Dr. Jon Mitchell, University of Sussex

 Material Culture and Popular Catholicism

Abstract:

This paper examines the phenomenon of performing statues in contemporary Malta. Using perspectives drawn from the study of material culture and phenomenology, it identifies three inter-related aspects of performance: performance with statues, invisible performances, and visible performances, suggesting that performance is a key to understanding popular Catholic cosmology, in which statues are animated embodiments of the saints.

Profile:

Dr. Mitchell is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex. His main research site is Malta where he conducted his doctoral research at a time of rapid social and political transformation. From this he has developed both ethnographic and theoretical texts on Europeanization and ambivalence; memory and community; politics and the state; history and national identity; ritual and masculinity; belief and the body. More recently, he has been concerned with understanding the place of performance and the body in processes of belief, and (with Gary Armstrong, Brunel) exploring the social, political and economic significance of Maltese football. Jon is also working with Filippo Osella and Jock Stirrat in the Sussex Anthropology Department to develop a research programme on the anthropology of charity. He is particularly interested in the morality of charitable activity, with the religious origins of charity (particularly the influence of Christian non-conformism on UK charitable institutions) and with the rise of charity sports activities.
For more information, visit: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/anthropology/profile35384.html

You can meet Jon in an informal encounter after the seminar in the Corner Room where, as usual, beverage will be served.


All interested are welcome!