chance, but when
of popular culture. Societal nostalgias are thus the ground and plants are warmer, you can smell
documented and maintained with well-established something. What you really smell comes not

from the air, but the ground! Plants release oils In marketing a perfume, the words and images used
that enter the soil and blend with the other earthy are also important. Detailed descriptions accompa-
odours.24 ny every perfume presented on the homepage. Why
are these explanations – seldom found for classic
Besides the nose’s habituation effect, Alfred Gell perfumes – so important for the Library’s concept?
(2006: 403) mentions that our sense of smell has This can be explained by a further characteristic of
an especially strong effect when other senses are the human olfaction as described by Brian Moeran.
just about to take action, as if in a stage of being in- Referring to central thoughts of the French anthro-
between: pologist and linguist Dan Sperber, he points out two
main reasons for the intertwining of smelling and
The sense of smell comes into play most when daydreaming.
the other senses are in suspense, at moments, one
should say, of materialization and dematerializa- • Odours cannot be named and therefore they can-
tion, the coming into being and passing away of not be disassociated from their causes or effects.
things, situations, circumstances which hold our We have to say “It smells like…” when describ-
attention vividly while they are present […] For ing an odour, trying to express our experience by
example, a merely prospective meal is heralded, means of metaphors (Moeran 2007: 156). Scent
and its specific nature is somewhat suggested, by perceptions have to be described in many words,
wafts of cooking smells coming from the direc- and as a result, as stated by Dan Sperber (1975:
tion of the kitchen, gradually assuming an ampler 116), “there is no semantic field of smells.”
and more concrete character. […] The smell of • As already discussed, scents have an intimate
something cooking or the tang of an aperitif mark and immediate link to personal memory, which
a transition from concept, expectation, to fact. French novelist Marcel Proust archetypically de-
[…] A mere aroma, in its very lack of substance is scribed in À la recherche du temps perdu (although
more like a concept than it is like a “thing” in the he was an asthmatic and allergic to scents).
usual sense. Moeran states that “precisely because the lan-
guage of olfaction has no autonomous domain to
Here, the sense of smell is compared to the stage of itself, memory becomes extremely important as a
an idea which is just on the edge of materialising. means of aiding our recognition of scents. This is
Such situations of transition produce vague mental necessary, because, while we can recognise thou-
images that can be memorised through olfactory sands of different scents in our every day lives,
impressions. The mechanism of the process of mate- we cannot normally recall them independently
rialisation and dematerialisation, which character- of external stimulus” (2007: 156). Dan Sperber
ises situations in which we let ourselves be directed calls scents “symbols par excellence” (1975: 118)
by our nose, explains the impressive effect of aro- because they act as representations of representa-
mas, natural scents, and the perfumes made out of tions in our minds.
them.25 Furthermore, the mechanism explains the
effects of numerous other scents that refer to mo- Because scent does not have its own taxonomy, the
ments of transition – whether that evoked by alcohol explanatory descriptions play a crucial role in the
is a transition from work to leisure or from stress to marketing concept of the library – and the name
relaxation. “Library of Fragrance” itself evokes metaphoric
abundance. Because scents are symbols, their de-
Description Sells scriptions conjure up atmospheres (or with Alfred
The metaphor included in the company’s name Gell: contexts), which are represented by the olfac-
points to the fact that the issue is not simply scents. tory sign.

This is a trick that has been used by many literary and is the reason that not all human beings assign
authors since the olfactory revolution of the nine- the same scent to the same context. For example, the
teenth century so well documented by Alain Corbin description of “Washing Kitchen”27 made me think
(1984) or Douglas Porteous (1985, 2006). The Li- of freshly washed shirts, dried in the summer sun,
brary’s descriptions help to conjure up scenes, where but its odour reminded me of the bergamot scent of
culturally shared well-being, including comforting my aunt’s old car where I always got sick in the back
scent memories, are expected to be located. To make when I was a child (the Library also has a nostalgic
this nexus clear, I would like to focus on the example perfume called “Vinyl” for the scent of an old car’s
of scents inspired by nature. The description of the interior that is said to be reminiscent of the odour of
perfume “Salt Air” takes us to a place well known car seats from the 1970s). However, when I presented
to all, especially to researchers of tourism: “Ima a sample of “Washing Kitchen” with a version of this
gine a perfect sea breeze on the perfect beach at your article at the SIEF congress in Derry, the perfume ac-
favourite tropical island. Now you have the perfect tually smelled like fresh laundry for more than one
description of Demeter’s Salt Air … Take off to the third of the international audience. This little sur-
land of tranquillity where the scent of the sea breeze vey shows that the Library indeed detects culturally
wakes you up each day and sends you off to dream- shared scent contexts, but that these contexts are op-
land at night.”26 posed to many individual contexts.
With this description, a state should be ima The idiosyncratic aspects of scent perception have
gined that has been labelled by Orvar Löfgren (1999: diverse influences on the actual scents created by
213–227) as the phenomenon of the “global beach”. the Library: a number of customer suggestions re-
That is a universal beach experience with globally ferring to the body odour of living beings were re-
standardised iconography, choreography – and scent jected. Everyday scents such as “Blood”, “Wet Dog”,
– that developed in the 1950s due to the first adver- or “Sweat of Fear” cannot work as a perfume because
tising of Hawaii (and particularly Waikiki Beach) they invoke – for most people – disgust, or are so
to appear in the mass media. To this day, Hawaii’s individualised that there is no culturally shared per-
beaches remain standardised and powerful symbols ception of that scent.
of the perfect beaches, which the global population Individual scent horizons not only shape the re-
desires to visit. The description of the perfume “Salt ception of scents but also the stock of the Library.
Air” conjures up this context and inspires pleasant If a member of the company has negative associa-
mental journeys away from, and in contrast with, tions with a particular scent, the creation of a new
everyday life. perfume can be stopped. For instance, there was a
customer who requested a menthol perfume. How-
Limits of Instrumentalisation and Measures ever, the founder of the company could not stand
to Cope with the Idiosyncrasies of Scent this scent, because it reminded him of his ex-wife
Perceptions who constantly ate menthol candies to alleviate her
Culturally shared olfactory perceptions are a result of chronic cough.28
standardised ingredients, olfactory childhood mem- Temporal conditioning factors also have an influ-
ories and other nostalgically motivated thoughts, as ence on the Library’s assortment. The company’s
well as moments of transition that put the nose into a founder created the perfume “Gin Tonic” at the be-
special focus. The names and descriptions of the Li- ginning of the 1990s, because the taste and smell of
brary’s perfumes define these culturally known con- this drink was popular among his contemporaries.
texts that many people can conjure up and connect When he presented the perfume to his daughter,
with a scent. However, individuals acquire associa- she said a cooler and more up to date drink, like a
tions with scents in an extremely personal fashion. “Sex on the Beach” cocktail, would make for a better
This leads to a gap between description and scent perfume.29 In an empirical study, Alan R. Hirsch has

interviewed nearly a thousand shoppers to find out able scent of “Movie Theater”.32 There is also a lively
which odours trigger nostalgic feelings. He showed exchange of ideas on perfume combinations in the
that responses to the same odour change over time Internet forum the Library maintains. Many users
and that scent perception depends on the genera- buy more than one perfume to mix an individual ol-
tion: factory environment that suits their thoughts, such
as “Fahrenheit 451: a mixture of Bonfire and Paper-
People who were born before 1930 in less urban- back” or “Horse Camp: a mixture of Fresh Hay, Bon-
ized and industrialized times […] mentioned fire and Dirt”.33
such natural odors as pine, hay, horses, sea air and
meadows as reminiscent of childhood. But those Manipulative Scents
born after 1930 were more apt to mention food What can we glean from scent about the practices
and artificial odors such as plastic, scented mark- of daydreaming, its profitability and its multiple
ers, airplane fuel, Vaporub and Play-Doh as remi- constructions? Scent stimulates thought, and the
niscent of their childhood. (Hirsch 2006: 188) Library of Fragrance utilises the connection be-
tween scents and daydreams. This effect is used in
A certain dependence on generations is also true many other contexts: museums use scented atmo
for cocktail fashion and their scents. Therefore, spheres as much as department stores, office build-
the Library constantly changes its cocktail line and ings and apartment blocks. “Scent marketing” is a
combines the scents of childhood of different gen- well-known marketing strategy used by companies
erations in its product line in order to have olfactory such as Mercedes Benz, or operas such as the Teatro
memories in store for people of all ages and to im- Real in Madrid, to improve their sales. In order to
prove sales. The perfume descriptions reinforce the do that they create the scent of a garage “some time
nostalgic effect, as in the case of “Fresh Hay”: “The around 1900” at motor shows, or add the odour of
smell of fresh cut hay on a hot summer day … does it jasmine to performances of Mozart’s “The Marriage
take you back there, too?”30 But the descriptions also of Figaro”.34 Digital scent technology, the latest tool
have to assist in overcoming the individual aspects in e-commerce, intends to change the interactive en-
of scent perception. Regarding the scent of the per- tertainment experience by scenting movies, games,
fume called “Dirt”, the company’s director states: music, animation or any digital media “to create a
more immersive and captivating environment for
People will occasionally say “This doesn’t smell your audience. Atmosphere, mood, emotion and
like dirt to me …” Well, where did they grow up? characters can all be enhanced with scent.”35 This
Arizona? The South of France? Obviously then method of evoking enjoyable or beneficial mental
our Dirt isn’t going to smell like dirt to them, as contexts and atmospheres via scents is a type of sen-
Demeter’s Dirt was made to smell exactly like the sory manipulation that currently meets with some
dirt from the fields around the Pennsylvania fam- criticism (Nutt 2008).36 In contrast to these mea
ily farm belonging to our founding perfumer.31 sures that focus on the unconscious manipulation of
sensory perceptions, the Library of Fragrance stim-
Simple scents can be mixed to bring about a col- ulates cognition purposefully. Like other spheres
lective association, even if they are, separately, en- of the leisure industry, this business idea attests
meshed in individual memory. The company’s to people’s longing for a new quality of experience
homepage regularly provides recommendations on akin to the tourist’s mindscapes (Löfgren 1999; Ben-
how to combine several perfumes for a complex ol- dix 2002). High mobility and the exhortation to use
factory effect. Mixing the fragrances of “Popcorn”, body and mind efficiently may have brought about a
“Dust”, “Bubble Gum”, and “Rubber” or “Tarnish” longing to revel in everyday, deeply familiar scents.
evokes, according to the homepage, the unmistak- The Library of Fragrance belongs to the special

phenomenon Jim Drobnick (2006: 3) called “ration- closer analysis (as well as scent sampling) has shown
alised scents”. He states that after many centuries that it is not the everyday that is being marketed. If
of marginalisation, “smell is now the first and most the scents of everyday life contained in the Library’s
popular sense people wish to indulge” (2006: 2). perfumes surrounded us everyday, we would not be
Against the background of a sanitised modern envi- able to notice them due to the “habituation effect”
ronment, in which smell has been silenced (Corbin (Porteous 2006: 90). On the one hand, these scents
1984), we are actively looking for smells; they prom- are culturally conveyed symbols for contexts which
ise a richer, more complex sensory experience. This stimulate daydreaming and for situations in which
is noticeable in many areas and aspects of our every- we allow our minds to wander (holidays, experienc-
day life. A growing wellness industry makes use of es in nature, leisure-time activities). On the other
newly invented or already existing olfactory rituals hand, these perfumes are olfactory symbols for col-
from different cultures and thus communicates to lective memories. The Library searches for scents
us that a good scent belongs in every aesthetic en- that point to culturally shared, olfactory patterns
vironment. Some areas of cultural tourism also of memory; this in turn is to enable daydreams.
deliberately focus on the olfactory management of This duality in the Library’s concept – evoking the
certain issues. For example, the man who runs the past with the intent of positively influencing the
Sababurg Sleeping Beauty Castle, a romantic hotel in thoughts/imagination of the wearer in the present
Hesse, consciously grows an opulent, rose-filled gar- – brings up an interesting question: what is the dif-
den which he also uses to make liqueurs and jams. ference between memories and daydreams? What
By doing this, he wants to improve the quality of the dimensions are at work in memory and daydream
experience of the Sleeping Beauty theme and addi- respectively? Do they use the same images, contexts
tionally stand out from the crowd of other providers and feelings? From what little has been researched
(such as Walt Disney) who have also used this fairy of scent-inspired journeys of the mind, one can as-
tale (Hemme 2009). sume that the boundaries between memories and
daydreams are blurred. In his studies about “system-
Daydreams and Memories smells” of the GDR, Gottfried Korff (1999) describes
The Library of Fragrance also profits from the hu- how the odour of parcels from West Germany or of
man wish to stop the evanescence of experiences intershops – shops near the German-German border
and to conserve them in systematised memories. in which people from the GDR could buy products
Picture albums or diaries are such tools, but they from the West – embodied the “scent of the West”
focus largely on visual and cognitive stimuli. Using before the fall of Berlin Wall. These scents symbol-
scents as storehouses of systematised memories is ised the olfactory epitome of freedom and therefore
difficult for a number of reasons. Alfred Gell points a prospective, scent-inspired daydream. Today, a
out one of them: “The smell of an object always es- clever man from Eisenhüttenstadt earns a lot of
capes. Smell is distinguished by formlessness, inde- money with the replication of this intershop scent
finability and lack of clear articulations” (Gell 2006: which he sells in cans. The scent now represents nos-
402). Furthermore, the experience of scent is char- talgia, in this case the retrospective epitome of a long
acterised in part by its resistance of division into ago evaporated “scent of the East”.38
component parts – far more strongly so than is the
case with other senses. Countless failed attempts at Concluding Thoughts
cultural histories of scents provide evidence of the What is the benefit of doing research on the sense of
effort to stop the evanescence of scent impressions smell and the example of the Library of Fragrance
and harness it into categories.37 for a study of daydreams? There are three aspects I
On initial examination, the Library’s business would like to present as final thoughts.
idea appears to tend toward this direction, but a

1. As observed by Jim Drobnick (Drobnick 2006: on the visual and aural senses (i.e. both senses that
2), using scents for directed and purposeful evo- are traditionally linked to objective thinking). A
cation of atmospheres, mental travel and memo- more experimental approach including more
ries, as the Library does, is part of an increasing senses could be useful particularly with regard to
instrumentalisation of the sense of smell. These the methodological difficulties inherent in tran-
rationalised scents are one aspect of a broader sient phenomena such as daydreaming. Scents,
rationalisation of the subliminal. Mental travel tastes, and sounds are daily stimuli that evoke
and daydream-like states of mind are being used memories and let our thoughts wander – these
as techniques to stimulate creativity in personal senses could therefore be used in methodology.
and professional domains. Strategies like “Neu-
rolinguistic Programming” (NLP; Schwarz & 3. Finally, according to Alfred Gell (2006: 405) there
Schweppe 2000) deliberately focus on journeys is one rule that can be applied to all perfumes as
of the mind and visualisations to lead us to pro- well as to the Library’s scent-evoked mental jour-
fessional success and a content life. Esoteric book neys: “The context dominates the sign. [A] per-
shops are full of self-help literature and audio fume does not seduce, it sets up a context of seduc-
books, which use conscious visualisations in tion.” The Library of Fragrance is a business that
conjunction with the subconscious to multiply commodifies the close connection between scents
their effect. Today, daydreams not only serve to and daydreaming. It provides many impulses to-
distance oneself from or deal with everyday life, ward the question about cultural-historical origin
they are also used as a directed activity and thus contexts of typical daydream situations and it has
a work technique; “Daydreams at work”, in more a number of products that allow one to recognise
ways than one. This observation is one reason in which contexts one might yet approach the
why more scientific attention should be devoted phenomenon of daydreaming. For example the
to the cultural practice of daydreaming. One way scent and the description of the perfume “Pipe
to approach the topic would be to examine busi- Tobacco”: “Sherlock was onto a good thing, at
ness ideas that capitalise on mechanisms of day- least scent-wise.”39 Smoking and the contempla-
dreaming. If, as Campbell states (1987, 1994), con- tion of tobacco smoke were activities that were
sumption is the attempt to materialise daydreams, very popular in middle-class German socialising
studies of impact and impression (maybe of the clubs in the nineteenth century in order to acquire
Library’s clients) would be a further possibility a sense of cosiness (Schmidt-Lauber 2003: 146ff.).
whereby consumables could be used to under- Even today these activities are linked both to the
stand people’s daydreams. uncontrolled wandering of thoughts – just like the
role model Sherlock Holmes – and to intellectual
2. The specific contents of daydreams within their thinking. The perfume “Dandelion”40 reminds
culturally conveyed contexts cannot be inferred one of childhood, blowing the little, feathery par-
from an analysis of the Library of Fragrance. achutes into the sky and following them with one’s
What really is going on in the minds of people and eyes, lost in thoughts.
which personal contexts of experience contest the Another evocative perfume is the initially men-
shared context of olfactory symbols can only be tioned “Grass”, with the description “Playing in
exposed by empirical methods. Regina Bendix it.......lying on it......or even mowing it...”: 41 While
(2006) pointed out how much knowledge can be mowing the lawn is a typical leisure-time activity,
gained from systematically including olfactory lying in the grass, looking up into the sky, won-
and gustatory impressions in the process of re- dering what objects the steadily changing clouds
search. This new approach could provide more might bring out, embody the sweetness of doing
data than ethnographical research that relies only nothing and trailing after one’s thoughts. This

contemplative engagement with clouds emerged desires; solution which fails to distinguish modern
from traditional consumerism” (1987: 88).
in the early nineteenth century when observ-
7 Because reality cannot fulfill dreams, a “state of en-
ing clouds came into fashion as a consequence joyable discomfort” (Campbell 1987: 86) is generated,
of meteorological findings as well as an interest which stimulates further consumption.
in English and German romantic landscape art 8 http://www.demeterfragrance.com. Accessed Septem-
(Badt 1960; Hedinger, Richter-Musso & West- ber 21, 2009.
9 http://www.demeterfragranceblog.com/bb/. Accessed
heider 2004). Danish philosopher Søren Kierke-
September 21, 2009. In addition to this blog, there are
gaard (1954) also focused on the observation of Facebook and Twitter platforms which can be used to
clouds and explained: “There is no better image discuss the Library of Fragrance perfumes.
for clouds than thought and no better image for 10 http://demeterfragranceblog.com/blog/?page_id=2.
thoughts than clouds – for clouds are weavings of Accessed September 21, 2009.
11 E-mail-response from the Library of Fragrance’s senior
the mind and what are thoughts other than that?”
product manager Sandra Krückel, received April 28,
Clouds, smoke and dandelions: many things that 2008.
invite us to mentally wander have the same tran- 12 www.demeterfragranceblog.com. Accessed September
sient character as the scents of the Library of Fra- 21, 2009.
grance. Further cultural, historical, and empirical 13 Many of the scents could be placed into multiple
categories, for example “Almond” could be in both
research on the question of how we acquired the
Food(stuff)/Aroma and Childhood Memories and
contemplation of these phenomena is required, as “Fireplace” in Leisure-time and Nostalgia. A study of
well as research into how they accompany and in- the reactions and impressions elicited by the perfumes
fluence us throughout our life. would lead to interesting information and certainly
some new categories.
14 www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID
Notes =1117. Accessed September 21, 2009.
* An earlier version of this article was presented at the 15 http://w w w.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?
congress of the Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et ProductID=989. Accessed February 18, 2010.
de Folklore in Derry, Ireland, June 2008. Thanks go to 16 h t t p : / / d e m e t e r f r a g r a n c e . c o m / P r o d u c t . a s p x ?
the organisers of the congress panel and the audience ProductID=837. Accessed September 21, 2009.
for many stimulating comments, to Regina Bendix, 17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter_Fragrance_
Dörte Bersebach, Franka Schneider, Victoria Hegener Library. Accessed September 21, 2009.
and the anonymous reviewers for useful references and 18 http://w w w.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?
for pointing me to further sites and to Almuth Kölsch ProductID=861. Accessed February 18, 2010.
and Claire Bendix for assistance with translation. 19 http://w w w.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?
1 www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID ProductID=854. Accessed February 18, 2010.
=878. Accessed September 21, 2009. 20 w w w. d e m e t e r f r a g r a n c e . c o m / P r o d u c t . a s p x ?
2 http://demeterfragranceblog.com/blog/?page_id=2. ProductID=1031. Accessed September 21, 2009. Ac-
Accessed September 21, 2009. cording to a survey conducted by Montreal Concordia
3 http://demeterfragranceblog.com/blog/?page_id=2. University in 2007, “Babies” is one of the most popular
Accessed September 21, 2009. smells (Classen, Howes & Synnott 1997: 1).
4 A good overview of the research history concerning ol- 21 How we acquire associations connected to scent is still
faction can be found in Drobnick (2006: 3–5). unexplored. The physiological-genetic mystery of scent
5 The role of smell in dreams and visions in indigenous reception was explained in a Nobel Prize-worthy way
cultures is documented for the Umeda in Papua New by the two neuroscientists Richard Axel and Linda
Guinea (Gell 2006); see also Classen, Howes & Synnott B. Buck in 2004. Research on the culture of memory
(1997: 155–158). crafted the term “olfactory memory” (Kölbl 2001) as a
6 Campbell proposes a theory counter to classical deter- catchphrase, but there is thus far little in-depth empiri-
ministic consumption theories in the spirit of Thorstein cal research on the role of the sense of smell in the con-
Veblens “which emphasised instinct or external ma- text of cultural memory. This is the case despite the fact
nipulation, whilst the only tradition of thought which that the sense of smell and its associations fit extremely
presented the individual as actively involved in formu- well into the system of collective orientation and type
lating his own wants placed the emphasis on emulative development. This was convincingly demonstrated by

the German cultural anthropologist Gottfried Korff Assmann, Jan 1992: Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Er
(1999) using the example of the scents unique to the innerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen.
GDR. München: C.H. Beck.
22 For further information about the cultural constitution Badt, Kurt 1960: Wolkenbilder und Wolkengedichte der Ro
and forms of the “collective memory”, see Halbwachs mantik. Berlin: de Gruyter.
(1985[1939]); Assmann (1992); Assmann (1999). Bendix, Regina 2002: Capitalizing on Memories Past, Present
23 www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID and Future. Theoretical Anthropology, vol. 2, no. 4, pp.
=976. Accessed September 21, 2009. 469–487.
24 www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID Bendix, Regina 2006: Was über das Auge hinausgeht: Zur
=940. Accessed September 21, 2009. Rolle der Sinne in der ethnographischen Forschung.
25 This is probably the reason why natural scents, from Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde, vol. 102, no. 1, pp.
flowers, fruits and vegetables, belong to the small 71–84.
number of general scent preferences that can be estab- Campbell, Colin 1987: The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of
lished for Westeners. However, there is little evidence Modern Consumerism. Oxford & New York: Blackwell.
that universally pleasant or unpleasant smells actually Campbell, Colin 1994: Consuming Goods and the Good of
exist (Porteus 2006: 91). Consuming. Critical Review, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 503–520.
26 www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID Classen, Constance, David Howes & Anthony Synnott 1997:
=1045. Accessed September 21, 2009. Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell. London & New
27 www.libraryoffragrance.de/seiten/wasch.htm. Accessed York: Routledge.
September 21, 2009. Corbin, Alain 1984: Pesthauch und Blütenduft. Eine Ge
28 www.demeterfragranceblog.com/blog/. Accessed Sep- schichte des Geruchs. Berlin: Wagenbach.
tember 21, 2009. Diaconu, Madalina 2005: Tasten, Riechen, Schmecken: Eine
29 www.demeterfragranceblog.com/blog/. Accessed Sep- Ästhetik der anästhesierten Sinne. Würzburg: Königs
tember 21, 2009. hausen & Neumann.
30 http://www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx? Drobnick, Jim 2006: Introduction: Olfactocentrism. In: Jim
ProductID=1109. Accessed September 21, 2009. Drobnick (ed.), The Smell Culture Reader. Oxford: Berg,
31 www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID pp. 1–9.
=853. Accessed September 21, 2009. Ehn, Billy & Orvar Löfgren 2007: När ingenting särskilt hän
32 www.demeterfragranceblog.com/blog/. Accessed Sep- der. Stockholm: Symposion.
tember 21, 2009. Ehn, Billy & Orvar Löfgren 2008a: Daydreaming Between
33 http://www.demeterfragranceblog.com/bb/viewtopic. Dusk and Dawn. Etnofoor, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 9–22.
php?t=28. Accessed February 18, 2010. Ehn, Billy & Orvar Löfgren 2008b: “Imagination at Work”:
34 The company Scentcommunication created these and Daydreaming and Fantasizing in Everyday Life. Call for
numerous other olfactory experiences: www.scentcom- papers for a section at the 9th SIEF Congress, Transcend-
munication.com/content/view/12/13/. Accessed Sep- ing “European Heritages”: Liberating the Ethnological Im-
tember 21, 2009. agination, 16–20 June, 2008. University of Ulster, Ireland.
35 http://digiscents.com/blog/. Accessed September 21, 2009. Engen, Trygg, James E. Kuisma & Peter D. Eimas 1973:
36 See also a study of the German Federal Environmen- Short-term Memory of Odours. Journal of Experimental
tal Agency 2006: http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/ Psychology, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 222–225.
uba-info-presse/hintergrund/duftstoffe.pdf. Accessed Gell, Alfred 2006: Magic, Perfume, Dream … In: Jim Drob-
September 21, 2009. nick (ed.), The Smell Culture Reader. Oxford: Berg, pp.
37 Summed up by Le Guérer (1994: 10–16). 400–410.
38 Berliner Zeitung , March 1, 2007. Le Guérer, Annik 1994: Die Macht der Gerüche: Eine Philo
39 http://www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx? sophie der Nase. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.
ProductID=931. Accessed September 21, 2009. Le Guérer, Annik 2002: Olfaction and Cognition: A Philo-
40 http://www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx? sophical and Psychoanalytic View. In: Catherine Ruby,
ProductID=850. Accessed September 21, 2009. Benoist Schaal, Danièle Dubois & Rémi Gervais (eds.),
41 http://www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx? Olfaction, Taste and Cognition. Cambridge: University
ProductID=878. Accessed June 4, 2008. Press, pp. 2–15.
Halbwachs, Maurice 1985[1939]: Das kollektive Gedächtnis.
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Pethes & Jens Ruchatz (eds.), Gedächtnis und Erinnerung. Dorothee Hemme is assistant professor at the Department of
Ein interdisziplinäres Lexikon. Hamburg: Rowohlt. Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology at Goettingen
Korff, Gottfried 1999: Volkskundliche Notizen zur politi- University, Germany. Her research interests include themed
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(eds.), Ethnographisches Wissen. Zu einer Kulturtechnik der She is co-editor of Prädikat „Heritage“: Wertschöpfung aus
Moderne. Wien: Selbstverlag des Instituts für Volkskunde, kulturellen Ressourcen (LIT 2006, with M. Tauschek and R.
pp. 83–98. Bendix) and author of Märchenhafte Lebenswelten: Zur kul-
Löfgren, Orvar 1999: On Holiday: A History of Vacationing. turellen Konstruktion einer touristischen Themenstraße (LIT
Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California 2009). She is currently conducting research on quality man-
Press. agement as a cultural practice.
(dhemme4@gwdg.de)

TEMPORAL RHYTHMS AS OUTCOMES

OF SOCIAL PRACTICES
A Speculative Discussion
Mika Pantzar and Elizabeth Shove
In this article we argue that rush hours, hot spots and experiences of time squeeze are temporal
manifestations of relations between practices. In describing these relations we explore the relevance
of a range of metaphors, including those of organic, self-sustaining networks. In contrast to time-
use studies, which suggest that social rhythms follow from interaction between individuals, we
argue that temporal rhythms are usefully characterised as outcomes of processes in which practices
figure as “living” rather than as stable entities. Although illustrated with reference to empirical
studies of daily life in Finland, this is in essence a speculative paper designed to provoke debate
about how webs of social practice constitute the temporalities of contemporary society.
Keywords: everyday life, practice theory, rhythm analysis, self-sustaining networks, time-use studies
The heartbeat of all known forms of society can be cial practices define, constitute and reproduce the
characterised by the rhythms of day and night, and rhythmic ordering of daily life. In taking these ideas
by those of eating, breathing and sleeping (Foster & forward we suggest that social theories of practice as
Kreitzman 2004; Koukkari & Sothern 2006). Just as developed by Foucault (1994[1966]), Schatzki (2002,
the heartbeat is a sign of life in the human body, so 2009) and Warde (2005) can be used in understand-
the rhythms of living and consuming are vital signs ing the temporal texture of everyday life, and how it
of social life (Sorokin & Merton 1937; Zerubavel changes. As such they provide a critical resource for
1981; Hall 1983; McNeil 1995; Miller 2004). Just as rhythm analysis of the type that Lefebvre proposed
the human heart rate varies with physical exercise (2004[1992]).*
so daily rhythms adjust to changes in wider society. First some words on what we mean by social
In this article we suggest that the origin and re- practice. In what follows we assume that daily prac-
petitiveness of such rhythms, whether of a heart or tices like walking or cooking represent recognis-
of everyday life, have more to do with the historical able, relatively enduring entities that exist as sets of
evolution of endogenous – bodily and daily – pro norms, conventions, ways of doing, know-how and
cesses than with external rules or regulations. In necessary material arrays (Schatzki 2002; Foucault
short, we explore the proposition that forms of in- 1994[1966]). In other words, practices figure as
tegration, sequence and synchronicity between so- something that actual and potential practitioners

can participate in or from which they can withdraw. (or, as Foucault would say, dispositifs, assemblages) in
Equally, they also exist only so long as practitioners turn, influence, condition and enable the renewal of
keep them alive, and it is through recurrent per- ideas, knowledge and material objects. In sum, and
formance that the contours of individual practices in brief, the central proposition is that social order,
are formed and transformed. including social rhythms, and individuality result
In the current discourse there seem to be two from practices, and that the choreography of eve-
opposing views about the site and focus of social ryday life and the source of changed behaviour lie,
practices (Schatzki 2002: xii). Firstly, theories of ar- at least to some extent, in the development of inter-
rangement (actor networks, apparatus, assemblage) dependent practices (Borch 2005; Latour & Lepinay
espoused by, for example, Foucault, Latour and Cal- 2009; Schatzki 2009).
lon suggest that arrangements of entities are among What do these statements imply for an under-
the principal compositional features of social life. standing of temporal order, or for the capacity to
In contrast, theories of practice and agency focus analyse and characterise the rhythm and pace of
more on the conditions of actions and performances social life? What happens if we try to weave theo-
(e.g. Bourdieu). In linking these traditions, Schatz- ries of practice into the work of rhythm analysis as
ki seeks to analyse performances and networks defined by Lefebvre (2004[1992])? This is a central
both of practices and of relevant material elements question to which we return having first dipped into
(2002, 2009). In what follows, we also concentrate an assortment of empirical resources, metaphors
on networks of practice and on relations between and anecdotal examples, the conjunction of which
practices distributed across time and space. In the promises to enrich discussion of the temporal order-
nineteenth century Gabriel Tarde proposed a simi- ing of social life.
larly comprehensive, web-like view of practices, a
position also adopted by representatives of activity Evidence of Societal Rhythm
theory including Vygotsky and Engeström. Such a The fact that on weekdays most people are awake at
position differs from that which informs detailed 7 a.m., and asleep again by 11 p.m. (European Com-
ethnographic studies of situated practice (Suchman mission 2004), reminds us that societal rhythms
1987; Lave & Wenger 1991; Orlikowski 2002) in that consist of millions of fragments, moments and epi-
it focuses on processes beyond those of local enact- sodes of private, but at the same time collective and
ment and reproduction. It also departs – even more often interdependent practices. As Henri Lefebvre
obviously – from familiar accounts of the cognitive, observes, such rhythms are simultaneously internal
technological, cultural or institutional drivers of and social: “In one day in the modern world, every-
behaviour in that it takes social practices to be the body does more or less the same things at more or
central unit of enquiry, consequently concentrat- less the same times, but each person is really alone
ing on how networked practices condition the sein doing it” (Lefebvre 2004[1992]: 75). Although
quential order and synchronicities of everyday life, centrally preoccupied with the allocation of minutes
and on how links between practices either stabilise and hours, time-use studies do not usually enquire
or destabilise these constellations. In taking these into the forms of mutual coordination involved, or
links to be emergent, generative and creative, such into this relation between individual and collective
an approach has certain affinities with the notion of patterns of time. Instead, empirical studies of time
“social choreography” (Klien 2007), a concept that use tend to focus on the duration of practices (Szalai
positions efforts to steer and order social change as 1972; Gershuny 2000) rather than on the combina-
forms of creative and aesthetic intervention (Pantzar tions and sequences of which everyday life is con-
1989; James 2007; Thrift 2008), rather than as deter- stituted (Ellegård 1999; Michelson 2005; Southerton
ministic exercises in social engineering. This makes 2003, 2006). Quantifying average amounts of time
sense, given the view that constellations of practice devoted to housework, childcare, leisure and paid

Ill. 1: Hourly visitors of a major chatline in Finland from Monday 8.6.2009 to Sunday 15.6.2009. Source: Microsoft 2009,
Helsinki, unpublished.
employment provides an indication of the changing to note, in passing, that these insights suggest that
practice-time profile of society and of developments despite the potential for using the Internet anytime
that relate, for instance, to women’s role in the la- and anywhere, such practices seem to be slotted into
bour market or the outsourcing of child care. How- an already established weekly and diurnal rhythm
ever, averages of this type do not reveal potentially (Maryanski & Turner 1992).
important variations in how days are organised and There is nothing new and nothing distinctly Finn-
scheduled, in the frequency of episodes, or in how ish about the significance of Saturday nights. As
they overlap through strategies like those of multi- Zerubavel (1981) described in his study of time in
tasking (Ellegård 1999; Ellegård & Vilhelmson 2004; hospital life, shift workers valued a Saturday night
Michelson 2005). off much more highly than, say, a Monday or a
Other forms of data collection and analysis pro- Thursday. Saturday nights permit social interaction
vide more direct evidence of rhythmic order. For precisely because people are not usually engaged in
example, Ill. 1 depicts the weekly rhythm of partici- other competing practices – it is possible to organise
pation in a major chatline in Finland. In this data social activities and synchronise meetings on this
set the quietest, least “peaky” day was Saturday, 13 night because this is time implicitly reserved for
June 2009, with Saturday evening being exception- such pursuits. This works in different ways, for ex-
ally “quiet”. ample, Saturday evenings are “free” in part because
Similarly, a study conducted in 2008 by Talous- they are not hours in which shops, schools and work-
tutkimus, a Finnish market-research company, places are open. Equally, bonds of family and friend-
shows that a great number of people spend time with ship colonise and are in a sense reproduced through
friends on Saturday evenings (the darkest section). a sort of network-like mycelium that flourishes in
Ill. 2, a “heat camera” image based on this research, this temporal slot and that consequently constrains
provides a graphic representation of time-use data and orders what goes on within it.
collected from 4,000 people in 15 minute episodes Saturday evening appears to be distinct on a
across a two-week period. number of counts. To date, less is known about the
Other market studies underline the “special” patterning of other days of the week, or about how
character of Saturday evenings in Finland. For exam- seasonal and annual patterns unfold. However, rel-
ple, there are far fewer visits to online travel agencies evant sources of potentially revealing data are be-
(Fritidsresor), online gambling sites (Veikkaus), and ginning to accumulate. More advanced information
online banking services (Nordea Bank) on Saturday system (GPS, GIS, RFID) and an increase in digital,
evenings than there are on Sundays. It is interesting and even real-time data, will allow researchers to

Sunday
Saturday
Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Sunday
Saturday
Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
00–01
02–03
01–02
03–04
04–05
05–06
06–07
07–08
08–09
09–10
10–11
11–12
12–13
13–14
14–15
15–16
16–17
17–18
18–19
19–20
20–21
21–22
22–23
23–00
Ill. 2: Spending time with friends (n=4,000). Source: Taloustutkimus 2008, unpublished.
interpret the rhythms of everyday life in new ways metaphors, models and categories in terms of which
(Galloway 2004; Miller 2004). Today a large number such an exercise might be organised.
of people are voluntarily offering data about their
current movements and preferences, for example, Metaphors, Models and Categories
on Facebook or Twitter. At the same time, business Dale Southerton (2006) uses Fine’s (1996) five di-
organisations are collecting new types of informa- mensions of social time to characterise the ways in
tion under the guise of “customer relationship man- which individuals organise and manage the intersec-
agement” (CRM) or through “data mining” (Zwick tion of practices in time and space. These dimensions
& Knott 2009). The results of this “data explosion” include the concept of duration, which refers to the
have yet to be exploited on any scale or used to ad- amount of time devoted to specific activities. Tempo
dress the question of how individual rhythms com- characterises the extent of time-space compression
bine to form the rhythm or pulse of a nation, how and the intensification of activities and experiences.
forms of deviance and irregularity take hold, and Sequence has to do with the order in which activities
exactly how different periodicities (daily, weekly, are conducted. Synchronisation describes the ways in
annual) intersect. As represented here, the issue is which the trajectories of different individuals and
not whether individual deviations can be explained activities mesh together. Finally, periodicity refers to
by disturbances in the societal rhythm, or whether the frequency and repetition of event and activities.
societal rhythms and their arrhythmias are conse- As indicated above, this is a framework that is use-
quences of the intertwining of individual rhythms. ful in making sense of how individuals organise and
Rather, the challenge is to show how these patterns experience time. However, it does not show how col-
constitute each other. lective rhythms arise.
In the next few paragraphs we identify different In seeking to capture these emergent forms, Lefeb

vre argues for an analysis of social-temporal pat- cal rhythms signifies a pathological state, which can
terning that takes account of melody, harmony and cause health problems if it continues for a long time.
rhythm. In his words, “[a]ll of these three depend on In support of this position they note that diabetes
an understanding of time – melody being a sequence and obesity correlate with disturbances in the sleep
of notes in temporal succession, harmony relaying rhythm (Koukkari & Sothern 2006). In extending
on notes sounding at the same time, and rhythm be- these ideas to the social realm, Koukkari and Soth-
ing the placement of notes and their relative lengths” ern suggest that behavioural rhythms like those of
(Lefebvre 2004[1992]: xi). Lefebvre’s reference to sleeping or grooming might also be viewed as self-
“life as a concert” introduces a vocabulary in terms sustaining networks.
of which one might develop explanations and analy- Southerton attributes experiences of time pres-
ses of the temporal and spatial clustering of social sure and rhythmic patterns to the ways in which
practice (cf. Meyer 2008). people interact. Lefebvre writes in more general
This terminology comes close to that developed terms about emerging and cumulative rhythms.
by chronobiologists who view the human body as Meanwhile, Koukkari and Sothern imply that tem-
a highly complex rhythm-based organ. According poral orders are the result of specific forms of feed-
to Koukkari and Sothern, “[a]ll known variables of back. Can these various perspectives be adapted and
life, be they levels of potassium ion in a cell, stages of bent to the task of showing how temporal rhythms
sleep, or the opening of flowers, have either directly are formed by networks of practices? Following
or indirectly been found to display rhythms” (2006: Southerton and Fine, it might be possible to show
1). Koukkari and Sothern contend that the rhythmic how practices (viewed here as instances of perform-
nature of life influences the very existence of organ- ance) are sequenced and how moments of perform-
isms, commencing before conception and extending ance are linked to the performances and practices
beyond death. This is in keeping with a growing body of others (hence to issues of synchronicity and har-
of literature on biological (molecular) clocks, some of mony). Linking Lefebvre with Koukkari and Soth-
which suggests that natural rhythms are based on self- ern it might be possible to identify feedback circuits
sustaining networks. For example, circadian periods through which rhythmic patterns are maintained
of about (circa) a day (dies) are present even when or- and transformed. Methodologically, this approach
ganisms are isolated from environmental 24-hour cy- requires us to consider two related questions: a)
cles. The seemingly autonomous role of the biological What kinds of links exist between practices? b) How
clock is explained in terms of feedback effects, hence: do emerging rhythms and collective temporal orders
feed back into and configure individual practices?
The central circadian clock is in itself a defined As we shall see, further issues then arise about how
molecular entity, but instead of gears, springs, to characterise the manner and intensity of inter-
cogs, and balance beams that are engineered and practice relations.
arranged to make a mechanical clock function
properly, the central circadian clock consists of Links between Practices
positive and negative feedback loops where clock Reckwitz (2002) defines a practice as a “type” of be-
genes are turned on or off by the cycling proteins having and understanding that appears at different lo-
that they encode. The entire process is sequential, cales and at different points of time and that is carried
with built-in delays and molecular receptors, pro- out by different bodies and minds. He also suggests
ducing a self-sustaining network that has a circadi- that practices consist of interconnected elements,
an rhythm. (Koukkari & Sothern 2006: 173–174) hence his conclusion that “[a] practice forms so to
speak a ‘block’ whose existence necessarily depends
These authors go on to consider the possibility that, on the existence and specific interconnectedness of
at the level of the individual, deviation from biologi- these elements, and which cannot be reduced to any

reading a morning paper and

drinking coffee complement
Practice 3, etc… Practice 3, etc… each other (Sanomat, unpub-
Practice 3, etc…
lished, 2005). More than that,
the positive relationship be-
tween reading a morning paper
Practice 1 Practice 2 Practice 1 Practice 2 Practice 1 Practice 2 and drinking coffee seems to
c) Links no longer be conditioned by the existence
a) Links not yet made b) Links sustained and
transformed being made of a suitable kitchen table. If
the table is too small it is hard
Ill. 3: Making and breaking links between practices.
to combine drinking coffee with reading the paper.
one of these single elements” (Reckwitz 2002: 250). Another example might be phoning and driving.
Just as elements – such as materials, images, forms of Unpublished statistics (2009) from the telecommu-
competence and know-how – constitute the building nication company Elisa Communication show that
blocks of individual practices, so individual practices telephone calling peaks at the time when people are
arguably constitute the building blocks of systems or travelling home from work. This might suggest that
networks of practice. Ill. 3 shows this possibility. mobile phoning and car driving somehow “cooper-
As this simple illustration suggests, ongoing rela- ate”, but since both practices also “live separately”
tions between practices (which have implications for this could be an instance of “epiphytic coopera-
temporal orders of all sorts) depend on the ways in tion” (meaning asymmetric cooperation). In other
which multiple practices co-constitute each other words, driving a car could increase the likelihood of
as illustrated in scenario b, this being one in which using the phone, but not vice versa. From a different
links are reproduced and transformed. point of view, we might also consider phoning and
There are many possible forms of linkage. We car driving to be competing pursuits in that both
comment briefly on a few simple cases in which demand the driver’s attention – an interpretation
practices are positively or negatively related to each shared by those regulators who have banned phon-
other. In so doing we refer to ecological/biological ing in a car without the use of a hands free device in
metaphors (Pantzar 1989; Pantzar & Sundell- some countries.
Nieminen 2003), starting with the suggestion that As this case implies, certain activities are more
practices “cooperate” with each other. readily combined with others. In this regard it is
interesting to notice that time-use researchers re-
Cooperative Relationships fer to the potential for “contamination” as when
In a cooperative relationship, practices feed off each housework entails multiple simultaneous activities
other. They are positively correlated, and at least one (Michelson 2005), when child minding and watch-
practice benefits another. In biology, the relationship ing television routinely co-exist (Jacobs & Gerson
is typically based on mutual success. In epiphytic co- 2004: 30) or when cozy Friday evenings in Sweden
operation the existence of practice Y is based on the consist of watching television alongside specific
existence of practice X, but practice X is not related forms of eating and drinking (Brembeck 2009: 2).
to the existence of practice Y. The “master practice” As others have argued, key sites like living rooms
(X) is not suffering from the epiphyte. and offices are home, or host, to specific forms of
How easy is it to find examples of cooperative rela- inter-practice collaboration (de Wit et al. 2002).
tionships between practices? One example might be More abstractly, concepts of lifestyle capture what
breakfast: an arrangement often consisting of sever- Grant McCracken (1988) refers to as “Diderot uni-
al interdependent practices. Ethnographic research ties”, the idea here being that if one element of the
for a Finnish publisher reveals that for many people, person’s life changes, that has consequences for

other aspects too. At this general level, the notion of socialising and eating (Michelson 2005). This sug-
inter-practice cooperation is useful in understand- gests that rather than competing with these other
ing what we might think of as “radical” innovation practices, television’s success has to do with the fact
(Tushman & Anderson 1986) in the realm of eve- that it can fit in with them. This maybe explains why
ryday life. Emerging “dominant practices” when a large-scale nationally representative survey by Kai-
re-configuring the entire social-temporal landscape ser Foundation found that the amount of television
possibly create new selection environments that fa- viewing in the United States has been unaffected
vour the emergence of new rhythmic patterns. The by the dramatic increase in the use of other media
establishment of “prime time” television might be (Rideout, Foehr & Roberts 2010).
one such example in that this gives new structure In thinking about such situations it is important
to the coordination of many different activities over to recognise that practices are not simply competing
the course of an evening. In this as in other situa- against each other, they also compete for relatively
tions it is difficult to separate a discussion of coop- scarce resources, including those of time. Put anoth-
eration from one of competition. er way, the detail of the competition depends on the
specific qualities and demands of different practices.
Competitive Relationships This leads to the slightly more subtle conclusion that
The more (intense) practice A is, the less (intense) is competition (or cooperation) between practices re-
practice B. A parasitic relationship is a special case; lates to the scarcity (or abundance) of what Reckwitz
a non-symmetric competitive relationship, where identifies as the constituent elements of practices, for
A’s existence is based on the existence of B, which instance skills and material objects.
suffers in the relationship. Practice A cannot survive
without the other (B), but practice B can. Prey-Predator Relationships
The idea that practices compete for time makes This insight is also relevant in relation to a further
sense up to a point, but as Wajcman (2008: 67), Shove variant of inter-practice inter-dependency, namely
(2009) and Schatzki (2009) observe, time is in a sense the prey–predator relationship. This scenario points
made by, through and in the course of practice. In to a more complicated picture of interdependence
what follows we set this observation aside in order to between practices. In biological terms, the prey-
explore the proposition that practices compete across predator relationship is one in which the existence
a zero-sum terrain of available time (for individual of practice B (predator) is positively related (coop-
performances) (Pred 1981). The commonsense ob- eration) to the existence of practice A (prey), but the
servation that time-hungry practices are especially existence of practice A is negatively (competition)
demanding is supported by studies that report a related to the existence of another practice (B). As
negative correlation between time spent watching TV the number of prey-practices increases, the predator
and many other activities like gardening, participat- population increases, and this leads to a decrease in
ing in sports etc. (e.g. Caroli et al. 2004). the prey population.
On closer inspection, the colonisation of leisure What is important in the prey-predator interac-
time by television viewing arguably represents an tion between two practices is the fact that this sort
intriguing combination of both dominance (com- of interdependence may lead to oscillation. One ex-
petition) and flexibility (cooperation). If we look ample might be the fashion system in which mem-
beyond the averages we find considerable individual bers of group A attempt to innovate while members
variation in television viewing (Robinson & God- of group B imitate. When a newly fashionable prac-
bey 1997). In addition, watching television is one of tice becomes “too popular” or too widely imitated,
the first activities people say they would give up if some new practice is required to enable or reproduce
they had to. As indicated above, watching television differentiation and distinction between these popu-
often takes place alongside activities like childcare, lations. The prey-predator relationship typically

generates rhythmic patterns, some of which might practices have a separate existence, the only shared
apply to the existence and circulation of “elements” aspect being that of time and/or space. By contrast,
as well as to practices themselves. For example, we practices that form a complex generate properties/
might imagine situations in which the skills of do- qualities which are not attributable to any one com-
ing practice A increase by doing B, but at the same ponent. The term “practice complex” consequently
time doing A erodes or damages the skills required refers to practice constellations that are hard or im-
for doing B. There is more that could be said here possible to separate because different practices are
but for the time being it is enough to notice that in “functionally” (or mentally) integrated.
contrast to “simple” forms of cooperation or com- With these ideas in place it is possible to imagine
petition, the prey-predator relationship points to the scenarios in which the loose links of a bundle turn
possible existence of complicated hybrid dynamics into forms of co-dependence that characterise a
characterised by (endogenous) rhythmic oscillation. complex. Equally, the co-dependent components of
a complex might, in time, lose their separate identi-
Bundles and Complexes ties and fuse together to form a single practice. For
Before coming to a conclusion we comment briefly example, a hundred years ago, driving a car required
on the strength and character of links between prac- “multitasking” involving the careful and novel coor-
tices, whether these be forged through competition, dination of separate practices (steering, navigating,
collaboration or more complex patterns of interde- braking etc.). Today these elements have cohered
pendence. These are relevant in that sticky or fragile such that driving is considered to be a practice in its
relationships are potentially important for the per- own right. The fact that learner drivers acquire rele-
sistent or dynamic character of societal rhythms. In vant forms of competence a bit at a time points to the
distinguishing between “bundles” of co-existence possibility of disaggregation. However, the learning
and stickier “complexes” of co-dependence we give process is designed to weld these into a single, seam-
a taste of what this kind of analysis might involve. less process such that novices become “drivers”.
The difference between bundles and complexes of As the terminology of “complex” indicates, there
practice has to do with the intensity and character are many possible forms of co-constitution. The ob-
of the links involved. Practices that form a “bundle” servation that the practices that comprise a “com-
are minimally interrelated, for example through be- plex” exist only in relation to each other opens the
ing co-located in a kitchen, an office or some oth- way for more extensive discussion of how such rela-
er spatial or temporal “container” – in these cases tions are constituted. In taking this forward, it may
be useful to appropriate or borrow concepts devel-
oped in complexity studies (Zeleny 1996; Boden
2000) and ecological systems thinking (Kaufmann
1988; Khalil & Boulding 1996). For example, one
might imagine identifying and analysing chain re-
actions between practices in terms of autocatalytic
feedback cycles animated by concatenations of posi-
tive influences, such that one item in the chain ca-
talyses another. For example, if practice A increases
the probability that practice B will emerge and per-
sist, and practice B stands in the same relation to
practice A, the two practices mutually enhance each
other’s rates of replication. Speculative thought ex-
periments of this kind raise all sorts of problems and
Ill. 4: Co-existing and co-dependent practices. questions about the media of “feedback”, the na-
(7+12/2*,$(8523$($

ture of selection and replication, the specification of tice complexes participate in the regeneration and
units (practices, complexes, elements) and so forth. reproduction of the elements (images, materialities,
Even so, there is some merit in thinking about forms of competence) of which individual practices
what such “circuits” of feedback and reproduction are composed.
might involve, how they might be identified and
studied, and how they constitute the intersecting Concluding Comments
rhythms of society. In this deliberately speculative article we have ex-
plored the suggestion that the rhythms of everyday
Circuits of Reproduction life reflect the patterning of social practices and the
As a first step we return to the idea that practices in- dynamic relations of which these web-like patterns
volve the ongoing integration of elements. In think- are made. By implication, the pulse of society, like
ing about how practices co-depend it would make the heartbeat of an individual, is the tangible trace
sense to think about the elements of which they are of multiple, intersecting circuits of reproduction.
made. For example, are the skills or forms of com- In employing terms like these we have toyed with
petence that a practice requires shared with other different models and metaphors and played around
practices, or are they relatively unique? Are practices with concepts and snippets of empirical data taken
united by a common dependence on specific skills or out of context. The result, better viewed as a collec-
technologies, or are they kept apart, or kept in com- tion of notes and observations than a fully formed
petition with each other by virtue of the specific “de- conceptual framework, is designed to inspire and
mands” or requirements they make? Since elements generate further debate within the fields of time-use
are in turn reproduced in and through practice, these studies and on the part of those interested in how
observations hint at a first “circuit” of reproduction, social practices emerge, persist and disappear.
namely that which characterises the mutually consti- As is obvious, we have provided no more than a
tutive relation between practices and elements. fuzzy sketch of what it might take to analyse and ex-
Moving on, we can view practices as the constitu- plain changing temporal rhythms. It is one thing to
ent parts of bundles or complexes, defined and held suggest that rhythm generating processes exist and
in place by a second “circuit” of reproduction, name- reinforce/undermine each other across very differ-
ly that which characterises the mutually constitutive ent scales (microscopic vs macroscopic order), and
relations (for instance of competition, cooperation another to provide methodological advice on how
or more elaborate forms) between practices and these might be specified and studied. Lefebvre, who
complexes of practice. Again borrowing from com- also suggests that analysing the rhythms of every-
plexity science, a self-generative/self-modifying prac- day life requires fragments of data from different
tice complex would be one in which co-dependent sources, is equally vague when it comes to describ-
practices participate in their own regeneration. ing how such data might be mobilised. In his words,
The repeated reformulation of relations between a rhythm analyst has to learn to “listen” “to a house,
practices might result in a relatively stable arrange- a street, a town, as an audience listens to a symphony
ment, for instance taking the form of established … he must recognize representations by their curves,
lifestyles and traditions (Pantzar & Shove 2010), phases, periods, and recurrences … he receives data
or it might result in fossilisation or decay (Shove & from all the sciences” (Lefebvre 2004[1992]: 25). By
Pantzar 2006). Either way, the central point is that folding theories of practice into this frame, our con-
systems of practices are reproduced and/or trans- tribution is to give this “listening” a bit of order – at
formed through recurrent relations that are, in turn, a minimum suggesting that rhythm analysts should
of consequence for individual practices and for the pay special attention to forms of feedback and “reso-
elements of which these are composed. nance” of the types described above. In this way it
Finally, and to bring this account full circle, prac- might be possible to show how certain “microscopic”

rhythms accumulate to form “macroscopic” trends, duce Feelings of Togetherness. A paper presented at Moral
Symmetry and Material Agency; Negotiations on Agent-
as happens when almost all the citizens of Finland
Object Relations, September 24–25, Helsinki.
head off to bed at the same time. Caroli, M., L. Argentieri, M. Cardone & A. Masi 2004: The
Our account also suggests that daily regulari- Role of Television in Childhood Obesity Prevention. In-
ties of the kind revealed in aggregate time-use data ternational Journal of Obesity, 28, 104–108.
– including patterns in going to sleep, eating, mode Certeau, M. 1984[1980]: The Practice of Everyday Life.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
bile phoning or socialising – are not merely social
Ellegård, K. 1999: A Time-Geographical Approach to the
or cultural constructs in the sense of being arbitrary Study of Everyday Life of Individuals: A Challenge of
or negotiable. Rather, they are better understood as Complexity. GeoJournal, 48: 3, 167–175.
the outcomes of different practices, and of different Ellegård, K. & B. Vilhelmson 2004: Home as a Pocket of
forms of inter-practice integration. As historians are Local Order: Everyday Activities and the Friction of Dis-
tance. Geografiska Annaler, 86B: 4, 281–296.
well aware, interdependencies between practices can
European Commission 2004: How Europeans Spend Their
lead to forms of path-dependence such that practice Time: Everyday Life of Men and Women 1998–2002. Eurostat,
constellations are sensitive both to their origins (that Theme 3. Population and Social Conditions. Strasbourg.
is, their historical developments) and to the emer- Fine, G. 1996: Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work.
gent seemingly “structural” features that hold them Berkeley: University of California Press.
Foster, R. & L. Kreitzman 2004: Rhythms of Life: The Bio-
in place. An understanding of how elements, prac-
logical Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living
tices and bundles/complexes of practice intersect Thing. New Haven: Yale University Press.
has the potential to keep both these dimensions in Foucault, M. 1994[1966]: The Order of Things: An Archeology
view at the same time. of the Human Sciences. New York: Vintage Book (orig. Les
We finish with a note on power. Theorists of every mots et les choses).
Galloway, A. 2004: Intimations of Everyday Life: Ubiqui-
day life such as de Certeau (1984[1980]) and Leveb
tous Computing and the City. Cultural Studies, 18: 2/3,
vre (1991[1947], 2004[1992]) viewed the realm of 384–408.
everyday practice as a kind of antithesis to more for- Gershuny, J. 2000: Changing Times: Work and Leisure in
mal centres of power. This positive interpretation is Postindustrial Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
potentially compromised by our own account of the Hall, E. 1983: The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of
Time. New York: Anchor Books.
rhythms and routines of everyday life as outcomes of
Jacobs, J. & K. Gerson 2004: The Time Divide: Work, Family, and
interlocking circuits of reproduction. Although not Gender Inequality. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
the theme of this paper, we conclude by recognising James, W. 2007: Choreography and Ceremony: The Artful
that seemingly neutral “circuits” of reproduction are Side of Action. Human Affairs, 17, 129–137.
skewed and slanted by patterns of inequality, these Kaufman, S. 1988: The Evolution of Economic Webs. In: P.
Anderson, K. Arrow & D. Pines (eds.), The Economy as an
being patterns that are in turn perpetuated through
Evolving Complex System. Redwood City: Addison-Wesley,
the dominance and marginalisation of specific prac- pp. 125–146.
tices and practice complexes. Khalil, E. & K. Boulding (eds.) 1996: Evolution, Order and
Complexity. London: Routledge Frontiers of Political
Economy.
Note Klien, M. 2007: Choreography: A Pattern Language. Kyber-
* We would like to thank Mikko Jalas, Kaj Luotonen and netes, 36: 7/8, 1081–1088.
Anu Raijas for comments on earlier versions of this article. Koukkari, W. & R. Sothern 2006: Introducing Biological
Rhythms. New York: Springer.
Latour B. & V. Lepinay 2009: The Science of Passionate Inter-
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Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-year-Olds. A Kaiser Family Mika Pantzar is acting research professor in National Con-
Foundation Study. January. sumer Research Centre. His current project “Co-production
Robinson, J. & G. Godbey 1997: Time for Life: The Surprising of Innovations – Towards an Integrative Theory of Practice”
Ways Americans Use Their Time. Pennsylvania: Pennsylva- is financed by the Academy of Finland and Aalto University
nia State University Press. School of Economics. Elizabeth Shove is Professor of Soci-
Schatzki, T. 2002: The Site of the Social: A Philosophical Ac- ology at Lancaster University. She currently holds an ESRC
count of the Constitution of Social Life and Change. Penn- climate change leadership fellowship on “Transitions in
sylvania: Pennsylvania University Press. Practice: Climate Change and Everyday Life”. Their co-au-
Schatzki, T. 2009: Timespace and the Organization of So- thored book with Matt Watson, Everyday Life: The Dynam-
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Culture. Oxford: Berg, pp. 35–48. and Practices: Understanding the Invention and Reinvention
Shove, E. 2009: Everyday Practice and the Production and of Nordic Walking (Journal of Consumer Culture 2005) and
Consumption of Time. In: E. Shove, F. Trentman & R. Recruitment and Reproduction: The Careers and Carriers of
Wilk (eds.), Time: Consumption and Everyday Life, Prac- Digital Photography and Floorball (Human Affairs 2007).
tice, Materiality and Culture. Oxford: Berg, pp. 17–34. (mika.pantzar@aalto.fi, e.shove@lancaster.ac.uk)

RHYTHM – A WORLD LANGUAGE?

Reflections on Movement-Oriented Cultural Analysis
Sonja Windmüller
The article explores the idea and practice of rhythm as a subject as well as a perspective of cultural
analysis that points to the physical dimension of culture, the social effects of bodily movements.
Against holistic (and essentialist) conceptualisations of rhythm, the paper argues for a more de-
tailed, multi-perspective approach, facing concrete phenomena in their specific and larger con-
texts, their functions and content and not least their interrelations and cross-references. The focus
here is on a popular as well as questionable theoretical and practical model in a key area of rhythmic
expressions: the model of rhythm as a (musical) “world language”. It can be shown how differ-
ent, even (supposedly) competing concepts of rhythm are affiliated, how explicit and subliminal
models and practices are adjoined by further meaning, and, finally, how they develop culture-
constituting qualities.
Keywords: rhythm, bodily movement, physical figuration, resonance, disruption
In the 7 January 2008 edition of the German weekly most exclusively white agrarian state of Iowa,
magazine Der Spiegel there was a report on the Dem- there are few who have the ability to dance to Af-
ocratic Party caucuses in the last presidential elec- rican rhythms, but the hall dances. On the screens
tion in the USA. More specifically it was about the over the stage Hillary Clinton’s speech is being
climactic duel between the long-time undisputed broadcast. One can see her but she can no longer
favourite candidate, Hillary Clinton and the current be heard. (Hujer & Meyer 2008: 102)
president, Barack Obama. The article begins with
the following snapshot:1 By accentuating this almost incidental scene, the ar-
ticle provides an atmospheric approach to election
In the moment in which Barack Obama, 46, knew reporting, noteworthy with regard to the symbolic
that he had won the Iowa caucus, he sent drum- repertoire and dramaturgy of major political events
mers to the Hy-Vee Hall in the centre of the state and, at the same time, instructive for cultural analy-
capital Des Moines. They were to boost the atmo sis – as it points to the physical dimension of culture,
sphere before he held his victory speech. to cultural effects of bodily movements and in par-
It is an experiment – and it is risky: In the al- ticular to the potential of rhythm as a specific but

also ubiquitous figure of both thought and move- Basic Rhythm and Creation of Community
ment alike.2 The rhythms in the Obama election At the beginning of 1997, an issue of the Swiss cul-
campaign, their perception and distribution in the tural magazine du dealt with Die Trommel (“The
media are not a singular phenomenon in this per- Drum”) – its programmatic subtitle was Weltsprache
spective; on the contrary, rhythm seems to affect all Rhythmus (“World Language Rhythm”). This issue
areas of society. Whether in sports, music, working shall serve as an access point to my considerations.
activities, health, ceremonial rituals or daily rou- In the magazine there are contributions about in-
tines, urban life or experiences of nature – in the struments and musicians from different countries
most different of contexts – all of them heterogene- and epochs, from the mythical blueprints of the first
ously connotated – recourse to the idea of rhythm drum in the shamanic melodies of the Himalayas to
becomes apparent in everyday, media and academic the drummers of the Central African Pygmies and
communication. Moreover, “the rhythmic” seems to the Amazon region to the Shrovetide drumming
be omnipresent as practice and physical figuration, in Basel and the sound cosmology of modern jazz.
which – for the most part unquestioned but obvi- The frame drummer Glen Valez was chosen for its
ously effective – connects core areas of society like cover. He is not just a star of the international drum-
(human) biology, economy and art with each other. ming scene, but also a cosmopolitan US-American
The aim of this paper is to explore rhythm in its of Mexican descent who describes himself as a
cultural analytical qualities, that is, not only as a composer and musician who works with so-called
subject, but also as a perspective of cultural analy- “cross-cultural ensembles”. He seems to be able to
sis. The focus here is on a popular – and question- move effortlessly across the world and has mastered
able – theoretical and practical model in a key area of specialist Irish, Brazilian, Azerbaijanian, Arabian
rhythmic expressions (music and dance): the model and North African percussion instruments.6 Glen
of a (musical) “world-language rhythm”, which is Valez represents an ideal, and embodies the basic as-
resonated in the introductory quotation from the sertion and concern of the issue: rhythm, here para-
Obama campaign and which is first and foremost digmatically condensed in the sound of drums, acts
associated with percussion music and performance. as a cultural technique connecting continents. De-
Going beyond musicological interest and preoc- spite the “endless variety” (Bachmann 1997: 13) of
cupations,3 the following suggestions deliberately shapes of instruments and types of beat, the rhythm
adopt a broader cultural analytical approach, focus- of drums represents a possibility for intercom-
ing on rhythm as an activity model, and an analyti- munication which crosses geographic and cultural
cal as well as an experience model, particularly in its boundaries, because, according to the editorial:
specific realisations, its inscriptions and ascriptions “Whether Asia, Africa, North and South America:
(also – and above all – in their cross-references). In the drum was and is found on almost every conti-
doing so, against the “usual path” of scientific en- nent” (Bachmann 1997: 13).7
gagement, the often discussed and just as frequently Although the addressed perceptions and practices
criticised lack of conceptual clarity in rhythm4 shall deviate from each other and thus also dissociate,
not be overcome by definitional ambition,5 but har- the subtitle of the du issue suggests that, neverthe-
nessed as an analytically fruitful challenge, as an less, in the case of rhythmic sounds and movements,
approach to guiding epistemological importance a seemingly global cultural constant (in thought
for cultural analysis. Finally, the following consid- and practice) could be identified: a generally valid
erations are intended to sound out and capture the principle, a basal model of human experience and
potentials of dealing with rhythm as it pertains to expression. The generalising idea of musical rhythm
movement-oriented cultural analysis and to bring as a lingua universalis is taken and exemplified in
together existing traces in an interdisciplinary per- several articles of the du magazine, particularly im-
spective. pressive in one of the central texts which tellingly

deals with the continent of Africa, which is not only the musicians involved but also the dancers and
considered to be the area where the drum originated listeners, who “through a kind of kinetic percep-
(Bachmann 1997: 13),8 but is commonly recognised tion keep time with the base rhythm” (Chernoff
as the “cradle of humanity”.9 The article is written by 1997: 32):11 “Beyond the obvious, that is beyond the
the ethnomusicologist and sociologist John Miller sound, the music points to a broader field, to differ-
Chernoff, who is well respected for his book African ent kinds of perception and expression” (Chernoff
Rhythm and African Sensibility (1979),10 in which he 1997: 31). Chernoff’s suggestions are pertinent to
published the results of longstanding field research, cultural analysis, but need – in this respect – further
above all in Ghana. In the du article he addresses the theorisation. Some helpful ideas are provided by a
phenomenon of polyrhythm, one of the main char- social analytically informed approach to (human)
acteristics of African music: differing, even opposed movement which shall be drawn upon in the follow-
rhythms and accentuations are simultaneously per- ing sections.
formed and held together and anchored by dancers
or by (dancing) drummers. According to Chernoff, Energetic Tension and Bodily Presence
the emerging “dynamic interrelation” of rhythms John Miller Chernoff’s rhythmic model of cul-
poses a special challenge for “the ears of western lis- tural organisation and configuration corresponds
teners” (Chernoff 1997: 31). “But”, he then asks, “is with social theoretical considerations proposed by
this music really so complex and inaccessible? After the sociologist and human movement researcher
all, in Africa even school children drum, and even Gabriele Klein with initial regard to a quite differ-
the smallest African village could come up with a ent phenomenon in “world music”. In her postdoc-
remarkable drumming ensemble. And how can toral thesis, Electronic Vibration: Pop Kultur Theorie
music that people dance to have more than a basic (Electronic Vibration: Pop Culture Theory, first
meter?” (Chernoff 1997: 31). It is due to this “basic published in 1999), she deals with a musical pheno-
meter”, this “pulse beat” (Chernoff 1997: 32), which type of globalisation par excellence: the predomi-
is sensed by everyone, that African music is “after a nantly urban techno-cult of the last decades, which
surprisingly short period of familiarisation … not in she, in agreement with interviewed ravers and DJs,
the least foreign” (Chernoff 1997: 31) to Europeans identifies as close to African music and dance cul-
and North Americans – even more, it has had a deci- ture both in musical style and in experiential quali-
sive influence on all styles of western popular music. ties. The “physical experience” is correspondingly
John Miller Chernoff conceives a trans-ethnic based on an “energetic tension of rhythm, baselines,
model of musical rhythm that on the one hand is room and body” (Klein 2004a: 164f.), “the relation-
linked back to physical-motor skills and on the other ship between upper and lower body reminds one of
plays a significant role in building community. In- African dance traditions” (Klein 2004a: 165), the
side and outside Africa, African music invites par- “vibrant group experience” (Klein 2004a: 163)12 can
ticipation. It sets feelings free and encourages people lead to trance and can create “a social ritual that rav-
to move (Chernoff 1997: 31). Artists and audiences ers like to compare with shamanistic dance” (Klein
are not separated from one another, they merge with 2004a: 165; cf. Schlicke 2000; St John 2008).
one another. Moreover, the aesthetic of African mu- Gabriele Klein not only – on the basis of her source
sic develops through physical movement, through material – throws light upon forms and figurations
which it then develops social significance. The clap- of rhythm, but her research also provides theoreti-
ping of hands and stamping of feet, the swaying and cal insights for movement-oriented social science,
self-rocking strengthen the sense of community, thereby opening the way for important approaches
they build and stabilise society. Rhythms structure to the cultural analytical examination of rhyth-
the interaction of individuals and therefore engen- mic phenomena. On the basis of Pierre Bourdieu’s
der a feeling of belonging which includes not only habitus concept and the theoretical model of Sens

pratique (Bourdieu 1980) as well as the interpretive 1998: 277) in this regard needs a differentiating and
model of social mimesis,13 Klein proposes a body contextualising approach – as need other phenom-
and movement-oriented social science approach that ena connected with the “world-language rhythm”
understands the “adoption of culture” as a “sensu- model, which must also be investigated in the face of
ous process” “which cannot be explained solely with conflicting qualities and dimensions.
regard to theories of learning or socialisation or
cognitive psychology, but through the body” (Klein Disruptions, Collisions, “Wrong Beat”
2004a: 244). “Cultural everyday practice”, accord- While numerous publications in music education
ing to Gabriele Klein, “is physical, sensuous – and highlight the potentials of the “world-language
aesthetic. It must be lived and experienced. That is, rhythm” concept, understood as a mode of inter-
it is a field of experience that demands bodily pres- cultural exchange and understanding, a musico-
ence” (Klein 2004a: 274; cf. Klein 2004b), and bod- logical examination from a critical standpoint has
ily presence is realised through following sequences long since been established, which not only traces
of movement. In her programmatic outline “Bewe- “the myth of music as a universal language” in the
gung denken: Ein soziologischer Entwurf ” (Think- history of ideas (Kopiez 2004), but also – in keep-
ing Movement: A Sociological Approach, 2004) she ing with the outlined, power- and ruling-sensitive
points out that explorations of human movement perspective – questions its hegemonial dimensions.
should “not mainly focus on motives or intentions The US-American ethnomusicologist Steven Feld in
to act or on functions of action, but on performa- his “Notes on ‘World Beat’” (Feld 1994) points out
tivity, on practice of action” (Klein 2004: 133) and, the issue of power relations involved in intercultural
at the same time, that they should “exceed approved musical enjoyment, and of the commercial aspects
anthropological and naturalising analysis of move- of the global circulation of African rhythms. Ac-
ment concepts by a sociological perspective” (Klein cording to Feld, there is without doubt a fascination
2004: 133).14 with the musical styles of other continents, which is
Approaches like Klein’s deserve credit for examin- expressed in both reciprocal influences and musical
ing movement practices and experience with regard projects that span cultures. Yet precisely this reveals
to interdependencies in superordinate social organi- – as Feld showed, impressively, with the example of
sation. She contributes a socio-cultural perspective Paul Simon’s bestselling album Graceland (1986) – a
that is not limited to the “analysis of symbols – their blatant asymmetry as regards the awarding of copy-
constitution, meaning and significance” (Klein rights and the distribution of economic profit to the
2004a: 275), but makes obvious that linguistic com- benefit of the participating western musicians, pro-
munication merely demonstrates “one special case” ducers and record labels.15 As an economic project, a
of social communication (Shepherd 1992: 56; em- “signum for the universal exchange of goods” (Erl-
phasis added S.W.). The rhythmically organised and mann 1995: 14), “world music” represents the “uni-
realised physical-dance dialogue serves to stabilise fied product of a worldwide, Western-oriented ‘mu-
and dynamise cultural structures. As a form of cul- sical-electrical Esperanto’” (Baumann 1992: 154).
tural acquisition and transfer it is at the same time However, in addition to this view of the con
ambivalent and reveals a “power-oriented, forceful comitant effects in economic, political and cultural
and destructive side” (Klein 2004a: 248). This ap- power structures (together with a seeming homo
plies to the monotone techno-rhythms of the “4 to genisation of differences on the musical level16),
the floor” bass drum (as Klein examined) and must there is need for a direct observation of the dissonant
also be assumed with regard to enculturation pro effects of rhythmic motion patterns on a pre-reflex-
cesses by means of African rhythms. Accordingly, ive, somatic level, as will be made clear in the follow-
John Miller Chernoff’s harmonic-romantic univer- ing example. On the occasion of a conference by the
sal draft of “body oriented social experience” (Wicke Commission for Song, Music and Dance Research of

the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Volkskunde in Vienna of borderlessness reflected in the conference theme.
from 7 to 11 October 1998 – the conference subject His conclusion is that one must bid farewell to the
was “Musik kennt keine Grenzen” (Music Knows No idea of a “musical universal competence – of which-
Borders) – the Salzburg music ethnologist Manfred ever kind – beneath any historical specification”
Bartmann gave a provocative lecture entitled “Musik (Bartmann 2001: 19). But on the other hand, the
ist keine Weltsprache” (Music Is Not a World Lan- awareness of the eventuality of misunderstanding
guage; Bartmann 2001).17 He began with a snapshot (as an outcome of the confrontational experience)
of a failed cultural encounter: may in turn lead to sensitisation and rapproche-
ment. The disruption of previously unquestioned
In August 1972, in a Vienna jazz club, a concert and probably subconscious motion patterns makes
by the Kachama Brothers’ Band from Malawi im- their diversity knowable. It points to – and in this
mediately shook the legs of the local audience, respect the aforementioned example gains almost
though not in the way expected by the band front paradigmatic value – powerful culture grounding
man, Daniel Kachamba. Due to the unfamiliar qualities of bodily movements and their specific
movement of the public he had difficulty trying to moulding.
hold his band together. Moreover when the danc-
ers began to clap, it was over. Daniel Kachamba Semanticisation and Sensitivities
had to interrupt the concert. The musical act However, the events in the Vienna jazz club have
came to a standstill because the reaction of the further cultural analytic potential. The correspond-
audience was not compatible with the intention of ing content of the scene reveals itself further, if one
the musicians. (Bartmann 2001: 11) complements Bartmann’s narration with the de-
tailed eyewitness account he draws upon. This was
The reason for the irritation was, as Bartmann calls delivered by Gerhard Kubik, a scholar in compara-
it, a cultural misunderstanding. The audience heard tive African studies, music ethnologist, musician
the rhythmic reference points of the music in the and himself on stage as a band member during the
incorrect place (for the musicians) and accordingly performance by the Kachamba Brothers’ Band in the
incorrectly accentuated these through their move- Viennese Club Electronic. In his report, Kubik doc-
ments. A “subtle element of tension” (Bartmann umented the disruption of the concert, which – as he
2001: 11) developed in the room, which could no puts it – provoked a “battle of words” (Kubik 1983:
longer be absorbed by the musicians. In this case 313) between Daniel Kachamba and the audience.
the supposed intention of “world-language rhythm” Thus, the request to stop clapping along was per-
even worked against its virtual intention and caused ceived by the audience as an “outrageous constraint
dissociation and the rattling of identities. Situations on their need for expression” (Kubik 1983: 313). Fol-
like this, which are experienced as and deemed a lowing the restarted concert Kachamba then was
disturbance, misunderstanding and failure by the asked by a woman: “You say you don’t like the people
participants, unlock in a particular way physical here to clap hands to your music. But why is it that
motions for cultural analytic investigation. you allow a white man [i.e. Gerhard Kubick; S.W.] to
The music ethnologist Bartmann takes this epi- play in your band?” (Kubik 1983: 313).
sode of disappointment and failure – after all they This comment reveals the inventory of emotional
wanted “to dance, to move and feel free” and had expressions rhythmic practice brings to the surface.
“paid for it” (Bartmann 2001: 11) – as a reason to In addition to disappointment, a fundamental, iden-
think about the meaning of such dissonances for tity-related slight is felt, which then accesses ques-
music mediation. These dissonances, according to tions of existential orientation. In the excitement, a
Bartmann, pose an important impulse for a critical semanticisation of body motion is articulated, one
questioning of music pedagogues’ almighty fantasy which is firmly anchored in the history of ideas and

is at the very least still subliminally virulent today. for all people…”: and in considerably smaller type,
The paradigm of an ethnic-racial differentiation of “but each culture has a different form of expressing
rhythmic skills runs through the rhythm discourse it. The entire variety of instruments, from all cul-
of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (cf. Zollna tures in the world, can be discovered here” (Welt-
1994a, 1994b; Golston 1996; Browning 1998; Diner- musikladen 1997). The editorial also takes up this
stein 2003)18 and was constantly instrumentalised in line of semanticisation by referring to a drum feel-
various directions of political ideology. It often cor- ing, that “adds a second pulse to one’s own and ...
responds with another ideologeme of rhythmic con- in the best of cases – with it – binds with the world
ception: the naturalisation of cultural techniques beat and [becomes] one with the heartbeat of the
and their varied characteristics (cf. Windmüller cosmos” (Bachmann 1997: 15).
2006: 68–71; 2007: 124f.).
This nexus is also virulent in the context of cours- Rhythmic Control – Physical Composition
es and workshops on “African Dance” (i.e. in more and Arrangement
or less institutionalised settings19) offered in Euro- As a further example from another music and dance
pean cities, in whose discourse the idea and term of tradition, dance pedagogic projects are worth exam-
“world-language rhythm” is eye-catchingly promi- ining, here especially the showcase project of the Ber-
nent. Surveys of participants and teachers within lin Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of
a framework of empirical-ethnographic studies the principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle, which has
in, for example, Stockholm (Sawyer 2003), Berlin become known far beyond the borders of Germany
(Sievek ing 2002, 2006) or Stuttgart/Tübingen (We- through the documentary film, Rhythm Is It! You
del 1998) allow the fixed idea of “an African sense Can Change Your Life in a Dance Class (2004). “250
of community” (Wedel 1998: 96), connected with Berlin children and teenagers of 25 different nation-
ideas of “nativeness”, “connection with the earth” alities” (www.rhythmisit.com; accessed February 27,
(Wedel 1998: 93; Sieveking 2002: 157) or “natural- 2007), “from every possible social class” (Rattle in:
ness” of “African motion patterns” (and accordingly Rhythm Is It! [2004]), under the guidance of British
“African corporeality”; Sieveking 2002, 2006) to ap- dance teacher Royston Maldoom, studied Stravin-
pear, which emerge in the dancers’ dialogue with the sky’s Le sacre du printemps for a few weeks and with
drums and – in the concrete performance – can be musical accompaniment by the Berlin Philharmonic
brought into a relation with one’s own dance experi- Orchestra performed before an enthusiastic audience
ence (Sieveking 2002: 158). of 3,000 people (cf. Windmüller 2007).
In the same line of argumentation one finds nu- The “Education-Project” also links the social bor-
merous references to the naturalising dimension of der-bridging, unifying power – which, here again,
“rhythm as a universal language” – as a conflation of is ascribed to rhythm – back to timeless biologi-
individual feelings and rhythmic styles (bonded to cal concepts. In the press release of the documen-
the body) (“all rhythmic patterns have some com- tary film Rhythm Is It! You Can Change Your Life
monality that crosses all kinds of boundaries”; Helm in a Dance Class (2004) one reads: “‘Sacre’ is about
2000: 27) – in drum and percussion literature. And education and the transmission of knowledge. It is
almost en passant, corresponding accents are set in about helping the young generation to grow up by
the du periodical on The Drum when, for instance, initiating it into the secrets of communal life and
John Miller Chernoff in his aforementioned article nature, through the practice of rites, of cult dances”
dissects a two-bar basic rhythm, which he then links (Rhythm is it! [2004]). Dance – by the assumed eter-
back to biological rhythms – in this case the motion nal return of a cyclic universalism – thus transcends
sequence of human feet. Or when it says in a the- the historical order and becomes, as it were, nature.
matically fitting advertisement of a Zürich “World “This piece of music immediately takes hold of your
Music Shop”: “The rhythm of the heart is the same whole body”, says the conductor and project initia-

tor, Simon Rattle, of Le sacre du printemps, “and it cally, Marcel Mauss, in his fundamental text on Les
feels as if it is emerging from the depths of the earth” techniques du corps (1989; first published in 1935),
(www.rhythmisit.de; accessed February 27, 2007).20 locates his concept of “technique” – more precisely
Ultimately, for Rattle this music almost ideally defined through the accompanying attributes “tra-
represents his rhythm philosophy, which is deduced ditional” and “effective” (Mauss 1989: 205) – close
from his own, likewise naturalised, biography: to the concept of “training in the sense of ‘dres-
sage’” (e.g. Mauss 1989: 208).22 And commentaries
One Christmas, was I three, was I four? I don’t on the Berlin dance project, which emphasise the
remember. My parents gave me a drum kit, and discipline-driven impetus of the undertaking (cf.
then, that was it. Lost forever. No rush, really, Windmüller 2007: 123), can be linked directly with
with weight. There is a part of the brain, the pre- Michel Foucault’s considerations on a “normalising
civilised human parts of the brain, I mean almost society”, where he explicitly names “establish[ing]
maybe, whichever part is descended from the liz- rhythms” along with “impos[ing] particular occu-
ards, where rhythm is it. The first idea, I think, pations” and “regulat[ing] the cycles of repetition”
probably the first communication, was through as one of the “three great methods” of the apparatus
rhythm, before words. And I think when you get (Foucault 1995: 149).
that as a child, somehow you’re connecting with
your primal origins. (Rhythm Is It! [2004]) Spreading Rhythms
However, the model of “world-language rhythm”
In connection with this design of “the rhythmic”, opens up new vistas for other qualities of rhyth-
particular attention must be paid to the educational mic praxis and theorisation, which are informed by
programme underlying the Berlin dance project, (non-linear) motion and change, rather than repro-
notably Royston Maldoom’s pedagogic framework, duction and stabilisation (and therefore applicable
which is centred around a concept of body control, to other areas of complex societies). Social historian
that – on a physical level of working out a move- and cultural critic Erik Davis, by parallelising poly-
ment repertoire of the children and teenagers – is rhythms of West African drumming with so-called
based on a de facto physical set up and adjustment Black Electronic music and by transferring attached
of the (dance)body by the dance instructor. Projects rhythm concepts (in accentuating the “assemblage
like “Rhythm Is It!” show quite plainly – and make of various distinct rhythmic ‘tracks’”, he explicitly
people aware – that rhythmic motion patterns not refers to John Miller Chernoff; Davis 1996), outlines
only play an influential role in the development, es- a complex model of interpretation that – instead of
tablishment and irritation of cultural forms, but are emphasising ontological qualities of rhythm – con-
– not least normatively orientated and institution- nects to the idea of an “immanence of multiplicity”
ally embedded – trained, strengthened and consoli- (Davis 1996):23 “[I]intense drum’n’bass produces for
dated.21 In addition to the private environment, it is many listeners the same kind of disturbing confu-
public institutions (amongst them nursery schools, sion that West African drumming does; only instead
general education schools, but also music schools of being threatened by the ‘frenetic chaos’ of the
and sports clubs, healing and special education in- ‘primitive’, they are threatened by the digital chaos of
stitutions as well as adult education institutions such sampled code complexifying out of control” (Davis
as adult education centres, seniors’ and community 1996). Davis, with this model, follows rhythm-theo
centres) that – socially unquestioned and viewed as retical considerations raised by Gilles Deleuze and
positive – decisively contribute (as a driving force as Félix Guattari in the chapter “Of the Refrain” in A
well as a corrective) to the shaping of the individual Thousand Plateaus, namely to understand rhythm as
and collective repertoire of movements (in terms of an element of a “rhizomorphic routed set of vectors
expression, action and experience). Characteristi- and exchanges” (Davis 1996), as a “flow” rather than

a standardising temporal reference system. Or in the Programmatic Suggestions

words of Deleuze and Guattari: “It is the difference The aforementioned considerations should outline
that is rhythmic, not the repetition, which neverthe- a movement-oriented (and particularly rhythm-
less produces it: productive repetition has nothing to oriented) perspective in cultural analysis – exempla-
do with reproductive meter” (1987: 314).24 rily demonstrated on the basis of a popular model
And following Deleuze and Guattari as well, me- connected to rhythm: the model of rhythm as a
dia theorist Stamatia Portanova – in her attempt to “world language” (as an experiential and interpre-
think sound and dance rhythm in their global di- tative model). Against the often evoked universality
mensions – explores “rhythm as a force of disruption of rhythm, against frequently observed holistic (and
and of re-organisation”: essentialist) ascriptions, this paper argues for the in-
vestigation of concrete forms of appearance in their
By disentangling rhythm from human corporeal- specific and larger contexts, their functions and
ity, habits and purposes (rhythm as a prerogative content, for the exploration of rhythmic phenomena
of human movement), we will propose its re-qual- with regard to related sensitivities, to effects on self-
ification as an attribute of matter itself: rhythm as perception and perception of the other (in case of the
a galvanising current flowing in and between all individual and groups). This research design draws
human, animal and technological, animate and upon a multi-perspective approach to interrelations
inanimate, organic and inorganic bodies, simulta- and interactions of rhythmic forms and concepts,
neously dissolving their solid organisations and re- comprehending the potential of expanding as well
modelling their fluid exchanges. (Portanova 2005) as narrowing repertoires of action, perception and
meaning. It is apparent how different, even (suppos-
Based on the electronic beats of “techno”, on “new edly) competing concepts are affiliated, how explicit
dance rituals” of the “twenty-four hour plus rave and subliminal models and practices are adjoined by
experience”, on the “combinations of acoustic am- further meaning, and – not least – how they develop
plifications, visuals, techno sounds and drugs”, Por- culture-constituting qualities. Against the back-
tanova conceives an “epidemiological rhythmicity” ground of the survey, it is in particular the openness
with rhythm as “a viral propagation infecting all and multi-dimensionality of rhythm as a term, a
biological, social or cybernetic bodies” (“Working concept and an idea, that affects its manifestations
as a virus, rhythm disrupts linear bodily movements and is prominently involved in their barely noticed,
and clear perceptions, re-organising them after its but far-reaching effects.
own order”; Portanova 2005). Rhythm in this con- Basically, it must be considered that rhythm is not
ceptualisation cannot, however, solely be under- only an abstract classification system, but is always
stood as a “liberating and revolutionary movement associated with the body and correspondingly shows
opposed to the ordered, metric structures of capi- the capability to reveal the potential of experience
talism.” Portanova rather promotes a simultaneous in social as well as in research contexts and pro
model, which fosters “practices of potential modula- cesses. Not least, the approach fosters an analytical
tion and total control, censorship and commerciali- perspective that goes beyond the basic assumption
sation” as well as “a different, alternative ecology of of a cognitive bonding of social actions and cultural
biological and cultural transmission through the practices to “physical realisation and performances”
forces of sound and dance” (Portanova 2005). Davis’ (Klein 2004a: 247), 25 that focuses on bodily, sensual-
as well as Portanova’s considerations add new weight affective and instantaneous “in-the-moment” ex-
– and a further, substantially differing social (and periences, or, in short: to orientate cultural analysis
political – and cultural analytical) dimension – to towards physical (rhythmic) processes and move-
the concept of rhythm as a “lingua universalis” and ments. In this context, investigating the experiential
its ongoing, persistent appeal. and interpretation model “rhythm” offers promising

approaches, as rhythm – according to ethnomusicol- 2 Nitschke – in historical perspective – directly connect-

ed this approach to movement attitudes by politicians
ogist und anthropologist John Blacking – is a pri-
(1992).
mary physical-emotive phenomenon which develops 3 For more on rhythm research in musicology, cf. Pflei-
its power especially in the physical performance, in derer (2006).
the “possibility of shared somatic states” and the 4 You, in her programmatic outline of an “Anthropology
“rhythms of interaction” (Blacking 1977: 9; cf. Mc- of Rhythm” alone identifies “some 200 definitions in
Western music history” (You 1994: 362, referring to
Neill 1995).
Gabrielsson 1986: 142); among others Dürr and Ger-
An appropriate research programme faces great stenberg (1963: 385) notice a “confusing plethora of
challenges, not least the development of adequate rhythm defintions” and in the article “Rhythm” in En-
instruments and terminology oriented towards the cyclopaedia Britannica (1959) one can read: “Precision,
description and interpretation of movement (se- however, has hardly yet been reached” – an estimation
that is still valid.
quences). Furthermore, it is crucial to reflect and
5 Cf., in addition to countless surveys in an interdiscipli-
productively integrate a science-historically ground- nary field, social and cultural analytical approaches of
ed unease towards irrationalisms and (somatic) mid- and long-range rhythm-based theory (e.g. Jousse,
dynamics of collectives. This perhaps allows the Lefebvre, Meschonnic). Eventually, You (1994) also – in
avoidance of a defensive stance on an academic level, her conceptualisation of an “anthropology of rhythm”
is caught up in definitional work. Cf. Spitznagel (2000:
which is often apparent in restrictive approaches on
14): “Definitional suggestions that vary between simi-
a societal level. There is no need to go back to the lar and heterogeneous or sometimes also dicta mean-
general ban on drum music, which was forced upon while have become a subject sui generis and helped a
African slaves in some places in the southern states literature to develop whose main topic is the ‘definition
of the USA. In 1994 in Great Britain, in the course of of rhythm’.”
6 A similar semantic is demonstrated in the film Zakir
the spread of the techno movement, the British gov-
and his Friends (Germany, Switzerland 1997; Director:
ernment under John Major passed a Criminal Justice Lutz Leonhardt; Subtitle of the film: A Rhythm Experi-
and Public Order Act which codified a whole string ence). According to the text on the DVD case it is “a
of criminal offences under paragraph 5, amongst filmic journey to the most exciting drummers and per-
them unannounced raves, defined as gatherings of cussionists in the world”: “The Indian tabla player Za-
kir Hussain who is a virtuoso of the variety of language
one hundred or more people in the open air who
in the world language of rhythm and can make himself
dance to amplified electronic music, which above understood everywhere is in the spotlight. Zakir and
all is distinguished by “repetitive beats” – an offence his Friends connects what at first appearance seems to
which can be punished with up to three months im- be worlds apart. A multifaceted whole, a new montage
prisonment (Klein 2004a: 5; Hutnyk 1996: 156). The originates out of disparate worlds of rhythm. Rhythm
is life and life is a rhythm experience.” Among the press
aforementioned examples allow the anticipation of
comments on the DVD case are: A “hymn to rhythm,
the explosive nature of (foreign) rhythms and the an equisite music film … Zakir and his friends allow
power ascribed to them – and danger. In conclusion the world to become one great room of resonance”
we can refer back to the example of drummers at (Tagesanzeiger) and “A great, imaginative intoxication
the Obama election campaign event and the estima- of rhythm … the definition world music gains a new
meaning through Leonhardt’s film: The astounding re-
tion of the Spiegel journalist and his commentary:
lationship between widely scattered tones is condensed
“It is an experiment and it is risky” (Hujer & Meyer into a world wide rhythm” (Berner Zeitung).
2008:102). In this case it was quite obviously suc- 7 The author names Australia as the sole “drumless …
cessful. continent of silence” (Bachmann 1997: 13).
8 There it means: “Naturally, they [the drums; S.W.]
come from Africa but also other parts of the world”
(Bachmann 1997: 13).
Notes 9 On the semantic of the cradle in connection with ideas
1 All translations in this article were made by the author, of rhythm, cf. Windmüller (2009).
unless otherwise stated. 10 Tellingly, the title of the German edition (1999) is

Rhythmen der Gemeinschaft. pal element of African culture and society, as a plainly
11 On the role of “Dance and Body Culture” in the crea- stylised (black) African “tune”, whereas these rhythms
tion of a “Community Myth” in modern European cul- are connected to nature and are invested with “being
tures cf. Baxmann (2000). at one with the universe, being ‘free’ and lively” (e.g.
12 Cf. also Klein (2004a: 38): “The ritual practices [of rav- Senghor 1964).
ers; S.W.] remind some authors of shamanism, the ec- 19 Cf. Binas-Preisendörfer (2008: 170) on the mostly fe-
static dancing and trance-like state that makes ravers male clientele of “world music” at the end of the 1980s
appear to be led on a journey back in time to the pre- and the 1990s: “Their engagement with world music
history of civilisation”, and, citing Friedhelm Böpple was not limited to buying sound carriers. Interested
and Ralf Knüfer, “Their parties visually remind one of people were culturally active. They went to concerts
the rituals of the African Nuby, which fascinated Leni and attended workshops.”
Riefenstahl.” 20 Rattle, together with his orchestra, worked to a sound
13 Klein here joins Gebauer and Wulf (e.g. 1998) who had “that is dark, that comes from the ground”. Cf. Gam-
given new strength to this model; regarding the con- sera’s account (2004): “Once he finds [Simon Rattle,
cept of mimesis in a cultural analytical context, cf. S.W.] that the orchestra has not hit the right basic tone
Cantwell (1993). a piece: he is very ‘á la Karate kid’ but should ascend
14 According to Klein, movement is to be understood as to the primordial perception of rhythm. A jolt goes
“socially made, culturally encoded and historically through the musicians. The orchestra understands:
changeable” (Klein 2004: 134). Rhythm is it.”
15 On reverse distribution asymmetry on a local level, cf. 21 Cf. especially on dance pedagogics in this context
for example Sawyer (2003). Windmüller (2007).
16 On an aesthetic-economic level, Erlmann (1995: 7) 22 Mauss indeed sees a close connection with the techni-
with regard to the phenomenon and myth of “world cal-instrument-oriented technical definitions, whereas
music” says that homogenisation and differentiation the techniques of the body in their entirety precede the
must not necessarily exclude one another, but – in their techniques of instruments (Mauss 1989: 206).
inter-relationships – are “integral elements of musical 23 Davis (1996): “We are timestretched to the edge of the
aesthetics under late-capitalist circumstances”. timeless, but a timeless that has nothing to do with the
17 Bartmann deals with this problem in other texts and eternal and everything to do with the immanence of
was invited to a symposium in May 2006 in Wuppertal multiplicity.”
(Germany) on the subject “‘World Music’ – a Misun- 24 Cf. the crucial passage in Deleuze and Guattari (1987:
derstanding?” In the announcement it said: “Yet the 313): “It is well known that rhythm is not meter or ca-
thing with world music is that it could be due to a fa- dence, even irregular meter or cadence: there is nothing
tal misunderstanding: a sheer incomprehensible range less rhythmic than a military march. ... Meter, whether
of music styles is, if possible, reduced to the simplest regular or not, assumes a coded form whose unit of
definition of dancability and consumability. And that measure may vary, but in a noncommunicating milieu,
is following a westernised style of understanding music whereas rhythm is the Unequal or the Incommensu-
… That means: Hidden behind this definition of world rable that is always undergoing transcoding. Meter is
music are the lean left-overs of the world of music and dogmatic, but rhythm is critical; it ties together critical
these are subjected to a consistently one-dimensional moments or ties itself together in passing from one mi-
dictation of bass and beat. What is also missing is the lieu to another. It does not operate in a homogeneous
study of a change of perspective, the attentive turn, the space-time, but by heterogeneous blocks. It changes di-
learning and comprehension of context, concentrated rection.”
listening, the perspective of differentiation, the change 25 Here Klein relates to Gebauer and Wulf (1998: 11f.).
in oneself.”
18 Cf. in addition the relevant scrutiny of ethnic-racial
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Politikern. In: Bea Lundt & Helma Reimöller (eds.), Von chichte der Popmusik. Leipzig: Kiepenheuer.
Aufbruch und Utopie: Perspektiven einer neuen Gesell Windmüller, Sonja 2006: Standardisierung und rhythmische
schaftsgeschichte des Mittelalters. Für und mit Ferdinand Organisation: Zur Verschränkung zweier Paradigmen im
Seibt aus Anlaß seines 65. Geburtstages. Köln, Weimar & frühen 20. Jahrhundert. In: Saskia Frank & Sonja Wind-
Wien: Böhlau, pp. 323–333. müller (eds.), Normieren, Standardisieren, Vereinheitli-
Pfleiderer, Martin 2006: Rhythmus: Psychologische, theo- chen. Marburg: Jonas (= Hessische Blätter für Volks- und
retische und stilanalytische Aspekte populärer Musik. Kulturforschung Vol. 41), pp. 65–76.
Bielefeld: Transcript. Windmüller, Sonja 2007: Verwandlung durch Rhythmus?
Portanova, Stamatia 2005: Rhythmic Parasites: A Virologi- Zur kulturellen Semantik von Tanzpädagogik am Beispiel
cal Analysis of Sound and Dance. FibreCulture 4. http:// „Rhythm Is It!“. In: Kathrin Bonacker & Sonja Wind-
journal.fibreculture.org/issue4/issue4_portanova.html. müller (eds.), Tanz! Rhythmus und Leidenschaft. Marburg:
Accessed May 5, 2005. Jonas (= Hessische Blätter für Volks- und Kulturforschung
Rhythm Is It! [2004] [press release accompanying the film Vol. 42), pp. 118–134.
“Rhythm Is It!”]. Windmüller, Sonja 2009: Einschwingen in die Ordnung der
Sawyer, Lena 2003: Racialization, Gender, and the Nego- Welt – Wiegen-Praxen und -Diskurse. In: Rainer Schön-
tiation of Power in Stockholm’s African Dance Courses. hammer (ed.), Körper, Dinge und Bewegung: Der Gleich-
Presented at Gender and Power in the New Europe, the gewichtssinn in materieller Kultur und Ästhetik. Wien:
5th European Feminist Research Conference August Facultas, pp. 129–141.
20–24, 2003 Lund University, Sweden. http://www.iiav. You, Haili 1994: Defining Rhythm: Aspects of an Anthropol-
nl/epublications//2003/Gender_and_power/5thfeminist/ ogy of Rhythm. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 18: 3,
paper_294.pdf. Accessed October 30, 2009. 361–384.
Schlicke, Cornelius: Segmentierung als Grundlage kultureller Zollna, Isabel 1994a: Der Rhythmus in der geisteswissen-
Praxis: Eine Untersuchung der Musikkultur Techno. www2. schaftlichen Forschung: Ein Überblick. Zeitschrift für
hu-berlin.de/fpm/texte/schlicke.htm. Accessed April 25, Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik, 96, 12–52.
2008 (last updated April 18, 2000). Zollna, Isabel 1994b: Rhythmus – Körper – Sprache. In:
Senghor, Léopold Sédar 1964: Négritude et humanisme. Gabriele Berkenbusch & Christine Bierbach (eds.),
Paris: Editions du Seuil. Soziolinguistik und Sprachgeschichte: Querverbindungen.
Shepherd, John 1992: Warum Popmusikforschung? Pop- Brigitte Schlieben-Lange zum 50. Geburtstag von ihren
Scriptum, 1, 43–67. Schülerinnen und Schülern überreicht. Tübingen: Narr (=
Sieveking, Nadine 2002: Afrikanisch Tanzen in Berlin: Zur Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik Vol. 398), pp. 209–228.
leiblichen Realität des Imaginären. In: Gabriele Klein &
Christa Zipprich (eds.), Tanz Theorie Text. Münster: LIT
(= Jahrbuch Tanzforschung Vol. 12), pp. 155–171. Sonja Windmüller, Ph.D., is a junior professor of Volks
Sieveking, Nadine 2006: Abheben und Geerdet Sein: Afrika- kunde/cultural anthropology at the University of Hamburg.
nisch Tanzen als transkultureller Erfahrungsraum. Berlin: Current research interests include bodily movement analy-
LIT. sis, concepts and practice of rhythm, standardisation and
Spitznagel, Albert 2000: Zur Geschichte der psycholo- classification processes, material culture and modernity.
gischen Rhythmusforschung. In: Katharina Müller & Publications include Die Kehrseite der Dinge: Müll, Abfall,
Gisa Aschersleben (eds.), Rhythmus: Ein interdisziplinäres Wegwerfen als kulturwissenschaftliches Problem (2004), Nor-
Handbuch. Bern: Huber, pp. 1–40. mieren, Standardisieren, Vereinheitlichen (co-edited with
St John, Graham 2008: Trance Tribes and Dance Vibes: Vic- Saskia Frank, 2006) and Tanz! Rhythmus und Leidenschaft
tor Turner and Electronic Dance Music Culture. In: Gra- (co-edited with Kathrin Bonacker, 2007).
ham St John (ed.), Victor Turner and Contemporary Cul- (sonja.windmueller@uni-hamburg.de)
tural Performance. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books,
pp. 149–173.

MARTYRS AND HEROES

The Religious and Secular Worship of the Dead
in Post-Soviet Russia
Milena Benovska-Sabkova
It is the aim of this article to analyse the worship of the dead in the context of the post-Soviet reli-
gious revival in Russia. The paper focuses on certain interrelated manifestations of worshipping the
“special dead”, martyrs and heroes, in which both religious and secular institutions are involved.
Activities in canonisation of new martyrs who “shone out” during the Soviet period also imply the
recovery of graves and the identification of the bodies of the (new) saints. They are similar to an-
other secular form of politics of memory: the reburials of soldiers who perished during the Second
World War. The physical remains of the anonymous dead are a cause of frustration and ambiguity.
In both cases (the sacred and the secular ones), the aim is to achieve personalisation through the
identification of graves and remains. It includes both a physical process and a symbolic operation
through which the bodies obtain the status and the aura of martyrs and heroes. It is a strategy of
reconciling irreconcilable historical legacies and also a tool to positively reformulate traumatic
experiences of the past. In doing so, the Orthodox project of constructing memory successfully
contributes to the larger societal project of elaborating a positive vision of the past.
Keywords: canonisation, religious revival, worship of the dead, politics of memory, Russia, post
socialism
Celebrations of the “Millennium of the Baptism orientation to the past, whether idealised or imag-
of Kievan Rus’” took place in Moscow in 1988 and ined, is a particularity of social practices connected
brought to life the return to religion, which was an to the religious life in Russia. Besides, this orienta-
uneven and contested process. The return to the tion implies not just Orthodoxy, but certain social
practices and values of religion in post-Soviet Rus- practices of secular character as well. How can the
sia is often defined by the metaphorical expression focus on the past be explained which is imprinted on
“religious revival” (religioznoe vozrozhdenie). Ana- various aspects and manifestations of the symbolic
lytically, “religious revival” could be described as practices projected onto the complexities of current
an overarching frame uniting the heterogeneous everyday life in Russia? What are the manifesta-
manifestations of the revitalisation of religious life tions of the politics of memory in both the religious
in Russia after seventy years of atheist politics. An and the secular milieu at the local level? These were

questions that intrigued me during my fieldwork in city architecture and the identity of the population.
Kaluga and these are, respectively, the research ques- The eighteenth century turned out to be a century of
tions to which the present article is looking to find economic proliferation and welfare, despite the mas-
answers. It is the aim of the present work to provide sive fires and epidemic diseases that occurred dur-
an analysis of the politics of memory as an aspect ing that time. Numerous churches, constantly built
of the religious revival, and more specifically I am and rebuilt, used to provide a symbolic expression
going to address the worship of the “special dead” not only of economic success but also of a strong at-
(see Brown 2002[1981]: 69–85), martyrs and heroes tachment to Orthodoxy. There were forty churches
respectively, as an intersection of symbolic practices in Kaluga in 1910 (Malinin 1992[1912]: 30–67).1 In
in the religious and secular spheres of life.* early Soviet times Kaluga experienced a period of
intensive industrialisation (Popkov 2004: 167–178).
Field Site and Ethnographic Methods Industry is still an important source of income for
This paper is based on field research carried out in the population, although a significant number of en-
the city of Kaluga for two weeks in September 2006 terprises were shut down during the 1990s, and only
and during July and August 2007. The city of Kaluga some of them reopened recently. Heavy industry is
is located 180 kilometres southwest of Moscow and well represented; the recently opened Volkswagen
is situated on the left bank of the river Oka. Ac- plant in Kaluga (2007) is a matter of pride and gives
cording to the statistics of 2004, the population of rise to expectations of economic success.2 Kaluga is
the city is 347,500 (Statisticheskii sbornik 2005: 7). also a university city. At present, there are thirteen
In 1910, there were 55,000 inhabitants. The historic universities and colleges: two local institutions and
administrative region (guberniia), of which Kaluga eleven local branches of central universities.
used to be the capital, had 1,419,949 inhabitants. It is essential to point out a special aspect of the
Under socialism, the population of the administra- local context: the proximity of Optina Pustyn’ mon-
tive district (oblast’) of Kaluga decreased. In 2007, astery. Located sixty kilometres from Kaluga and
the population of Kaluga oblast’ was 1,009,000. Both about two kilometres from the town of Kozel’sk, it is
the increased population of the city of Kaluga and one of the most venerated and most visited monas-
the decreased population of the district are local teries in Russia (Kuchumov 2002: 232–238; Zyrian-
evidence for large-scale migration in Russia under ov 2002: 314). The monastery was established in the
socialism and afterwards. During the last pre-Soviet fifteenth century but became an important centre of
decades, 99.5 percent of the inhabitants of the gu- religious life of Russian-wide significance at the be-
berniia were Russians; ethnic minorities (most of ginning of the nineteenth century. During the same
them Jews, Poles, and Germans) lived in the cities century, the specific Russian religious phenom-
(Chernyshev & Persona’lnyi 1992[1912]: 21). Despite enon of starchestvo3 was established and developed
the politics of migration and ethnic mixing that took in Optina Pustyn’ (Solov’ev 1899[2005]: 3–7; Gor-
place during the Soviet era, the majority of the city’s bacheva 2006: 5–23; Kuchumov 2002: 223–244; Ni-
present population still consists mostly of people de- zovskii 2002: 230–231). Optina Pustyn’ was repeat-
fining themselves as Russians (see Dubas 2004: 216). edly visited and appreciated by some of the greatest
The first historical reference to Kaluga dates to Russian writers of the nineteenth century such as
1371 (Pamiatniki 1880: 136; Kaluzhskii krai 1976: Gogol’ (Evgin 2003: 209–220), Tolstoi (Berestov
22). Serving as a border fortification during the Mid- 2003: 290–325), Dostoevskii (Solov’ev 1899[2005]:
dle Ages, the city developed into a commercial and 3–7), and by the Kireevskii brothers.4 The impres-
industrial centre during early modern times. Indus- sions left by his meetings with starets5 Amvrosii at
try (manufacturing) developed as early as the eigh Optina Pustyn’ in 1878 inspired Dostoevskii to write
teenth century and even before the era of Peter the his famous novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the
Great. The guild of merchants shaped the (historic) monk became the prototype for the character of

Father Zosima (Dostoevskaia 1981: 329; Pavlovich The main interviewing strategy was to obtain in-
1980: 88; Solov’ev 1899[2005]: 3–7). This has often formation concerning both the institutional strate-
been mentioned in local conversations, too. The gies of the Russian Orthodox Church “from above”
geographic proximity of Optina Pustyn’ to Kaluga and the ideas and practices of the common people
has strengthened the local identity of the city, estab- “from below”. Accordingly, I conducted interviews
lishing its place in the symbolic geography of Russia among: a) clergy and parishioners from both par-
(Avramenko 2001: 95). What is important today is ishes; b) among librarians7; c) among people close to
the immediate and powerful impact the monks of the local church elite and responsible for designing
Optina Pustyn’ continue to have on the religious life church strategies and policies. By interviewing ran-
of Kaluga. domly chosen librarians, in particular, I intended to
During my fieldwork I made observations and obtain information from outside the circle of peo-
took 30 in-depth life history narratives and/or auto- ple expressing a very high commitment to religion
biographical interviews, and also a number of infor- (those were mostly the parishioners). It is important
mal interviews. Interviewees were balanced in terms to mention that the interviews were not specifically
of age, education, and social status, but less so with directed to the politics and practices of memory; this
regard to gender. Women predominate, and this turned out to be a particular aspect of the general
seems to reflect church attendance. The information process of religious revival.
obtained orally through interviewing was combined
with that from written sources, mostly church peri- Politics of Memory: Theoretical Framework
odicals. Some of my interviewees have contributed Orientation to the past as a point of reference of cur-
to the local church press; these publications are also rent religious practices in Kaluga defines memory as
considered here, to verify oral information. I have the central notion of this article. Moreover, certain
sought to preserve the anonymity of my interview- influential authors conceptualise memory as piv-
ees, and have given them fictitious names in order otal for their endeavours to define religion as such
to do so. All the translations from the interviews are (Hervieu-Léger 2000: 4, 124–130; Davie 2000: 36–37,
my own. 58–60, 70–79, 142–167). On the other hand, as it has
There were 33 functioning Orthodox churches always been during historical periods of dramatic
(each attached to a parish) in Kaluga in 2006/7, in- political changes, a process of intensive production
cluding monastic churches and so-called “house of practices and places of memory is taking place in
churches” (domovye khramy).6 I have chosen to post-socialist countries (Pine, Kaneff & Haukanes
carry out observations in two parishes, the first 2004: 1), and Russia is no exception. Politics of mem-
belonging to the church of the Shroud of the Holy ory is the concept that bridges religious and secular
Mother (Pokrova Presviatoi Bogoroditsy or Pokrova, aspects of this phenomenon. As a theoretical point of
chto na rvu), the second belonging to the church departure, I support a notion of the politics of mem-
of the Martyr St. John the Warrior (Muchenika ory, which unites “official or government sponsored
Ioanna Voina). The first church is located in the efforts to come to terms with the past” and “unof-
city centre and is a recognised architectural monu- ficial and private initiatives emerging from within
ment (Morozova 1993: 157); it was built before 1626 society to deal with the past” (Barahona de Brito,
(Malinin 1992[1912]: 100). In contrast, the church Gonzales-Enriquez & Aguilar 2001: 1). According to
of the Martyr St. John the Warrior is located at the this understanding, the politics of memory correlates
very periphery of Kaluga and was only recently built with the historic legacies of past repressions.
(1994–1999). The decision to choose two parishes The politics of memory exists in different spheres
was made in order to take into consideration differ- and develops on different societal levels in Russia.
ent social backgrounds and, respectively, the variety It could also be described in terms of interplay be-
of local practices. tween different institutions and different social

actors both at the local and the national level. The in 1989),9 and the local one is the Commission of
examples analysed in the following section confirm Canonisation of the Eparchy of Kaluga.10 It is impor-
the observation that “political and religious move- tant to note that not all locally recognised martyrs
ments often involve the same processes, particularly acquire national validity: only the central Synodal
evocations and appeals to the past” (Pine, Kaneff & Commission is entitled to grant that highest status
Haukanes 2004: 2). of a saint.
As Verdery noted, post-socialist developments in The Commission of Canonisation of the Eparchy
Russia and Eastern Europe were accompanied by ac- of Kaluga is in charge of the investigation of the bi-
tivities around the dead aiming at “reassessing or re- ographies of people of local origin (and/or church
writing the past and creating or retrieving memory” affiliation), who suffered severe persecutions, and of
(Verdery 1999: 3). Actually, long before the end of the verification of the testimonies for martyrdom.
socialism, similar practices of “civil religion” took The local commission consists of ten members, all
place in countries like Japan and the United States of them men, who are representatives of the clergy
(Kearl & Rinaldi 1983: 693–708). Scholars point to (both priests and monks) and laity as well. Two of
the discrepancy between the modern “segregation” the latter define themselves as kraevedy.11
of the dead “from the affairs of the living” and po- The canonisation of new saints is a significant
litical “practice of maintaining the memories and aspect of the Russian religious revival, symbolically
citizenship rights of its deceased members” (ibid.: and politically loaded, as far as it resumes an impor-
693). What is specific in the post-socialist context is tant institutional activity of the Russian Orthodox
the intensity and widespread character of the (politi- Church, which was completely abandoned during
cal) worshipping of the dead. the Soviet era. Creating an all-Russian memory of
Hence, the worship of the dead is not a Russian new martyrs is a sweeping project in which a monk,
particularity, yet I argue that its sweeping character, Damascin (Orlovskii), has played and still plays an
specific temporal and spatial contexts give it a par- important role. He is a pioneer of research into the
ticularly Russian character. martyrdom of clergy and began this work in the
1970s. Damascin is the author of an impressive se-
Martyrs and Heroes: The Religious and ries of documentary books on the subject (Damascin
Secular Worship of the Dead 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002a, 2002b). Since
In the following section, I shall try to analyse certain 1997, a large Web resource (The Public Foundation
interrelated manifestations of worshipping the dead, “Memory of the Martyrs and Confessors of the Rus-
in which both religious and secular institutions are sian Orthodox Church”) has been established to
involved. Since 1989, the Russian Orthodox Church provide information (including icons, photos, video
has initiated a large-scale project (at both national films, etc.) concerning numerous new martyrs.12
and local level) of canonisation of martyrs and “new One should briefly note that canonisation is also a
martyrs”. The latter concept has political connota- subject of violent disputes between the different fac-
tions: it concerns martyrs who have suffered and tions of Russian Orthodox Church clergy, involving
died “in the name of the faith”, predominantly mostly the so-called “church liberals” and their op-
during the time of socialism.8 A second category ponents, the rigorists; the latter are often emotion-
of “confessors” (ispovedniki) involves those who ally referred to as “fundamentalists” by many au-
suffered but died “without bloodshed” (Mucheni thors (Mitrokhin 2004; Lebedev 2004a, 2004b). The
chestvo 2005: 265–272). canonisation of the “royal family” (i.e., the family of
Both central and local institutions of the Russian the last tsar of Russia, Nikolai II), which took place
Orthodox Church are involved in the canonisation. in 2000 (Knox 2004: 125–128), was one of the exam-
The central level is represented by the Synodal Com- ples of disagreement between these factions, but also
mission for the Canonisation of Saints (established the exemplary case of canonisation of new martyrs.

The canonisation of prominent startsy (who lived which means that it enjoys autonomy and is sub-
during the second half of the nineteenth and the ordinated directly and solely to the Patriarch who
beginning of the twentieth century) from the mon- carries the title of its archimandrite. This explains
astery of Optina Pustyn’ was a process in which lo- the independent work of the Optina clergy regarding
cal and national dimensions overlapped. Because the canonisation of its own predecessors. The mon-
Optina Pustyn’ is located in the district of Kaluga, astery owns a publishing house of its own (Nizovskii
the Eparchy of Kaluga provides a territorial context 2000: 231),17 which allows it to “bring fame” to mar-
for the first stage of the transformation of memories tyrs by publishing their lives and related documents
about startsy into national sanctuaries. Twelve of the (see for instance Damascin [Orlovskii] 2007; Zhiz-
startsy of Optina Pustyn’ were declared to be “locally neopisanie 2005).
venerated” (mestnochtimye) martyrs and confessors The Commission of Canonisation of Saints,
on 26 July 1996, which caused Patriarch Aleksii II to which is under the auspices of the Eparchy of Kalu-
visit the monastery (Aleksahina & Bogatyreva 2003: ga, was established in 2005. During the short period
41). The Patriarch Aleksii II also transmitted the rel- of its existence, it has selected around 35 candidates
ics of seven of them into one of the seven monastic to be “celebrated” as locally venerated martyrs and
churches (ibid.).13 The canonisation was confirmed confessors. Father Andrei Bezborodov, an influen-
at national level in 2000, when 1,097 persons were tial priest, historian, and lecturer in the Seminary
canonised.14 Another three monks of Optina Pustyn’ of Kaluga, is the president of the commission of
have recently been added to the list of national Rus- ten members. My information about the activity
sian martyrs: in 2005 and on 27 December 2007.15 of the commission is based on interviews with two
Two institutional units are locally involved in the of its members. The data is rather limited as writ-
process of canonisation of new saints (new mar- ten documents concerning the commission are not
tyrs and confessors). They function independently accessible; moreover, canonisation is an ongoing
of each other in the district of Kaluga, and this is process. During the time of my fieldwork, propos-
an important local peculiarity. The first of them als of the commission were still just proposals; apart
is located in Optina Pustyn’, where several of the from a few exceptions they have not been examined
monks have specialised in investigating testimonies by the metropolitan, yet. Aleksii Kurovskii, the late
and documents regarding the sanctity of their own priest of the village of Kurovskoe (located about
predecessors from before and during the period of twenty kilometres from Kaluga), has already been
the closure of the monastery from 1918 to 1922. A canonised. According to the interviews, proposals
member of the Commission of Canonisation of the for canonisation concern mostly representatives of
Eparchy of Kaluga testified as follows concerning the the clergy: priests, monks, and nuns. For example,
monks, his “colleagues”: all the monks from St. Trinity Liutikov monastery
(Sviato-Troitskii Liutikov monastyr’) near the village
They operate their own commission [of canoni- of Peremyshl’ were shot in 1918 together with eight
sation] there in Optina Pustyn’. The monk Pla- villagers, who had helped the monks to protect the
ton, the hieromonk Joseph, and the hieromonk monastery from the attacks of (initially) deserters
Methodius are [involved] there. They work only and the regular army (later on). Yet, only the monks
on Optina monks, they bring fame to those who have been listed in the proposal for canonisation.
suffered and [after the closure of the monastery] Maybe the lack of information concerning the biog-
served in different locations.16 (Aleksei, a custom- raphies of the villagers was the reason for their ex-
house officer, 50) clusion. The Commission of Canonisation carefully
evaluates the moral dignity of the candidates to be
Optina Pustyn’ has the status of a stavropigial’nyi named martyrs throughout their lives, although the
monastery (Aleksahina & Bogatyreva 2003: 38), lack of information is a serious obstacle in that re-

spect. Regardless of what kind of motives led to the tics of memory. The project for building the me-
decision of the commission in the aforementioned morial centre dates back to around late 2005, when
case, the tendency towards proposing mainly rep- the first symbolic actions of its inauguration took
resentatives of the clergy for canonisation is a fact. place. The initiator of the project was Aleksei (50,
Striving for the reinstatement of the clergy as an es- a custom-house officer), one of the lay members of
tate is the primary motive here, as much as in other the Commission of Canonisation of Saints. The very
manifestations of religious life in Kaluga.18 It would choice of the locality for the centre is full of symbol-
be helpful here to remember the interrelatedness be- ism. It is near the village of Kurovskoe, where Aleksii
tween the politics of memory and the repressions of Kurovskii, the local martyr, spent part of his life. At
the past (Barahona de Brito, Gonzales-Enriquez & the same time, this is the historic location where the
Aguilar 2001: 11). Since the clergy was particularly historic “Great Stand on the Ugra River” (Stoianie na
affected by repressions during different periods of Ugre) took place in 1480 (Makarova & Kalashnikova
the Soviet epoch, the aspirations for its moral reha- 2006: 340–356).
bilitation in post-socialist times is an understand- Apparently, this was a deliberate choice aiming to
able reaction and purposeful politics of memory combine and accumulate different symbolic charac-
implemented by the present-day clergy.19 teristics. This becomes clear from the interview with
Actually, there is indirect evidence that divid- Aleksei, the initiator, who is also a member of the
ing the work on canonisation between the monks commission:
of Optina Pustyn’ and the Eparchial Commission
reflects internal controversies between different fac- This is the place of the Great Stand of 1480. It is
tions of the clergy (see Mitrokhin 2004: 182–209). located on the bank of Ugra River, where Khan
At first glance, the activity of the Eparchial Com- Akhmat led his troops into battle. […] And it is
mission looks like an intellectual task, motivated by also an historic place. The bell tower of the Uspen-
specific moral models aimed at the rebuilding of re- skii Cathedral of Tikhonova Pustyn’ monastery
ligious institutions. This is a process, however, that can be seen from there. On the other side, you see
inevitably has more than one aspect. To the com- the Spaso-Vorotinskii monastery on the Ugra. It is
pulsory “construction” of passio and icons – holy a very sacred place, blessed by God, and we think
images – one should add the creation of both new also blessed by the Holy Mother. And, actually,
“places of memory” and rituals connected to them. I the help of the Holy Mother can be felt here, and
shall address elsewhere the creation of new icons and the prayers of the new martyrs can be felt.
new lives of the saints (and of new iconographies and
hagiographies). I shall focus here on the construc- National and local symbolisms overlap, secular and
tion of new sacred “places of memory” and on the religious values merge, the locality makes the symbolic
rituals giving them sacredness. contact between the holy places connected with Kalu-
The simplest forms of new sacred “places of ga possible (Tikhonova Pustyn’ monastery, Spaso-
memory” are the crosses that mark the locations of Vorotinskii monastery). According to the project,
abandoned or destroyed churches. One should also the accumulation of sacred meanings will continue
mention that the names of the priests of the Kaluga by symbolic actions aiming at the further integra-
eparchy, who were subject to Soviet repressions, have tion of national and local sanctuaries through the
been written on a memorial cross raised in 2005 in memorial. In order to accomplish this, it is planned
the churchyard of St. George’s cathedral. to wall up a capsule with soil from two other locali-
The creation of a new memorial centre for the new ties where hundreds of clerics were shot (the firing
martyrs of Kaluga in an area that never had a church ground of Butovo, the prison of Sukhinichi). The in-
is a recent initiative. The completion of the project tegrative meaning of the memorial is emphasised by
reveals the social fabric that stands behind the poli- adding the names of the Optina Pustyn’ startsy (the

already canonised monks of Optina Pustyn’) to the project and the creation of the ritual connected to it
list of martyrs of Kaluga. is a result of the work at different levels of church in-
According to the project, the memorial is going to stitutions. Although local in its character, the project
consist of a large chapel, a cross to bow in front of it, was constructed “from above”. This became possible
and a kupal’nia20 (the latter is traditionally located through the interaction between an ordinary priest,
near monastic buildings or other sacred places). The an influential laymen representative (integrated into
kupal’nia makes use of the spring near the house of church institutions through his participation in the
St. Aleksii Kurovskii. Actually, the idea to build a local Commission of Canonisation in Kaluga), and
memorial was initially taken from the proposal of the metropolitan. The position of the layman, play-
a local priest to consecrate the spring, which was ing the role of intermediary between the law and the
accepted and supported by Aleksei, the member of higher level of the church hierarchy, is of key signifi-
the Commission. Due to his efforts the spring was cance.
consecrated on 23 November 2005 (St. Aleksii’s day) Moreover, his role in the practical implementa-
with a litany procession (krestnyi khod) from the vil- tion of the initiative to build the memorial was deci-
lage of Koslovo (presently at the outskirts of Kaluga) sive. It was he who organised the litany processions
to the spring in Kurovskoe (see Kiziaev 2006: 22). on St. Aleksii Kurovskii’s day. What is more impor-
The new ritual has found a good reception among tant, he coordinated the construction of the Centre
representatives of the clergy and was accepted by the of the New Martyrs.
local population, which was evident from the par- This specific social actor’s activities are not lim-
ticipation of seven priests and a large crowd during ited to the initiative for the memorial centre (and
the second enactment of the procession in Novem- ritual events connected to it), it should be stressed.
ber 2006. The ritual creates a new sacred geography It is worth noting his efforts to regularly publish ar-
in Kaluga and the nearby villages. On its way, it fea- ticles dedicated to specific new martyrs of Kaluga in
tures intermediary “stations” in order to honour the local Orthodox periodicals. Some of his publications
memory of a priest who served more than sixty years are simply entitled “The Life of Saint X”. The articles
in one of the local churches. The procession was led do not intend to popularise the local Commission of
by representatives of the local Cossack organisation, Canonisation or its activities. Published biographi-
and their presence emphasises the martial features cal narratives about new martyrs21 actually aim to
of both the event and the place (which obtains this construct (and not reconstruct) their memories, at
characteristic also from its link to the historic mili- least at regional and local level. Obviously, the orally
tary actions of 1480). Thus, the locality near the vil- transmitted memories of people who accepted mar-
lage of Kurovskoe is marked as a culmination and tyrdom decades earlier (in certain cases as far back
final destination of the ritual action. Blessing the as more than eighty years ago), have either faded
idea to put a memorial by the spring of Kurovskoe, almost to nothing or live on only in the immediate
the metropolitan signed the document for the con- family and/or estate circles. At best, remembrance
struction of the chapel. This is the way in which an is concentrated in the settlements where they lived.
initiative, initially a modest one, develops into an Published narratives put an end to the anonymity
ambitious project. of the martyrs and overcome (to a certain extent)
What has been said so far demonstrates how the oblivion. However, the audience of the local church
creation of sacred “places of memory” demands and press is rather limited consisting only of the most ac-
generates a ritual, and how this ritual itself has be- tive parishioners.
come a final stage of the sacralisation of the place. One should address here the question of how the
From the interviews, I derived useful information local community accepts the veneration of new mar-
concerning the social interactions through which tyrs, especially in comparison to its worshipping of
events have been accomplished. The memorial well established and popular saints. Interviews, as

well as observations, demonstrate that the saints, old the community of “church people” in both the city
and new ones, tend to be accepted according to the and the district.
contexts of the holy places. New martyrs connected The intellectual work that provides the back-
to Optina Pustyn’ monastery – a “magnet” for pil- ground for the process of canonisation brings to-
grims from all over Russia – attract to themselves gether controversial and allegedly irreconcilable
and draw somewhat on the aura of the shrine. Even legacies. In fact, the archives of the KGB are the main
people largely indifferent to religion visit Optina and the only trustworthy source of information re-
Pustyn’ and honour the saints (both the already ac- garding political persecutions, arrests, trials, and
cepted and the new ones) following common itin- imprisoning. And the people entitled to carry out
eraries of the numerous pilgrims. The new martyrs research in these archives cannot always be regarded
whose veneration is connected to less popular places as “unrelated” to the repressive state apparatus of the
tend to attract the attention of the most committed past. Because of the distance in time, it is not the tor-
believers and church activists. mentors themselves who are personally involved in
Returning to the author of biographies of mar- the current symbolic rehabilitation of the martyrs,
tyrs, one can draw the conclusion that as a member their victims. Rather they are the heirs of the tor-
of the local Commission of Canonisation in Kaluga mentors. Two of my interlocutors graduated during
he fulfils the function of “impresario” of the cult of the Soviet period in “scientific atheism”.23 One of
the martyrs (Brown 2002[1981]: 73, 64–65), which them is currently a university professor of history of
has been an invariable part of the support for this religions. The second is involved in investigating the
cult from late Antiquity onwards. Of course, Alek- KGB archives in order to discover documental evi-
sei is not the only one active in this area. Some lo- dence concerning prospective martyrs. And I have
cal journalists, guides organising pilgrimage travels, witnessed his genuine commitment and dedication
church kraevedy etc., play similar roles depending to both religion and his mission.
on their access to economic, social, or cultural re- Some of the interviews provide evidence that
sources. They could all be called “Orthodox activ- this controversial strategy for the reconciliation of
ists”. Their integration into church activities is as a seemingly irreconcilable memories finds support-
kind of semi-professional. ers among some of the most active believers. They
The role Aleksei plays could be defined by the express negative concerns about atheist repressions
synonymous (but not identical) term of “religious and the godless life under socialism, but immedi-
entrepreneur”: a clergyman or layman performing ately add that “constellations of martyrs shone out
an intermediary function between society and re- instead” (Evgeniia, 38). It should be noted that this
ligious experts (see Christian 1996: chapters 3–5; is just one aspect of the larger post-socialist problem:
Bax 1995: 33–48).22 In this case, “religious entre- coping with the past and its legacies. As Adler notes,
preneurship” includes the construction of the me- this is due to the fact that “Russia’s experience is
morial centre: collecting funds through donations; unique and difficult to compare with the other post-
mediating between local authorities and the church authoritarian political systems” (Adler 2001: 277).
in the struggle of the latter to get legal ownership The process of reconstruction of sacred buildings
of the land on which the memorial is to be built; (churches, monasteries, etc.) also brings with it the
providing construction materials; organising the need to handle dead bodies, not just symbolically,
actual construction. All this becomes possible due but in a very immediate and physical way. Under
to the influential positions of Aleksei in the eco- socialism, many of the cemeteries located in church
nomic and social life of Kaluga. In other words, my and monastic yards were destroyed, while all monas-
interviewee invests his personal social capital in tic and most of the church buildings in the district of
his activities in the religious sphere. On the other Kaluga were used for various secular purposes (often
hand, in doing so, he enhances his prestige among endorsing production enterprises). In the context of

the post-Soviet religious revival, different ways of for Reconstruction of Memory, one of his tasks is
handling such situations are possible. For instance, to take pictures of thousands of graves in different
a large-scale identification of the graves and genetic cemeteries of Kaluga in order to save the names of
identification of the remains developed in Optina the dead from oblivion, that is, to help preserve the
Pustyn’. It is not just about the restoration of histori- memory of them. In doing so, the layman-kraeved
cal justice, as in the case of politically coloured re- and the priest also symbolically reorder the hierar-
burials (see Verdery 1999: 4–23). Bringing back the chy of social communities, bringing historical jus-
past pre-revolutionary fame of the monastery is an- tice to the clergy.
other important motivation. One should point out The long-term politics of suppressing memory
the special role played in this initiative by monk F., during the Soviet period (Adler 2001: 275) is some-
a former scholar in biology (Larissa, 68, librarian).24 times reflected in frustrating challenges during post-
Both the identified and recovered graves in the yard socialist times. In reconstructing and rebuilding
of Optina Pustyn’ and the relics of the martyrs rec- churches one tackles not just “the very special dead”,
ognised recently are nowadays objects of veneration but also the nameless and anonymous dead. Unlike
by pilgrims. The plausibility of identification is not the cases of (ex) Yugoslav or Serbian reburials of
a matter of discussion. On the contrary, the physi- the nameless victims of mass murders wherein “en-
cal aspect of worshipping the dead contributes to tire social groups are repositioned” (Verdery 1999:
the strengthening of the symbolic meaning of the 20–23) and serious political claims are raised, bones
cemetery and its transformation into a highly val- found in a churchyard in Kaluga have turned into a
ued object of pilgrimage. In other words, the sacred source of frustration. The Soviet “politics of forget-
status of the cemetery has been reformulated and ting” (Adler 2001: 275) is the reason for a complete
reinforced. The latter is also an aspect of the strug- oblivion and a lack of knowledge regarding certain
gle for symbolic and social capital in the competi- bodies. In July 2007, I noticed a modest grave in a
tion between the religious communities identifying churchyard with no name on the cross and I asked
themselves with the sacred places. The more sacred a to whom it belonged. Bones had been found repeat-
place is the more prestige and respect the given reli- edly during construction works around the church,
gious community receives. and the priests had reburied them. When I asked
Actually, the work of the Commission of Canoni- about the origin of these bones, one of the parish-
sation for the Eparchy of Kaluga closely parallels and ioners told me that no one knew whether the bones
even coincides to a certain extent with the functions were from soldiers of the Second World War, and if
of the lay Commission for Reconstruction of Mem- so, whether they were Soviets or Germans. Telling
ory (Komissiia po Vosstanovleniiu Pamiati) led by the me this, the woman whispered and asked me not
governor of the Kaluga district. Some of the church to mention the matter to matushka, the wife of the
kraevedy are involved in both the Commission of priest. My astonishment became even greater when I
Canonisation and the secular commission belonging noticed a bag of bones left among construction ma-
to the institutions of local authorities. Vitalii Legos- terials waiting for the next reburial. Obviously, the
taev, the most prominent church kraeved of Kaluga presence of the anonymous dead had caused serious
(see Benovska-Sabkova 2009: 125–126, 128–129), confusion, because anonymity did not allow proper
participates in both commissions. He has com- treatment of the dead. The “special dead” bring fame
piled a list of names of the priests who served in the to a shrine; anonymous dead are a source of disorder
Kaluga area from the nineteenth century onwards. and a potential threat to the sacred aura of a church.
Moreover, he enjoys the support of an adherent, a The parallels between secular and religious mani-
local priest who commemorates late clergymen by festations of the politics of memory could be ex-
reading the list of their names while celebrating the tended. The activities involving the identification of
liturgy. While working in the secular Commission graves, the relics of the “special dead”, and the re-

burial of the anonymous dead strikingly correspond of Explorers named Pamiat’ (memory) and the city
to a large-scale secular initiative named poiskovoe and district Committees of the Veterans of War and
dvizhenie (movement of explorers). This one aims Military Service (Gorolevich 2006: 31). In other
at the identification of mass graves of Soviet soldiers words, the military professional community and so-
who were killed in the Second World War. Although cietal circles connected to it are the driving forces
long-term initiatives are carried out across the whole behind the initiative. School and university students
of the Russian Federation, Kaluga occupies a special are actively involved in it. The movement of explor-
place in this process because the movement was in- ers receives financial support from the central and
augurated there in 1988.25 local Russian authorities (Ministry of Defence and
In particular, the local teams of explorers (poisko- regional administrations).27
vye otriady) have searched the place called “The Val- A published interview of a representative of Kaluga
ley of Death” in the district of Kaluga for twenty sheds some light on its motives. It confirms the ob-
years. Up to 2007, the remains of approximately servation that “social memory has been linked with
5,500 Soviet soldiers were found and reburied ac- the creation of ‘imagined communities’ and with
companied by great efforts to identify the remains. a construction of moral order” (Barahona de Brito,
Due to the lack of physical evidence, however, Gonzalez-Enriquez & Aguilar 2001: 38). Deep social
identification was not always possible. On 22 June differentiation in present-day Russian society engen-
2007, a similar ceremony took place in the village of ders feelings of a lack of justice projected onto history:
Barsuki, where 145 soldiers were reburied (V “do-
line smerti” 2007: 23). Family members, heirs, and White spots in our history turn to be a national
relatives of those whose remains had been positively disgrace, against the general background of the
identified were contacted and took part in the cer- plunder of the people’s property and of Russia’s
emony (ibid.). For example, one of my interviewees natural resources, the creation of absurd fortunes
was also included in the ritual part of the initiative a of native billionaires, the dire straits of the major-
couple of years ago. Her mother received a letter an- ity of the population…, and the rise of criminal-
nouncing that the place where her grandfather had ity. (Gorolevich 2006: 31)
died during the Second World War had been found
and it turned out to be near Kaluga. Both the mother The symbolic gesture of reburial also aims at sym-
and the daughter (my interviewee) were invited to bolically overcoming unfairness:
participate in the ceremony of his reburial, and for
that purpose they travelled the tremendous distance According to estimates of the District Commit-
from where they lived, Komsomol’sk na Amur in the tee of the Veterans of War and Military Service,
far East of Russia, to Kaluga. there are more than 100,000 deceased defenders
Remembrances of the Second World War are not of the Fatherland left without proper burial on
the central topic of discussion in Kaluga, unlike the territory of the district of Kaluga. […] Their
other places in Russia where social memory of the relatives have suffered famine and deprivations
war is still very strong, as Tocheva (2007) reports and have not received any compensation for the
with reference to Gatchina. In fact, initiatives such loss of the breadwinner; no post-war privileges
as the one I mentioned are reminders of not allow- have been established [for them, M.B-S.]. Unwill-
ing the memory of war to be transformed into his- ingly, one asks the question: “For what did these
tory.26 Who are the social actors behind this initia- people, full of vital energy, give their lives, if for
tive? Why is it so important more than sixty years sixty years since then we have not been able to re-
after the end of the war? It is no surprise that specific habilitate their honest names or give to the earth
social groups stand behind this initiative, and at the their remains according to Christian customs?”
local level these are the Patriotic Union of Teams (Gorolevich 2006: 31)

As I have noted, the anonymous dead are a source of of revolutionary struggles and partisan wars is obvi-
frustration. Identification (i.e. personalisation) and ous.
reburial change the symbolic status of the nameless Although the images of new martyrs belong to
dead soldiers. Here already, an entire social group the religious sphere and the images of war heroes
is being repositioned, similarly to the victims of are of a secular character, one finds points of contact
communist repressions; religious connotation is between them. This analogy is far from surprising,
also being presented (Verdery 1999: 20). Thus, the not least because images of martyrs and heroes have
anonymous dead are transformed into heroes via been closely related since early Christian times. The
personalisation and “proper burial”. extraordinary sufferings experienced by the martyrs
It would not be difficult to find similarities be- are a kind of miracle and sign of the divine presence.
tween the images of the new martyrs and the heroes, “The heroism of the martyrs has always been treated
constituted through the politics of memory. Images as a form of possession, strictly dissociated from
of the heroes are overshadowed by the connotation normal human courage” (Brown 2002[1981]: 79).
of martyrdom through the discourse of “victimisa- Heroisation contributes, in this particular case, to a
tion”, as one can see from the quotation above. On new elaboration and reformulation of the memory:
the other hand, some of the martyrs acquire heroic atrocities committed by the tormentors remain in
features in the narratives created or popularised the background, while attention is focused on the
by Aleksei, the “religious entrepreneur”, as well as valour of a martyr as chosen by God. This is the way
through publications. According to these narratives, to achieve the symbolic reconciliation of allegedly
a monk from St. Trinity-Liutikov monastery dem- irreconcilable fragments of the social memory. The
onstrated supernatural strength of the spirit in 1918: narrative of martyrdom is implemented as a tool
to positively perceive traumatic experiences from
Gunmen [came to] the monastery, [they] de the past. Actually, both the secular project and the
manded the handover of [monastic] horses. The Orthodox project successfully transform and refor-
abbot of the monastery refused to give them horses. mulate collective memory by constructing a positive
So the gunmen started to threaten the monks. vision of the past.
They sounded the alarm by ringing the bells; It is useful to remember the cross-culturally valid
then peasants came and chased the gunmen away. observation that
At the end of the day, regular troops came from
Kaluga and, you see, they imposed revolutionary historical memories and collective remembrances
order. They shot all the monks and eight other can be instruments to legitimate discourse, create
people, peasants. […] loyalties, and justify political options. Thus,
This was in the middle of [nineteen]eighteen. control over the narrative of the past means
When they were shot they had to stand at the edge control over the construction of narratives for
of a [grave] hole. [The soldiers] did not succeed in an imagined future. Memory is a struggle over
killing one of the monks. They shot him over and power and who gets to decide the future. What
over again […] the soldiers were already afraid, and how societies choose to remember and forget
and they wanted to run away. But the monk said: largely determines their future options. Indeed,
“Well, what’s the matter! Go ahead, do your job!” memories are constantly revised to suite current
He gave his blessing, and only then were they identities. (Barahona de Brito, Gonzalez-Enriquez
able to kill him. He must have been a very devout & Aguilar 2001: 38)
monk! (Aleksei, a custom-house officer, 50)28
Inferences
The similarity to widespread (and stereotyped) lit- The politics of memory is marked by special inten-
erary and cinema plots connected to the mythology sity in the post-socialist context, but it is far from

being unique, either for post-socialism or for Rus- during the Second World War. The physical remains
sia. Nonetheless, the Russian experience is special at of the anonymous dead are a cause for frustration
least because the long duration of the Soviet period and ambiguity. This explains the attempt to put the
nowadays brings to life impressively large-scale so- anonymity of the “special dead” to an end. The aim
cial practices that aim at giving a specific response is to achieve personalisation through identification
to the socialist politics of suppressing and forgetting of graves and remains; it includes both a physical
memory. This is especially valid for the sphere of re- process and a symbolic operation through which the
ligious life. The extremes of socialist repressive poli- bodies obtain the status and the aura of martyrs and
tics as regards religion are seemingly symmetrical to heroes. The former belong to the religious sphere
the activities framed as “religious revival” in Russia. and the latter to the secular one, but there are simi-
Worshipping the “special dead” – martyrs and larities and connections between them. Narratives
heroes – is an important aspect of the post-Soviet reveal the new martyrs through the prism of hero-
religious revival in Russia. The clergy plays a key isation, while heroes acquire the aura of martyrdom.
role in this process. I have addressed some particu- As I have mentioned earlier, neither the active poli-
lar forms of the veneration of the dead: the canoni- tics of memory nor the specific practices of reburials
sation of new martyrs who “shone out” during the are uniquely Russian particularities. It is the strategy
Soviet period; the project of the Centre of the New of reconciling irreconcilable historical legacies that
Martyrs of Kaluga as a “place of memory” and the is specific to Russia. The narrative of martyrdom is
introduction of a new ritual related to it (litany); the implemented as a tool to positively reformulate trau-
construction of narratives dedicated to new mar- matic experiences of the past. In doing so, the Or-
tyrs: hagiographies or legendary texts spread either thodox project of constructing memory successfully
in written or in oral form. The canonisation of new contributes to the larger societal project of elaborat-
saints resumes an important institutional activity of ing a positive vision of the past. Returning to the
the Russian Orthodox Church, which has been im- initial questions, the politics of memory provides a
possible to carry out during the Soviet era. It is an symbolic means of overcoming historical ruptures
important aspect of the Russian religious revival as of identity. In doing so, it gives a sense of continuity
far as it gives it “flesh and blood” by contributing to at a collective and a personal level as well.
larger church attendance and pilgrimage. The politics of memory in the context of the re-
Most of the venerated martyrs belong to the (his- ligious revival in Russia is accomplished through
torical) clergy and that is evidence of the attempt to an interaction between distinct social groups. Logi-
do this social group justice. This is also an expression cally enough, it is firstly the clergy striving to ac-
of the current struggle of the clergy to strengthen quire historic justice after the end of socialism, but
their own prestige and positions in the social hier- also to achieve higher prestige for itself nowadays.
archy. My observations document the significant My observations from Kaluga show that the clergy
role played by the “religious entrepreneur”, who acts is supported by the central and local authorities. It
as an intermediary and makes the exchanges be- succeeds (with the help of local elite) in the mobi-
tween clergy and laity possible. As one of the aspects lisation of political and economic resources. Thus,
of canonisation, the recovery of graves and the iden- clergy and authorities equally participate in the
tification of the bodies of new martyrs are related to struggle for control over memory, which is actually
another form of politics of memory: reburials of dis- a struggle for power. The politics of memory carried
tinct categories of the dead, aiming at remodelling out in the context of religious revival in present-
social memory and the symbolic reposition of the day Russia aims not just at strengthening the back-
social hierarchy. There are three categories of “bod- ground of this process, but at positively reshaping
ies” that are objects of concern: martyrs, the anony- traumatic historic experiences. Thus, both politics
mous dead, and nameless soldiers who perished of memory and religious revival are involved in the

construction of a new Russian identity, being parts “region”, “land”, “countryside”. The dictionary de-
fines kraevedenie as the “study of local lore, history and
of the large nationally affirmative narrative of post-
economy” (see Wheeler et al. 1998: 164). Kraevedy are
Soviet Russia. the people involved in kraevedenie. Concerning church
kraevedenie in Russia, see Benovska-Sabkova (2009:
121–132).
Notes 12 See http://www.fond.ru. Accessed 17.10.2008.
*
This article was written due to my stay as a guest at the 13 See also the official Internet site of the Kaluga Eparchy:
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/ http://www.kaluga-eparhia.ru/abbats_churchs/mon_
Saale, in 2008. The research is based on fieldwork (2007) opt.htm.
financed by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthro- 14 This took place in the year 2000 during the Arkhiiereiskii
pology. I express my appreciation to this Institute. Sobor, the official meeting of the prelate council (the
1 According to other sources, there were 47 churches second important ruling body of the Russian Ortho-
at the beginning of the nineteenth century (Kliment dox Church), see http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/
2006). 65980.html. Accessed 17.10.2008.
2 The plant was officially opened on 28 November 2007. 15 www.fond.ru. Accessed 17.10.2008.
The average expected production is 115,000 cars per 16 The words and phrases in square brackets were added
annum; furthermore, 5,000 new jobs are to be created by the author.
by 2010 (see Ivkin & Gusev 2007: 2). 17 Similarly to other important monastic centres of na-
3 One very simplistic definition could be the veneration tional Russian significance, such as Troitse-Sergieva
of monks and nuns practising and confessing extreme Lavra in Sergiev Posad, Diveevo monastery, etc., see
asceticism. Mitrokhin (2004: 110).
4 The Kireevskii brothers were among the founding 18 Numerous Orthodox educational institutions func-
fathers of Pan-Slavism (Duncan 2000: 23–24). tioning in Kaluga aim at strengthening the clergy, see
5 See also footnote 5: starets is a monk ascetic (mascu- Aleksakhina & Bogatyreva (2003: 24–31). I will discuss
line), who possesses divine wisdom; staritsa is the fem- that matter thoroughly in another publication.
inine form. 19 Even taking into consideration the collaboration of
6 The latter are granted lower status. The number of tem- certain wings of the clergy during the Soviet era, re-
ples had increased even under the short period between pressions and atrocities are undeniable facts.
September 2006 and July 2007: two more churches 20 Kupal’nia means a covered pool of a medicinal spring
(parishes) existed in Kaluga in 2007. or holy water where people bath to improve their
7 I chose librarians for different reasons. First, it was nec- health.
essary to provide information about people’s concern 21 I would avoid calling them “lives of the saints”, as these
about religion outside the close circles of the parishion- written narratives still lack stylistic elaboration, which
ers. All librarians referred to are affiliated to the “Belin- is more or less compulsory for the hagiographic genre.
skii” District Scientific Library, i.e. a professional group 22 The term “religious entrepreneur” has been intro-
that belongs to the local intelligentsia, but it is also part duced in the study of Orthodox Christianity by Galina
of larger social strata. Conducting interviews in one Valchinova (2006: 221–222).
institution was a practical solution in favour of clearer 23 On the transformation of former experts in “scientific
contextualisation and localisation of the fieldwork data. atheism” into experts in teaching religions after the end
8 Some new cases of canonisation also fit the notion of of socialism see Bourdeaux (2000: 10).
“new martyrdom”, although the death of the martyrs 24 Interview conducted on 26 September 2006.
concerned occurred after the end of the Soviet era, for 25 See the official Internet site of the region Medyn of
example the three monks of Optina Pustyn’ who were Kaluga: http://www.medyn.ru/News/TopNOVOSTI/
murdered on Easter in 1993, see Optinskaia Golgofa 2008/Poiskovoe.htm.
(1994) and Zhizneopisanie (2005). 26 Concerning similar reminders, but about the First
9 The Synodal Commission of Canonisation of Saints World War in Argonne, France, see Filipucci (2004:
has since been defined as a “research organ”. See http:// 44–46).
www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/65980.html. 27 See the Web site of Nika, a local TV network of Kaluga:
10 It started working in 2005, according to the interview http://www.old.nikatv.ru/index.php?newsid= 6539,
with Aleksei, quoted below (see also the official Inter- accessed 04.04.2008.
net site of Kaluga Eparchy: http://www.kaluga-eparhia. 28 Interview conducted on 16 August 2007. The words and
ru/abbats_churchs/mon_opt.htm). phrases in square brackets were added by the author.
11 The term kraevedenie originates from krai, meaning

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XIX – nachale XX veka [The Russian Monasteries and Milena Benovska-Sabkova is Professor of Ethnology at New
Monkhood in XI–XX Centuries]. In: N.V. Sinitsyna (ed.), Bulgarian University and a senior research fellow at the
Monashestvo i monastyri v Rossii XI–XX veka [Monkhood Ethnographic Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sci-
and Monasteries in Russia XI–XX Centuries]. Moscow: ences. Her recent project, Strategies of the Russian Ortho-
Nauka, pp. 302–331. dox Church in the Context of Religious Revival in Russia,
focuses on religious practices embedded in life of the Ortho-
dox parish communities and on religious aspects of politics
of memory in post-Soviet Russia.
(mbenovska@yahoo.com)

THE ECONOMY AND MORALITY of

ELOPEMENT IN RURAL WESTERN TURKEY
Kimberly Hart
In rural western Turkey, villagers use cultural and Islamic values of economic egalitarianism and
care for the less fortunate to critique exploitation. They argue that cultural Islamic values of com-
munity and mutual assistance clash with the monetarization of kin relationships. In considering
two ethnographic cases, I show how the community interprets daughters’ struggles at the time of
their marriage. When daughters make a move to separate from the natal household, their family’s
economic survival is threatened. To contain the loss of income, fathers attempt to delay daughters’
marriages and daughters sometimes elope to solve the problem. This paper is about how the villag-
ers analyze these events via their notions of morally correct behavior.1
Keywords: weaving, elopement, Turkey, Islam, morality
In Örselli village in a region of rural western Turkey ing relationships between parents and children and
called the Yuntdag, villagers rely upon an under- husbands and wives may lead to wrongful behavior.
standing of Islamic morality to solve concrete prob- I focus on how the community interprets daughters’
lems, which arise from their increased involvement struggles at the time of their marriage, as examples
in the globalized economy, including an engagement of a conflict between individual desires and collective
with commodities and work in an economic develop- needs for financial survival. For daughters who are
ment project: a women’s carpet weaving cooperative. in the process of marrying and separating from their
They argue and demonstrate that economic egali- natal households, the transition is filled with tension.
tarianism and care for the less fortunate (Benthall Both sons and daughters need their fathers’ permis-
1999: 35; White 2002: 67–73) should be the founda- sion to marry, but sons have more leeway and power.
tion of a just society (Hart 2007b). In this paper, I The groom’s family benefits from marriage because a
focus on the consequences of this moral standpoint wife enters its lineage and though families live neolo-
in cases when young women want to marry. cally, a bride helps her husband’s family. The family
Villagers comment on how money has changed that “gives” its daughter in marriage, however, ex-
people by making them selfish and greedy, becoming periences the marriage as a loss. Families with only
more interested in material things and money than daughters or with sons who are in school, about to
each other. They worry that the increase in material marry, or too young to earn wages, lose daughters’
wealth and the importance of wage labor for mediat- much-needed wages when they marry. For this rea-

son, fathers sometimes attempt to delay daughters’ be obeyed and that elopement is always wrong-
marriages, causing them, as the villagers argue, to ful behavior. Rather, in their judgments of correct
elope to solve the problem. Daughters are judged and moral practice, they demonstrate that an analysis of
punished for having acted against their parents and the social and economic conditions of those who act
disobeying by running off, which is the literal mean- should be included. This change is a result of their
ing of the verb “to elope” (in Turkish, kaçmak). involvement in modernizing processes, economic
This paper, which explores moral consequences development and expanding ideologies of romantic
at the intersection of economic development, ma- love.
terial prosperity, young women’s desires for mar- This paper is not on elopement or the consequences
riage, household survival, and the community’s of new marital forms solely because I consider how
judgments, expands ethnographic literature in a villagers analyze conflicts surrounding marriage
number of domains often kept separate: ideologies within daughters’ households via their notions of
of romantic love in marriage, the social and cultural morally correct behavior. In this case, morality is
consequences of economic development, and Islam- grounded in Islam. Islamic practice is highly diverse
ic morality. Much has been written on ideologies of in Turkey (Shankland 1999; Silverstein 2003). This
romantic love in marriage (Adrian 2003; Ahearn village is Sunni. Sunni Islam is disseminated by the
2001; Collier 1997; Rebhun 1999; Yan 2003). Au- Diyanet, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, a state
thors argue that romantic love is expressed within institution, and this is the dominant version of Is-
the context of societies that are undergoing eco- lam in the country. The villagers are eager to declare
nomic change, causing social and cultural reinter- their allegiance to the state’s ethnocratic (Yiftachel
pretations of filial piety and age-bound and gen- 1999) construction of a homogeneous, Sunni Mus-
dered duties in households. In short, expectations lim, Turkish identity. However, Islam is considerably
about what is possible in love and marriage between more complex than being merely the product of the
spouses, and what the relationship between parents state. In addition to being a body of doctrine and a
and children should be, are changing. In terms of code of daily practice, villagers use Islam, as they
elopement, ethnographers have shown that it is a interpret it, as a working body of knowledge, which
traditional alternative to normative marriage prac- they apply to solve problems and use to respond to
tice, i.e. arranged marriage (Bates 1973; Bringa strains in the community (Ihık 2008; Loeffler 1988).
1995), but that it transforms under modernizing As such, this paper contributes to an expanding body
conditions in which parental authority is on the of literature on transformations in Islamic practice,
wane (Ahearn 2001; Yan 2003). Thus, according to including those of rural and urban communities,
these recent studies, young people who have more which use ideals of Islamic morality to manage mo-
emotional freedom than prior generations because dernity (Deeb 2006; Kresse 2009; Schultz 2008).
their fathers are no longer as empowered, elope This paper is part of a larger ethnographic project,
to fulfill individualistic desires, which they inter- which includes a consideration of the orthodoxiza-
pret as romance. In these studies, romantic love is tion of Islamic practice (Hart 2009) and the per-
an historically-based ideology, which emerged as formance of good deeds as a means to create a just
western Europe began modernizing (Stone 1979). local economy (Hart 2007b). I argue that the popu-
Earlier I have written on how the villagers interpret lar use and perception of Islam is connected to the
ideologies of modernization and romantic love and villagers’ understanding of theology and the text of
create a hybridized system of normative marriage the Koran, but also to local cultural understandings
to incorporate romantic love in arranged marriage of morality, which are less codified by texts or the
(Hart 2007a). In this paper I argue that the modern- interpretation of textual sources. As devout Sunni
izing effect of economic change causes the villagers Muslims, the villagers rely on an understanding of
to reinterpret the notion that fathers should always Islamic morality to cope with and interpret the ef-

fects of economic development, social change, and groom’s family and for about six months, they eat
cases of conflict within households. One purpose of with the groom’s parents, combining their house-
this paper is to explore how their understanding of holds. Afterwards they separate (ev ayrılmak) and
morality is applied to concrete situations. live in their own house. This practice, as well as the
relative comfort of the bride who is not under the
Gender and the Cooperative thumb of her mother-in-law, resembles that of no-
in Örselli Village madic households (Bates 1973; Shahrani 2002: 142).
Örselli village has about ninety-five households and For this reason, nuclear household structure among
two hundred and fifty individuals. I began conduct- former nomads, unlike former agriculturalists, is
ing research in 1998 with a preliminary visit, re- not due to modernization or the fragmentation of
turned in 2000–01 for core doctoral fieldwork, and an ideal household form, as Rasuly-Paleczek argues
returned for short visits in 2002, 2003, 2004, and is the case in Anatolian regions where nucleation is
2008. During most of my research, the villagers were common (1996: 20–22), but an extension of a lin-
engaged in a residual nomadic or Yörük2 economy gering nomadic economy and the marginality of the
(Bates 1973). They kept small herds of sheep, sold ecological region they inhabit (Shahrani 2002).
sheep and cows’ milk to cheese workshops, worked While village households maintained a modi-
as laborers making cheese, and wove carpets in the fied nomadic economy, during the second half of
cooperative. They cultivated small plots of land pro- the twentieth century they began to experience a
ducing one-half their annual consumption in wheat, pressing need for cash. Settled on an arid and rocky
collected wild plants, and kept tiny vegetable gar- mountaintop, pasture was limited and therefore
dens. Much like nomads who live in nuclear family they were no longer able to sustain a household
tents (Shahrani 2002), they lived in nuclear house- through herding. In addition, villagers wanted con-
holds, pooled their resources, sharing income, and sumer goods, cell phones, clothing, satellite televi-
the foods they gathered and grew. sion, washing machines and so forth. Sending chil-
It is important to point out that the structure of dren to school, which they understood as essential
the household and therefore, I would argue, gender to acquiring a well-paid job in a rapidly transform-
roles, in this area and among the former Yörük are ing, neoliberal economy, also required money. Their
different from those in agricultural regions in Tur- economic history in the twentieth century is one of
key, where land is a valuable resource (Beller-Hann & struggle and scarcity in a region ignored by the state.
Hann 2001; Delaney 1991; Magnarella 1979; Sirman Searching for a means to earn money in the 1970s,
1990; Stirling 1966). As these cited scholars of Turkey weavers began to participate in cooperatives, some
describe, patrilineal patriarchal households attempt organized by the Ministry of Culture. This was an
to keep land intact. For this reason, young couples attempt to monetize a skill all women had, which
live patrilocally in extended household compounds, they used to create pieces for their trousseaux. Many
rather than dividing land for newly forming nuclear of these cooperative experiences, as well as the diffi-
households when couples marry. Young wives are culties they encountered when selling to middlemen
at the bottom of the social order in these extended and dealers, were negative. Through a stroke of for-
households. They gain status as they give birth to tune in the early 1980s, Harald Böhmer, a German
children, especially sons, and eventually they rule chemist who had investigated plant dyes, traveled to
over their own daughters-in-law (Kandiyoti 1988; the Yuntdag where weaving was a strong craft, but
Sirman 1995: 201; Stirling 1966: 110). Throughout where chemical dyes had taken over the local palette.
the Yuntdag, where land has little value and where He offered to teach villagers plant-dyeing techniques
cultural practices of a formally nomadic time linger, and to locate foreign dealers. In short, Böhmer with
the majority of households are neolocal and nuclear some help from expatriates and Turkish intellectu-
in structure. However, young couples live near the als, established a women’s carpet weaving coopera-

tive in Örselli village, drawing upon weavers from faced, but this does not mean that they are uncritical
six nearby villages. This cooperative, along with one of the transforming social and economic world that
founded earlier in the market town of Ayvacık, be- they now experience.
came the DOBAG project (Dogal Boya Ara htırma ve As I mentioned, the Yuntdag cooperative is a
Geli htirme Projesi, natural dye research and devel- “women’s” cooperative. The project therefore re-
opment project). The cooperative was founded in a sembles many other cultural heritage produc-
beneficial national economic and political environ- tion enterprises, which attempt to combine gender
ment. The emergence of small-scale manufacturing emancipation with the promotion of indigenous
resulted from state politics in 1980, which favored crafts. As Milgram argues, these enterprises often
export-only industries (Dedeoglu 2004: 3). The co- fail to take into account the differences between
operative was one such small company, which helped groups of women, young, old, married, unmar-
bring foreign currency into the country. ried, etc. (2000: 108). However, this is not the case
While DOBAG is well known among textile ex- in DOBAG. Although Powell wanted to emancipate
perts and carpet dealers for its success in sustaining all women equally, the villagers did not. They were
carpet knotting, natural dyeing, and women’s artis- quick to redefine the structure of labor and mem-
tic heritage (Anderson 1998; Böhmer 1983), one of bership in ways that were useful as well as cultur-
the benefits of the cooperative is that the weaving ally relevant, but which did not necessarily lead to
is done in houses rather than in workshops. In this female emancipation. In the cooperative and the
way, other household members can also help weave, village, kadınlar (“women”) are currently or once
through the membership of the mother of the fam- married females: wives or widows. Married women
ily. Weavers are paid for their labor, calculated by weavers are members, but elderly widows who have
the number of knots. Since weavers can predict their given up weaving to become spinners, are not. Kızlar
income, they can pace weaving in relation to other (“daughters, girls, virgins”) are unmarried and re-
income earning activities, such as raising animals. main in their natal households until they separate at
And because they work at home, they can integrate marriage. Daughters, because they are not “women”
childcare and the overall management of the house- are not members. This gendered structure of la-
hold into their wage-earning labor. bor makes the household a place of work in which
DOBAG is a unique case in the literature on work- mothers manage their daughters’ labor. Daughters
shop and independent weavers, and has helped the are able to move up in the structure of the coopera-
villagers prosper for over two decades (Anderson tive once they marry. With marriage, they become
1998; Ihık 2007; Hart 2005) because it frees weavers “women” who are able to become members. They
from the exploitation of the open market and work- then work on their own looms (owned by the coop-
shop enterprises. In fact, prosperity is part of the erative), pooling labor with friends, neighbors, and
problem from the villagers’ standpoint. The inher- their mothers-in-law. They enjoy the voting rights of
ent contradiction in cooperative projects, as Cohen membership, are paid a share in the annual profits,
describes it (1999), creates a system in which pros- and receive their wages directly. However, in order
perity may be a sign of future collapse because the to achieve this position, they have to marry. Thus,
community cannot withstand the transformation in marriage brings tremendous advantages. Yet fathers
the social order (Kottack 1990). The villagers have retain the power to give permission to marry, thus
gained a much higher level of material prosperity creating a barrier to taking this much-desired step.
than they experienced through private sales of tex-
tiles or in poorly run cooperative enterprises. This The Household as a Site of Production
new prosperity has benefited everyone. Many com- Ethnographic studies of cottage industries (Cohen
mented, “We are now comfortable.” No one wants 1999: 67; Ehlers 2000: 7, 62; Wilkinson-Weber 1997:
to return to the old economic struggles they once 56, 61) and small workshops (Dedeoglu 2004; White

1994) show that when the household is the unit of many young women entering their twenties are ea-
production, capitalist relations are overlaid with ger to marry and formalize love relationships, they
familial relations. Familial and kin relationships, often find themselves trapped between the need to
whether real or fictive, can be cooperative and ex- obey their fathers and wait for permission to marry
ploitative (often simultaneously), tying individuals and their eager boyfriends who push them to elope.
to the collective need for survival and the pooling of The villagers consider that fathers who are reluc-
resources. These same relationships can be used to tant to give their daughters permission to marry are
unfairly exploit kin for profit (Berik 1987, 1989; Co- exploiting them, because if the family can subsist
hen 1999; White 1994: 138). The cultural construc- without the daughter’s labor, it is unfair to prevent
tion of unequal gendered roles and statuses exacer- her from making this step to adulthood. By deny-
bates the potential for exploitation. Thus, mothers ing her permission to become a full adult, who also
and daughters and fathers and sons have competing would gain in status and fortune, her father profits
and at times diverging interests in maintaining the from her loss. The villagers consider this immoral.
household. In Örselli, the cooperative has intensi- However, they also regard daughters who run off
fied the household as the location where produc- without considering the economic constraints of her
tion, consumption and the negotiation for resources natal household immoral. There is, therefore, a care-
intersect in gendered roles and identities. Due to ful balancing act about when and under what condi-
economic necessity, families need their daughters to tions a daughter will leave her natal household for
be obedient and willing workers who weave under marriage.
their mothers’ cooperative membership. Sons have
a different social position, in part due to the lack of Islam, Morality, and Social Critique
employment opportunities in the village for men. Moral questions are addressed through cultural un-
They usually leave a few months a year to work mak- derstandings of Islam, which in Örselli and through-
ing cheese. They have more control over their wages out Turkey is a framework for constituting everyday
than their sisters, though they also give some of their life. Islam creates a sense of order in this world and a
wages to their parents. way to imagine the next (Delaney 1991). It is, as eth-
A daughter’s departure threatens the survival nographers of Islamic societies frequently remark,
of the unit, because the parents lose the daughter’s all-encompassing in its power to connect domains
wage contribution to the common pool. When of life that are separate in secular society: law, cos-
daughters begin to want to marry, their previous mology, spirituality, individual and collective re-
commitment to the greater good of the household ligious practice, the body, time, and space (Bringa
is offset by their newfound interest in leaving it. For 1995; Delaney 1991; Beller-Hann & Hann 2001). In
this reason, the transition to marriage is fraught addition, Islam provides a cultural framework for
with struggles about when and how they marry, and moral action which can be political in its potential
what amount of property they can take with them. applications (Göle 1996: 20; Scott 1985: 135; White
As Berik also found among young women weaving 2002), meaning that moral arguments about correct
in workshops in Turkey, their fathers are reluctant to behavior are used to influence individual and col-
allow them to make this step to adulthood because lective behavior. Islamic morality, as they under-
they do not want to lose their wages (1989: 12). One stand it, is part of a contemporary spiritual practice,
clear indicator of the effect of the cooperative on which creates a basis for social solidarity and a sense
relationships between daughters and fathers is that of responsibility to others. The villagers work every
after the founding of the cooperative in 1982, the age day to be devout and considerate of the condition
at marriage among daughters rose. Before the 1980s, of their kin, neighbors, and friends. They achieve
daughters married on average at 18. By 2001, the av- this through daily prayer, redistributing wealth by
erage age at marriage for daughters rose to 24. Since practicing good deeds or informal alms (hayır) (see

also Benthall 1999: 30; Hart 2007b; Scott 1985: 172; individuals with whom they had a quarrel, even on
Loeffler 1988: 15), celebrating major holidays such as holiday occasions when people are expected to ex-
Ahura, sacrificing an animal at Kurban Bayramı (the change greetings. These social sanctions are expres-
sacrifice holiday), fasting during Ramazan, and go- sions of disapproval and they are meant to check the
ing on pilgrimage to Mecca (hac) (see also Delaney behavior of others. I did not find more antagonistic
1990). They are watchful of each other, keeping track or violent threats, as did Stirling in his research on a
of youth and ensuring that private love relationships village in Central Anatolia during the 1950s (1966:
are not allowed to go wild (Hart 2007a).3 Normally, 246–254). There were no cases of “honor killing,”
they apply social pressure through critical gestures, nor did men physically fight. Yet, in a community
observations, and commentary. In times of crisis, where people frequently comment on the need to
however, they may intervene and assist individuals be with others, social isolation is a stinging punish-
who have become mentally unstable or physically ill. ment.
These expressions of concern for individuals (and Thus, Islamic cultural worldviews and practices
by extension the community), whether expressed create a moral world, in which a sense of communal
economically or through pragmatic social interven- solidarity is made through the pragmatic interven-
tion, are not open or free. They are targeted tools tion of neighbors, kin and others, who are outside the
for social control. Scott describes how villagers gave immediate private realm of the household. Individu-
zakat (the annual tithe), using it as a reward for als, who are socialized in the need to reciprocate,
villagers whose reputations as good workers were express their gratitude for help and assistance. The
sound (1985: 171). Benthall also attests, in the deci- structures of Islamic behavior create a framework
sions about how zakat be distributed, “the consensus within which individuals can reciprocate. A couple
seems to be that Islam calls on all people to work who enjoy a bountiful yield on their olive harvest
and the characters and reputations of poor people contribute a part of their olive oil for redistribution
may be taken into account in deciding whether or to the poor in the village. This informal contribution
not they deserve help” (1999: 32). The tithe is not is different from giving their children, who assisted
an open-ended gift to those in need, but a means in maintaining the trees and harvesting the olives,
to control labor and create social conformity (Scott a part of the crop, which was their entitlement. As
1985: 172). The selectivity of the tithe makes it po- Loeffler also tells of a village in Iran, villagers
litical, by rewarding behaviors and punishing others respond to virtually every occurrence with, “[i]
by declining to give support. In Örselli, the selectiv- nnumerable offerings, sacrifices, dedications, con-
ity in providing assistance includes social action as tributions, alms, vows, sufrahs (meal offered for a
well. The villagers considered the moral condition of religious purpose), invitations, and gifts made to
the person who might be in need of assistance. They obtain favors, ensure well-being, secure protection,
did not, for instance, actively mourn the death of a avert evil, help the dead, give thanks, or simply
baby who had been conceived out of wedlock and show compassion” (Loeffler 1988: 15). Individuals,
who died after a year. They were not punishing the inspired by a sense of collective good, create a con-
baby, who was “innocent” as one woman said, since stituency of Muslims who act to mobilize communi-
she “did not witness the sin” that resulted in her ties in politically, spiritually, and culturally moralis-
conception, but the parents. They did not intervene tic ways (White 2002: 72, 119–120). Islam is a tool of
when a young woman isolated herself by eloping and political mobilization, which generates a framework
later was tormented by her mother-in-law, though for establishing political and moral agendas for so-
they made critical remarks about the tyranny of the cial change (Scott 1985; White 2002) in communities
mother-in-law. They did not assist poor families both large and small.
when the husbands had been difficult and resentful As I have described above, Islamic cultural prac-
of the cooperative in the past. They actively avoided tices play an essential role in how community is

created in the village, but there are two programs of wealth, such as olive oil, milk and cheese, when one
social change, which work side by side. One is the family has a surplus. This dense network shows that
carpet-weaving cooperative established on western, the villagers do not acknowledge a private space of
feminist ideals, and notions of economic develop- the household as separate from a public space of the
ment. The second, Islamic morality, attempts to community. Therefore, they do not hesitate to ob-
create communal solidarity and a concern for the serve and comment on the behavior of fathers, moth-
welfare of the group. While Islam is very important, ers, and children to determine whether or not they
the pressing needs of the monetized economy push have acted justly.
villagers into the world of consumption, which they Through these innumerable daily acts of observa-
have accessed in part through their participation in tion and commentary, Islamic morality erases the
the cooperative. The villagers comment on the fact distinction between public and private. This formu-
that they have to work within the capitalist economy. lation contradicts Göle’s argument that “the culture
They say, for instance, “parasız bir hayat yok” (there of Islam… is established not only on the invisibility
is no life without money), and “para yok, ekmek of the mahrem (literally, ‘forbidden’ but also mean-
yok” (without money, there is no bread). Both these ing private or domestic) sphere and that of women
common refrains indicate the necessity of earning but also on the ‘secrecy’ and ‘nonverbalization’ of
money in order to survive. Villagers see the effects the affairs taking place in the mahrem realm; it is
of capitalist development and the transformation of a society of silence, thus, it is antiliberal in its very
the local economy, often critiquing the effects on the organization” (1996: 52). Göle is describing elite
moral community, by creating economic and social Islamists, who are revitalizing Islamic practice in
differences between individuals and households. Istanbul, and therefore individuals who are more
They point to the monetarization of kin relations, self-conscious of the need to reinvent traditions, in-
and claim that people treat each other with greed, cluding dress, spheres of activity, and moral action.
resentment, and envy. I do not doubt that there are Islamists who create a
Intensified material interests, such as those in- private sphere that eliminates women from public
spired and enabled by economic development, bother view. Nomadic and, in this case, formerly nomadic
many in the village who expect that Islamic morality societies are more open in their treatment of women,
and communality should temper unrestrained con- their appearance in public life, their ability to act po-
sumption and individualized expressions of desire litically, as well as their power and influence in the
for material goods, as well as sexual and emotional so-called private realm of the household (Shahrani
fulfillment, which are regarded as individualistic and 2002: 139–141). In the village, women are not living
egocentric. People of all ages and genders remark on in seclusion. There are no separate spaces within the
how the village has changed over the decades by say- house for men, the selamlık, or for women, the har-
ing “insanlık yok” (there is no humanity), “ben seni em. Women move through public spaces, work out-
tanımiyorum, sen beni tanımiyorsun” (I don’t know doors, are influential leaders in the cooperative and
you, you don’t know me), and “insanoglu ölmüh” in the village. They also conceptualize the village, as
(humanity is dead). These expressions indicate well as the space of the Yuntdag, as home, meaning
that ideals of economic egalitarianism are collaps- that there are no strangers (Ilcan 1999). For instance,
ing beneath individual greed. I have been arguing women covered their village attire with envelop-
that community is not vaguely situated in a loosely ing raincoats, which women wear in urban spaces,
defined public space, but grounded in households when they stepped off the minibus in the large city
that are linked together by ties of kinship, neighbor- to their south, Manisa. Once back in the domestic
hood, and friendship. Individuals are linked together realm of the Yuntdag, often on the minibus trip into
through exchanges of labor, assistance, moral and the mountains, they removed their urban outfits, and
emotional support, and through redistributions of returned to the comfort of being among relatives,

friends, and acquaintances. Thus, the social space anxious time when these issues come together: the
of the village and the entire region of the Yuntdag, desire for individual fulfillment and love, and vis-
in which community is generated through concrete ible consumption. For the bride, there are additional
exchanges, redistributions, acts of caring and con- pressures from her natal family for expressions of
sideration for others, is an extension of domestic life. loyalty, sadness over leaving, and heightened expres-
Through all these everyday practices, the village sions of obedience. Thus, for young people, mar-
is made into a moral space, which is both safe and riage marks the defining point in their lives when
comforting and open to the critical observations of they become adults who are expected to act morally
neighbors, friends, and enemies who consider every- through Islamic cultural practices, and is a juncture
one’s behavior. In addition to considering behavior, when they are given a body of property, which es-
villagers are quick to assess and remember economic tablishes their new household, or yuva (nest) as the
exchanges, gift-giving practices, and contributions villagers say. Marriage thereby merges two strands of
of labor. They measure the kinds and amounts of potential conflict in the village: expressions of indi-
gifts given at ritual exchanges, how willingly in- vidualism and pressures of collectivity.
dividuals give labor, and the intensity with which In Örselli, as ethnographies of marriage also
they work at festivities, to gauge greed and selfish- show, courtship and marriage are at the intersec-
ness. The wedding is a time of heightened anxiety tion of privacy, emotion, sexuality, and economic
about these economic and social exchanges of labor change (Ahearn 2001; Collier 1997; Rebhun 1999;
because everything is made public and transparent. Yan 2003). As I have already pointed out, this inter-
Village women closely examine the bride’s trousseau section brings cultural struggles over definitions of
at her wedding, counting the numbers and quality gender and inequality to the surface (Collier 1997).
of goods. They calculate the monetary value of these The literature on these trends in other places helps
goods in order to decide whether her parents were explain what is happening in Örselli. Among ethno-
generous or stingy. For brides with excessive proper- graphic works, Collier (1997) and Yan (2003) show
ty, they conclude that the parents were too generous how young women make strategic bargains with
and spoiled their daughter. For brides with limited patriarchal authority (Kandiyoti 1988; White 1994)
goods, they openly comment about the parents’ pov- in transforming economic settings from ones based
erty and stinginess. Many brides feel ashamed and on agricultural production to wage labor. Collier’s
humiliated. These measurements, observations and work on marriage practices in a Spanish village
gossip about what happens inside the household, shows how social behaviors, which were once predi-
and the common knowledge about how much each cated on a sense of duty to kin and community, have
family makes weaving and in other labors, add up to shifted to individual desires for personal, intimate,
how exploitative, selfish, and greedy individuals are and emotional fulfillment. Young people satisfy
regarded as being. these desires through romance, wage labor, and an
engagement with urban culture. In Collier’s case, the
Marriage results are not wholly beneficial for women, who be-
Örselli, as I have described it, is a place where com- come trapped in city apartments and oppressed by
peting and contradictory movements are taking middle class standards (1997: 125–137). Yan’s work
place. The cooperative has sustained village life, in a village in China describes women, once at the
enabling villagers to remain in the Yuntdag while bottom of the social order, who, in the transforming
increasing their engagement in consumption. Mean- village economy, become masters of consumption.
while the pleasures of this comfortable life bother They negotiate for sexual and intimate desire before
many who turn towards intensified Islamic practice and during marriage, using their newfound eco-
and moral concerns to address their interpretation nomic power as a bargaining chip. In this Chinese
of social inequities. Marriage marks an especially village, women command respect in a crumbling

patriarchal order (Yan 2003: 71, 2006). The exercise which zakat can be awarded, as Scott (1985: 172) and
of desire in companionate marriage, the fulfillment Benthall (1999: 32) describe, the trousseau is a gift
of sexual desire in or outside marriage, and the de- that is used to influence correct behavior.
sire for things, are described by anthropologists, While the bride’s possession of the trousseau is
sociologists and historians as “individualistic” (Gid- contingent on her correct behavior from her par-
dens 1990: 121–122; Stone 1979: 151). This nexus of ents’ standpoint, her fiancé’s parents can use gold,
transformation implies an effect of the economy on normally given in engagement and at the wedding,
intimacy and a sense of personal freedom in a newly as a carrot as well. Typically, the groom’s family gives
emerging youth culture (Liechty 2003: 209; Marsden the bride about ten gold coins, worth a thousand
2007: 97; Neyzi 2001: 423). dollars (see also Delaney 1991: 120). The groom’s
The cooperative has affected kin relations in the family withholds this gift if the bride eloped, even
household, leading to changing perceptions of female when it was their son who convinced her. No one in
power and agency, as well as the role of economic the village said they would encourage a son to abduct
development in courtship and marriage. Örselli a bride or persuade a girl to elope in order to save
presents a middle case between Collier (1997) and money, as is the case in Kyrgyzstan (Kleinbach,
Yan (2003). Daughters’ experiences show how the Albezova & Aitieva 2005) and Kazakhstan (Wern-
patriarchal order of rural life is challenged by youth- er 2004). In Örselli, there are no social sanctions
ful desires and an increase in economic power. Com- against families that cannot afford to give the bride
munalism and Islamic morality, however, serve to the latest going rate. Brides and grooms consider the
check unrestrained individualistic behavior. This is amount they might lose if they elope when they make
because the community judges and tries to influence their decision, thereby demonstrating that they are
individual behavior. This social pressure restrains weighing all the effects of eloping. Not being able to
young women who attempt to realize the individual give gold removes one of the couple’s incentives to
freedoms of consumption, sexual and intimate de- wait for permission to marry. Couples consider the
sire, which the individuals in Collier’s (1997) and financial as well as social downsides of eloping, and
Yan’s (2003) cases enjoy. parents attempt to enforce moral behavior through
Heavily individualistic experiences like romantic endowments and gifts. It should not be surprising
love and personal expressions of desire in emotion then that villagers regard the blatant connection
and consumption, which are predicated on a split between moral behavior and monetary rewards as
from extended kin networks and economic change, especially troubling.
are perceived as dangerous in the village. While a
daughter’s apparent greed in the amassing and even- Elopement
tual display of the trousseau is met with ambiva- Literature on elopement inspires the “romance of
lence, elopement is regarded as the ultimate act of resistance” (Abu-Lughod 1990). Elopement is used
her defiance, disobedience, and selfishness. While to demonstrate the defiance of patriarchal power,
girls can achieve wifehood by eloping and bypass- evidence of the empowerment of women (Ahearn
ing their father’s permission, they are not given their 2001; Yan 2003), the exercise of agency and the
trousseau if they do (Ilcan 1994: 281). Thus, gain- manifestation of free will (Bates 1974; Stirling 1966:
ing possession of trousseaux, where young women 193), or initiative among young people who chose a
act as consumers, collecting and creating goods for spouse independently (Beller-Hann & Hann 2001:
marriage and focusing their dreams and desires on 137; Delaney 1991: 178; Kudat 1974). It is used as a
this cache of stuff (Appadurai 1996: 5), is dependent marker of modernity, in which individuals achieve
on their obedience. In this way, the moral economy autonomy from extended networks of kin and make
of marriage includes the parents’ ability to use the choices based on individual desire (Giddens 1990:
trousseau as leverage. Much like the selectivity with 121). Marriage by elopement sidesteps economic ex-

changes (Bates 1974: 277; Kudat 1974: 291), involves ranged match (Delaney 1991: 118–123), although
sexual and social experimentation (Bringa 1995: more ritually complex and expensive than those of
125) or rape (Kudat 1974: 291), defies a father’s re- previous generations. If the bride’s father does not
luctance to give his daughter away (Rebhun 1999: give his permission, then the couple is stymied and
152), or is the product of a love relationship (Stir- sometimes they consider eloping as an alternative.
ling & Incirlioglu 1996: 67; Marsden 2007). While It was clear in the accounts I collected that some
researchers may romantically consider elopement as young people did not bother with these negotiations
an expression of independence and freewill, villag- and simply eloped, while others carefully weighed
ers consider it less prestigious and immoral for the their options and were willing to wait (sometimes
very same reasons (Ilcan 1994: 280). Although vil- for years) before the bride’s family could afford to
lagers view elopement with ambivalence, it is not a let her marry.
new feature of marriage practice. Couples who elope typically remain in the village.
While not a new practice, elopements are de- They do not run away and leave forever. For this rea-
scribed and understood differently by the gen- son, their families are involved in the rituals of mar-
erations. I collected eighty-four accounts of how, riage that occur after the elopement. Thus, couples
when, and in what manner women married, which who elope go through more or less the same ritual
stretched from the late 1940s to 2004, including steps, but the bride’s family refuses to attend. The
marriages contracted by arrangement, through love- actual elopement happens when the couple leaves
match, a combination of love and arrangement (Hart the village and goes to the city where they have a
2007a), and elopements and abductions. I found, as civil marriage. Unlike other couples who marry
did Ilcan in her work on a village in western Turkey normatively, they do this alone, since they run off
(1994: 280), that women who are now elderly eloped without relatives accompanying them. They return
to avoid an arranged match. They did not describe to the village officially married. The state marriage
their decision to elope as one based on a choice to is never accepted as being a “real” marriage by vil-
marry someone they loved, as Bates describes in the lagers, especially for couples who are contracting
case of young Yörük men in Central Anatolia (1974: a first marriage. For this reason, though already le-
276). Rather their elopements were transacted out of gally married, the couple have to have the village
panic. The elderly said their fathers were wrong to wedding ritual. This, for eloped couples, is an ab-
try and force them to marry someone they did not breviated village wedding feast (dügün), followed
want. For this reason, and because of the negative by the nikah, the Islamic rite of marriage. Normally,
consequences of loveless marriages and elopements the wedding feast lasts three days and has elaborate
in the past, parents have ceded their authority in ar- rituals including applying henna, watching the bride
ranging their children’s matches. (gelini görmek), mourning her departure from her
While young women now seem to be under less family, and dancing. When a couple elopes, the wed-
constraint and have more choice, they are not free ding feast lasts one night and includes dancing by
to negotiate their own matches, nor can they insti- the groom’s family and friends. The bride, at least
gate the ritual steps of marriage. Typically, young as she appeared in photographs I saw of these wed-
people have an emotional and possibly romantic dings, seemed even more despondent and miserable
relationship, but it has to be kept secret and it may than she usually is at her wedding.4 The fact that she
not be more elaborate than exchanged glances and had eloped was usually regarded as shameful. She
notes. When they decide they want to marry, the suffered socially, emotionally, and financially. When
groom and his parents visit the bride’s parents. If other young women described the photographs to me,
the bride’s father gives permission, the negotiations they would point out how the bride did not have gold
for marriage and the ritual steps that lead to it be- and that no one pinned ribbons of bills to her dress.
gin. From that point, the marriage resembles an ar- While the bride is made to suffer, the groom does

not. In all the cases I studied, his family accepted the not free.” As Mahmood argues concerning women
bride, even when the groom’s family was unprepared in the mosque movement in Egypt, “[t]he normative
for the marriage and could not afford to build or fur- political subject of poststructuralist feminist theory
nish a separate house. Ordinarily a bride would not often remains a liberatory one, whose agency is con-
marry without a well-furnished, new home. While ceptualized on the binary model of subordination
fathers have less authority in forcing their daughters and subversion” (Mahmood 2005: 14). Applying this
to marry, sons have more power in encouraging a poststructuralist feminist reading of agency as active
bride to elope. Elderly women who eloped in their resistance does not help to reveal the critical and po-
youth, presented their story as their own decision, litically meaningful lens through which the villagers
not one influenced by the man they ultimately mar- judge ethical and moral behavior, which the cases I
ried. Their husbands seemed ready to take a young present elucidate.
woman who was looking for an escape from a bad It is important to make a clear distinction be-
match her father was forcing on her. The power of tween patriarchal authority and Islamic morality.
fathers has decreased, but this does not mean that all Many researchers seamlessly combine submission
men have less power. In fact young men, especially to partriarchal authority with the proper function of
in the heated atmosphere of romantic passion, have Islamic morality (Beller-Hann & Hann 2001; Dela-
more than when couples did not engage in ideologies ney 1991). The villagers make a distinction between
and practices of romantic love. fathers’ authority and the apparent need to obey, and
While elopements happen, it is not always clear the potential that fathers’ actions can be exploitative
from young women’s accounts what occurred. Some and therefore immoral and important to disobey.
young women claim openly that they eloped, while Rather than assuming that fathers demand and re-
others frame their elopement as an abduction in an ceive obedience and that the community supports
attempt to rhetorically reclaim their reputations this unconditionally, they base their judgment on
(Werner 2004). Given the pressures of selecting a who they thought acted selfishly, individualistically,
narrative in which they claim they act, claim they and immorally. While the daughters in the ethno-
were forced to act, or claim they were acted upon graphic cases discussed below could not effectively
against their will, the question of their agency is solve their problems with action or constraint, obe-
clear. However, in the cases I consider here, neither dience or disobedience, observers judged the situa-
the ability to act nor the ability to actively constrain tion through an understanding of Islamic morality,
oneself helped avoid psychological stress or self- in which the plight of the less powerful was impor-
inflicted punishment. For the villagers, the agency of tant to the welfare of the group. This shows that the
women was not the moral issue at hand. The freedom villagers consider that being a good Muslim is not
to act, or as Mahmood argues, an idea of agency, is always synonymous with being an obedient daugh-
predicated on a notion of progressive political action ter. But it also shows that the villagers weigh action
(2005: 14), similar to the “romance of resistance”. In and regard wrongful action, such as exploitation, as
the literature on elopement, free-willing autonomy immoral and important to critique. All individu-
can be interpreted as a product of poststructuralist als are expected to be able to choose rightful action,
feminist thought, in which women seize their fu- and therefore the fact of being less powerful in the
tures willingly and individualistically. The villagers household does not justify choosing wrongful ac-
in Örselli are not invested in the notion that women tion. In other words, daughters are also called to ac-
ought to gain political power and authority on a par count for their actions.
with men, which is clear from their reluctance to give
daughters membership in the cooperative. Although Hebnem’s Story
they work in a weaving cooperative, which attempts I stood on Sultan’s stoop, knocking at her door on
to emancipate women, they stress that “women are a cold day in January 2004. Looking through the

patterned pane in the door, the house interior was ing seductively on his side, looking defiantly into the
dark. I stepped back and looked at the chimney; camera. They both had wet hair, which implied that
no tendrils of smoke were rising. Having heard the these photographs were taken after they had had sex,
horn blowing on the truck to collect field laborers after they had washed.6 Ten months later, she was
that morning, I knew that this 44-year-old mother suffering the social consequences. Both Hebnem’s
of five had gone to work. Previously she had never family and the villagers condemned her for eloping.
labored in fields for meager daily wages because her They thought she acted selfishly and without regard
three daughters were at home weaving. I regretted for her natal family’s survival.
not being able to talk to her, although I felt guilty In Hebnem’s case, the shamefulness of running
about following up on the story of her daughter’s off was compounded by the fact that her older sis-
recent elopement, juxtaposed as it was with the eco- ter was going to marry in one month. Not only are
nomic necessities of her family’s survival. Now that siblings expected to marry in order of age, sisters are
Sultan’s three daughters were married, the sounds supposed to help with the wedding preparations. I
of the beater on the warp did not reverberate from thought of the work which would have fallen on her
her house. As I turned from Sultan’s door, I noted mother’s shoulders, and the fact that Hebnem would
that one could draw a straight line to her youngest not have bid her sister goodbye during the emotion-
daughter’s front door, about three hundred meters ally arduous marriage rituals. After she eloped, she
away. Smoke rose from her chimney. I walked over was ostracized and isolated in the village. At the last
to her house where she was sitting in a hot room, big holiday, she and her husband visited her parents
watching over her baby, who had not yet passed his in an attempt to make peace (barı hlamak). They
fortieth day.5 were hoping for a concrete expression of forgiveness,
Hebnem eloped when she was engaged. Her par- namely the trousseau. Although Hebnem’s parents
ents arranged the match, but later the young couple agreed to see her, they did not give her the trousseau,
developed a romantic relationship and as they wait- nor did they visit after she gave birth.7 This showed
ed to marry, they grew frustrated. Hebnem’s parents everyone in the village, since none of these details
wanted her to wait because her elder sister was about went unnoticed, how angry her parents were. After
to marry. The family would spend a great deal and visiting Hebnem, I went to her elder sister’s house, the
they needed Hebnem to stay and help earn money by one whose wedding Hebnem had missed. She said:
weaving carpets. Also, in order to marry Hebnem, “Hebnem is afraid of visiting her parents because she
they would need to save up again. This would take at is afraid of her mother-in-law.” Her sister was trying
least two years as Hebnem pointed out. She said she to reassure me that it was not her parents, but her
and her boyfriend knew they were not going to re- sister’s mother-in-law who was controlling Hebnem.
ceive material property from either of their parents I remarked that in 2000–01, while I was conducting
because both families were poor. This fact reduced the bulk of my research, that Hebnem never seemed
some of their interest in marrying with Hebnem’s afraid of anything. She was witty and bold, cracking
father’s permission. Hebnem said, as we sat together jokes, and playing the trickster. Now the signs that
on her couch, an album of snapshots from the wed- she was beaten down were unmistakable. Her shoul-
ding in my lap, “I never would have gone, if I had not ders drooped as she murmured her story. With her
agreed to eloping.” She meant that she had not been sister, over glasses of tea, I said I did not see what her
abducted and that her decision to leave was a choice. mother-in-law could do. The elder sister exploded:
Describing the event, she said: “One day he came to “Exactly! That’s what I say! What can she do?” Heb-
my house, and we talked and decided.” She left her nem’s sister believed to some extent that Hebnem was
house and went to his, and then they went to Manisa. punishing herself. Later, when I discussed Hebnem’s
Included in the booklet of photographs were ones of situation with the mother of the family I lived with,
her sitting on a bed smiling and others of him ly- she used Hebnem’s experience to argue that young

people should marry with their parents’ permission. nent disgruntlement as he lurked about the house,
“You see how things are with Hebnem,” she said, with overgrown hair, unshaven face, his shirt unbut-
“she has absolutely nothing!” Hebnem’s sister, fore- toned, showing his chest. In his swagger, he sugges-
shadowing that conversation and illustrating how tively imitated gangsters in Turkish movies from the
her marriage worked in contrast, said: “See how it is 1970s, which feature arabesk themes of dashed hope,
with me, I can easily come and go, visit my mother, thwarted love, and the pains of urbanization. Both
and be comfortable. It is not like that for Hebnem.” brother and sister seemed trapped in dramas more
Hebnem’s story illustrates how a young woman commonly seen in films. While his sister was the
can be pressured to marry by an insistent and im- “victim” of love, Mevlut was playing the “bad guy”.
patient young man. She emphasized in her story Mevlut had become a dangerous joke in the village.
that she chose to elope. Her clear act of defiance and He had loved a girl, who scorned him and married
disobedience, connected as it was with the economic another. Yıldız, who seemed to see all love relation-
pressures of her family’s situation, made her look ships as potentially tragic, claimed he could never
selfish. The community judged her elopement to be love another. Other young women talked about how
the result of her impatience and lack of concern for he had named every available girl as a potential wife.
her family’s economic survival. They pointed out They laughed at the obvious signs of his desperation.
that eloping results in justifiable economic punish- No one would take him; he was unwanted and aging.
ments. In her marital home, without protection or The family’s monetary income came from weav-
help from her natal family, she suffered a great deal. ing. Yıldız’s father and elder brother planted the
Her house was sparsely furnished. She had none of garden, took care of the animals, hunted, fished, and
the comforting decorative items from her trousseau did occasional construction work. Yıldız’s mother, a
that she had once shown me: embroideries, towels, petite woman who was reserved and seemed to cow-
and headscarves. More importantly, because she was er when men were around, took care of the house.
socially isolated in the village, Hebnem was down- Meanwhile, Yıldız and her younger sister wove to-
cast and depressed. She knew she had made a bold gether every day on large carpets. On average, they
move which hurt her reputation and did not improve produced one high-quality carpet per month. These
her situation. Many young women see the potential sold well. It was obvious that Yıldız’s plans to marry
pitfalls of eloping, as I was instructed to take note. would severely reduce this source of income.
The next story demonstrates how the villagers re- On the day I arrived in February 2000 to begin my
gard self-restrained action as moral and can argue research, I heard about “Yıldız’s illness” which began
that in some cases (though hypothetical) eloping is after the New Year, when Hakim’s family had come
better. to ask for Yıldız in marriage. Reportedly, her father
refused, using Mevlut as an explanation. This excuse
Yıldız’s Story was not very convincing because Yıldız’s eldest sis-
In 1998 I became friends with Yıldız, a 21-year-old ter (who was younger than Mevlut) had married a
unmarried girl. One day, as we sat on a ridge of rocks few years before. Soon after this refusal, Yıldız fell
looking over the village, Yıldız declared that she liked ill. The middle-aged and older women described her
arabesk music because she was in love (see Stokes sickness as being severe and extreme. Sitting among
1989). She described how she loved Hakim with all them, Yıldız claimed to not remember what had hap-
her heart and soul. They had been involved for over pened, but she also recounted her visions in a manic
ten years. Although they both expressed their desire way. She said: “I saw terrible, weird things!” She pre-
to marry, Yıldız’s father had said that marriage was dicted that her grandmother would die at the end
impossible since Mevlut, her elder brother, had to of Kurban Bayramı (the sacrifice holiday). In fact,
marry first. Mevlut was about 28 and had never mar- she did. The first week of my research was centered
ried. He exhibited his simmering rage and perma- on Yıldız’s grandmother’s funeral. On the occasion

when I learned about this prediction, the women in Yıldız’s family broke off relations with their next-
the room were awed by her. Clearly, she was regarded door neighbors, Sultan’s family, where her three
as frightening and a bit mad. One woman reported marriageable daughters sat weaving. On another
how Yıldız did not sleep for eighteen days. The wom- occasion, someone speculated that it was Yıldız’s
en sat up to protect her from flinging herself out the father who must have written the muska because he
window. The woman I lived with described how she was the only one who was interested in eliminating
bound her face in a black scarf covering her mouth Yıldız’s marriage plans. Pragmatic villagers suggest-
and nose, or covering everything but one eye. She ed Yıldız’s father was preventing her from marrying
could not stand, later she did not speak. I heard how to keep weaving income in the house. Another relat-
she talked all the time, pacing, saying incoherently ed theory was dietary. Some women speculated that
that she would kill herself and screaming that some- Yıldız was malnourished, and this too was blamed
one was going to die after Ramazan. She called for on her father. The claim was that Yıldız needed fruit
Hakim to take her away and save her. and vegetables, but her father was too stingy to buy
Given this extreme illness, I wondered about her them. These accusations were designed to show how
care. Her parents took her to doctors and hocas (re- Yıldız’s father thought more about money, how to
ligiously learned men). They prescribed baths in make it and save it, than about the health and wel-
seawater, muskas (amulets), holy words dissolved in fare of his children. His actions were immoral be-
water, and okunmu h suyu (blessed water), which she cause he cared more for money than people.
drank. One day, Yıldız showed me her bottle of okun- One day in the fall I visited the family and as I
mu h gül suyu (holy rose water), which she wiped on talked with her mother and eldest sister who were
her face. The perfume seemed to give her some relief. sitting with the new baby, Yıldız staggered into
Doctors prescribed powerful and expensive drugs. the room, the door creaking at her entrance. Her
I learned Yıldız stayed in a mental hospital for two eyes were glazed, her limbs wooden; she lay on the
weeks. During the spring of 2000, Yıldız’s illness floor between us. We discussed her situation, as
dragged on. One day, when I arrived to visit her elder if she were not touching us, pressed between our
married sister, Yıldız was lying inert on the couch. knees as we spoke, listening with her eyes shut. Her
We had to plead with her to come eat with us. Yıldız father came and sat with us. He asked me what they
had always been thin, but now her body was wasted. should do about her. Yıldız hid her mouth with her
I rubbed her back, and felt her sharp shoulder bones arm draped over her face. In a bizarre fashion, she
and the lack of muscles. She pointedly remarked that opened one eye and listened. I paused and decided I
she “could not weave”. Yıldız’s newly acquired muska, would not pretend that Yıldız was not there, or that
a tiny silver vial with a curled paper of holy words and I was an “objective” observer. Instead of answering
a nazar boncugu (evil eye bead) attached to her neck her father, I asked Yıldız if she had talked to Hakim
with a brilliant blue string, jangled as she lay down lately. She smiled, which I could see in the wrinkle
after eating, her face turned away from us. Her sister in the corner of her exposed eye and she mumbled
whispered a prayer, wiping her face in exhaustion and through her arm: “No.” I asked when he would come
exasperation, glancing towards her sister’s back. to the village (he was away working) and she said she
As her illness unfolded, many speculated as to its did not know. I asked if Hakim had a cell phone and
causes. One theory was that a muska written against she said no. Then I said that his mother would know
Yıldız was placed outside her house under a rock. I a number where he could be reached. Much to my
was told that there are some malevolent hocas who surprise, her father acted as if this were a normal and
compose muskas that do harm. A middle-aged wom- realistic thing to ask. I hesitated before making my
an, who claimed to have read it, said the amulet was suggestion, but I also realized that I was probably the
supposed to destroy Hakim’s love for Yıldız, so he only person who could say this directly, though lots
could marry someone else. Suspicious of the source, of people were behind their backs.

Seeing that her parents were listening to me, I be- called a hastalık (illness). She clutched at her chest as
came bolder and said I did not think doctors were if she were trying to pull it out.
going to do much for Yıldız. Taking on the posture One complication to marrying is that it takes
of a doctor prescribing a tonic, I said that Yıldız steps; at each the couple must wait for the bride’s
needed to call Hakim every other day. I looked at her father to give permission. At every marriage, it struck
thin body and added, “and she needs to eat fruit.” I me that the dates of these events were always belli
said that I would go to Manisa the next day and buy degil, uncertain. Yıldız’s situation was no different,
her some. Her father asked what she wanted. She said but the degree of ambiguity was more extreme. On
she wanted bananas and strawberries. Bananas and a Wednesday in mid-January, Yıldız did not know
strawberries are two of the most expensive fruits. whether or not she would be going to Manisa the
Bringing them up from Manisa, like bringing any next day to have the civil marriage. That afternoon,
easily crushed or perishable item, is not easy on the as Yıldız hung her head miserably over her needle-
crowded minibus. After a few minutes Yıldız took work, she asked me how “we” get married. She asked:
my hand, smiled and got up. I think it was the first “Who says, ‘Let’s marry?’” I told her that the man
time someone asked her directly and openly what and woman decide, plan the wedding and send out
she wanted. Her suppressed agency and restraint invitations, inviting their parents to the event. She
took a huge force of will. thought this was amazing and added: “with us it’s
The next day, after returning from the city, I gave very difficult” (bizde çok zor). She sat on the cushion
her the slightly crushed brown paper bag with some under the window and looked miserable, trying to
bananas. She was very pleased. She immediately and concentrate on her scarf. She said she felt “old and
ravenously consumed two. She told me she had gone tired”. That evening I happened to meet Yıldız as I
with her father to see a hoca that day. She reported walked back to the house with Muhittin, the father
that she felt much better, wove, and did not sleep of the family I lived with. She said she still did not
during the day. The hoca wrote her a new muska. know whether or not she was going to Manisa.
She now had three muskas, which she wore around After we ate dinner and Muhittin had gone to the
her neck. The hoca prayed over sugar cubes and rose coffeehouse, I told the mother of the family I lived
water. She was advised to wipe her face with the rose with that Yıldız still did not know whether or not she
water several times a day and eat the sugar. I asked was going to get married. I asked how Yıldız could
her what she wanted most in her life and she said: “I sleep that night, waiting to find out if she would go,
don’t know.” Then I said: “Yes, you do.” She smiled waiting for the morning for someone to say some-
and said: “Marriage.” I asked if she had talked with thing. We looked at each other and we both said: “It’s
Hakim. She said he called that day, but she was not her father.” She said: “His wife does and says noth-
home. Her brother passed on his greetings. At that ing. She’s afraid of him!” She asked rhetorically:
moment, she was hoping he would call again. “Don’t they sleep in the same bed?” She said: “When
After several months, her father allowed the first a man and a woman share a bed, they have to share
step to marriage, the söz kesmek (to cut the word, everything! If I had a man like that I would strangle
i.e. to promise). For this event, Hakim’s mother and him!” This was all declared with expressive body
father gave a strikingly wide gold band. The size of language, wringing the neck of an invisible husband.
the ring showed how much they were willing to in- I joked: “No wonder Muhittin’s scared!” “Under
vest in her as a daughter-in-law. For a time, Yıldız these circumstances,” she forcefully declared, “elop-
was happy to begin the process of marrying, but she ing is better!” Despite the waiting and uncertainty,
was not fully cured. As the months dragged, she re- Yıldız and Hakim married the next day. Two weeks
turned to her deep depression and lay most of the later, they had the customary wedding feast.
day, inert or sleeping. One day Yıldız told me that she
felt a terrible sıkıntı (depression) inside her which she

Conclusion Yıldız was viewed as a victim of her father’s greed.

In villager reactions to cases of young people who For this reason, the women in the village supported
exert agency in eloping or in choosing not to elope, and cared for her when she tried to commit suicide.
villagers show how they want to promote Islamic It was possible to support her because she was moral
values of social justice above that of the unchecked in her actions. She put aside her individualistic de-
authority of fathers to rule the members of their sires for marriage, worked to sacrifice herself for
household. On the one hand, they do not unequivo- the good of her natal family, but was pushed too far
cally support children who flaunt paternal authority when after trying to be patient and obedient, her
and elope. On the other, parents who do not work father refused to grant her permission to marry.
hard and expect their children to earn the main This ethnographic evidence challenges the notion
income for the household are judged harshly. And that Islam categorically supports and upholds the
children who do not consider the welfare of their authority and rule of men, which has been the pic-
parents and siblings and thereby exhibit selfishness ture of rural life in Turkey in ethnographic writ-
are criticized. By discussing these reactions, the ings (Delaney 1991; Ilcan 1994; Stirling 1966). But
villagers reason about what they consider wrong- this local form of Islamic morality, however, does
ful action and identify how kin exploit each other. not categorically protect the weaker members of
This shows that patriarchal authority that does not the household. Rather, the community regards both
conform to Islamic morals is critiqued and chal- fathers and daughters as able to be good when they
lenged, not only by young people in the exercise of consider the welfare of the whole and bad when they
agency and in their decisions about how to marry only consider their selfish needs. One could argue
(Yan 2006), but by the community which prioritizes that Yıldız’s father was considering the welfare of the
social justice. Thus, elopement is not unequivocally household as a whole when he prevented his daugh-
wrong, but immoral and selfish behavior is. ter from marrying, but the fact that he did nothing
One might expect, based on the ethnographic lit- to make a monetary contribution himself made
erature, that elopement is a clear demonstration of this argument less plausible. These community-
disobedience and transgressive behavior by both the wide judgments challenge black and white readings
bride and groom (Stirling 1966: 192–194; Bates 1974: of social practice, such as elopement, in which the
272; Ilcan 1994: 280). While parents in Örselli do community seemingly does not take the full context
not promote elopement as an option, observers with of an action into account. I found that the villag-
more distance from the politics of the household do ers considered all facets of each case and were open
not condemn it categorically (Marsden 2007: 100). to the possibility that doctrinally “wrong” actions
The mother of the family I lived with said she prayed might be the best option for some.
“day and night” that her daughter would not elope, The competing pressures of Islamic morality and
but she saw that in some situations it might be the a blossoming consumerist society pit individual
best option. Her remark showed she considered in- family members against each other as they all seek to
dividual circumstances. The basis for judgment was fulfill their own needs and desires. Like thousands of
to condemn individuals who acted selfishly, greed- other small communities around the world, Örselli
ily, and individualistically, disregarding the collec- is experiencing economic development and social
tive need of the household to survive. Thus, moral change. However, in this village, Islamic morality
behavior is not framed in terms of unbending rules, and a sense of community step in to check the unre-
but as a flexible system, applied to particular cases. strained power of fathers to exploit their daughters
In the first case, Hebnem acted decisively and (for wages) and daughters to make demands with-
eloped, which put her family in a difficult economic out regard for the good of their natal households (for
situation. The women in the village expected her to goods and the fulfillment of their desires). These
have been patient and obedient. In the second case, cases stand in stark contrast to popular reports in

the media about the unrestrained partriarchal and forms her sorrow through protracted tears. Married
women come to watch the bride cry and they usually
oppressive authority of Muslim men over Muslim
sob as well. Sometimes the stress of separation is so se-
women. In my research, I found that Islam, as a cul- vere that the bride faints. Young women describe this as
tural and not solely text-based religious practice, the most difficult day of their lives.
gives villagers a moral framework for addressing the 5 Babies are regarded as being in a vulnerable state before
consequences and inequities of economic develop- the fortieth day. Thereafter, there is a ritual bath for
mother and baby and both are regarded as having sur-
ment on the members of the community, rather than
vived the most dangerous period after birth.
a rubber stamp for men to control women. Villagers 6 After sexual intercourse, couples perform a full body
remark on the failures of the new economy, and how ablution, which is physically and spiritually cleansing.
money has changed everyone, but they also have an 7 After any arduous illness or event, such as childbirth, all
ideology for combating social change, which they the women in the village visit the young mother, many
remaining with her continuously up to the fortieth day.
consider a threat to community and kin relation-
Her mother would be expected to be by her side. For a
ships. young woman who recently gave birth to be abandoned
In comparing ethnographic literature on rural by her mother would be psychologically taxing.
places in other parts of the world, Collier’s and Yan’s
cases are especially striking because many of the
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Europaea. Journal of European Ethnology: Volume 40:1

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Ethnologia Europaea

Rhythm! Simon Rattle’s wonderful music and dance

Journal of European Ethnology

issn 0425 4597

Museum Tusculanum Press

Museum Tusculanum Press · U n i v e r s i t y o f C o p e n h ag e n

ISBN 978 87 635 3636 3

ISSN 0425 4597

This journal is published with the support of the

Museum Tusculanum Press

Mika Pantzar and Elizabeth Shove

Keywords: perfume, daydreams, memory, rationalised scents, smelling, revelling

ethnologia europaea 40:1 5

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TEMPORAL RHYTHMS AS OUTCOMES

Mika Pantzar and Elizabeth Shove

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reading a morning paper and

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