Anthropology of Religion Photo-Essay

by Kati HollandOctober to December 2014

Course Tutors: Richárd Papp, Anna Vancsó Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology

Faculty of Social Sciences Eötvös Loránd University

Ant

hrop

olog

y of

Rel

igio

n P

hoto

-Ess

ay

Anthropology of Religion Photo-Essay

During autumn 2014 we visited 5, or we were visited by 3*, of the following religious organisations:

08/10: International Society for Krishna Consciousness15/10: Mosque Of Budapest22/10: Christian Coptic Orthodox Church05/11: Kim Heung Sik, Cornerstone Church12/11: Botond Szathmári on Prebuddhism*19/11: Tamás Bereczky, “Urban Shaman”*26/11: Franciscans of Pasarét03/12: Nemes Pál, Evangelical Community*

Ant

hrop

olog

y of

Rel

igio

n P

hoto

-Ess

ay

1

Anthropology of Religion Photo-Essay

My main research questions for the places we visited (“shooting script”):

• What is the global appearance of each religion, the building, what art forms, symbols or colour scheme do they use?

• What is the physical appearance of their representatives?

• How do they use space? How do they structure our meeting, was it formal, informal, structured, unstructured, who was standing, sitting?

• How do they use propoganda?

• How do they fund themselves, how do they relate to money, materialism?

Ant

hrop

olog

y of

Rel

igio

n P

hoto

-Ess

ay

2

Anthropology of Religion Photo-Essay

Research questions for the people who visited us:

• What is the global appearance of the person, the overall impression?

• What does their metacommunication say, in particular their hands?

• How do they relate to the audience, do they make eye contact?

Ant

hrop

olog

y of

Rel

igio

n P

hoto

-Ess

ay

3

Inte

rnat

iona

l Soc

iety

for K

rishn

a C

onsc

ious

ness

global appearance: colour orange

4

global appearance: decorative, colourful, floralIn

tern

atio

nal S

ocie

ty fo

r Kris

hna

Con

scio

usne

ss 5

Inte

rnat

iona

l Soc

iety

for K

rishn

a C

onsc

ious

ness

global appearance: art, symbolism (lilly)

6

physical appearance:shoes removed, trousers white or orange: celibacyIn

tern

atio

nal S

ocie

ty fo

r Kris

hna

Con

scio

usne

ss 7

use of space: relatively informal, unstructured, audience standing or seatedIn

tern

atio

nal S

ocie

ty fo

r Kris

hna

Con

scio

usne

ss 8

propagandaIn

tern

atio

nal S

ocie

ty fo

r Kris

hna

Con

scio

usne

ss 9

Inte

rnat

iona

l Soc

iety

for K

rishn

a C

onsc

ious

ness

materialism, funding

10

Mos

que

of B

udap

est

global appearance: colour crimson

11

global appearance: ornate, regimental, spatialM

osqu

e of

Bud

apes

t

12

global appearance: art, smbolism (pillars, lilly)M

osqu

e of

Bud

apes

t

13

physical appearance: street clothes, shoes removedM

osqu

e of

Bud

apes

t

14

use of space: relatively formal, structured, linear, audience seated; religious ceremony facing Mecca, segregationM

osqu

e of

Bud

apes

t

15

propagandaM

osqu

e of

Bud

apes

t

16

materialism, fundingM

osqu

e of

Bud

apes

t

17

global appearance: colour crimson and burgundyC

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

18

global appearance: decorative, ornate, rounded arches, incenseC

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

19

global appearance: art, symbolism (cross, halo)C

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

20

physical appearance: black, white or grey robes; tattoo; woman hair coveredC

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

21

use of space: formal, structured, linear, audience seatedC

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

22

propagandaC

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

23

materialism, fundingC

hris

tian

Cop

tic O

rthod

ox C

hurc

h

24

global appearance: no obvious theme (“yellow on the outside, white on the inside”)C

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

25

global appearance: office-like, homely, friendlyC

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

26

global appearance: symbolism (cross), art (photos)C

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

27

physical appearance: street clothes, smiling!C

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

28

use of space: less formal, less structured, circle, everyone seatedC

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

29

propagandaC

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

30

materialism, fundingC

orne

rsto

ne C

hurc

h

31

Fran

cisc

ans

of P

asar

étglobal appearance: colour beige

32

global appearance: large building, but not grandioseFr

anci

scan

s of

Pas

arét

33

global appearance: symbolism (cross, tau)Fr

anci

scan

s of

Pas

arét

34

Fran

cisc

ans

of P

asar

ét

35

physical appearance: brown hooded robe, knotted rope, beads, cross

use of space: less formal, less structured, circle, everyone seated, Franciscans amongst usFr

anci

scan

s of

Pas

arét

36

propagandaFr

anci

scan

s of

Pas

arét

37

materialism, fundingFr

anci

scan

s of

Pas

arét

38

overall impression: white embroided shirt,extremely knowledgable

Pre

budd

hism

39

metacommunication - hands: very expressive, rationalP

rebu

ddhi

sm

40

audience contact: audience attentive, eye contact present (not shown) P

rebu

ddhi

sm

41

overall impression: white shirt,passionate about what he does

Urb

an S

ham

an

42

metacommunication - hands: very expressive, emotionalU

rban

Sha

man

43

audience contact: audience attentive, eye contact present U

rban

Sha

man

44

overall impression: black shirt, cravat, wastecoat... (symbolism?) “when ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN marry, they form an alliance”

Evan

gelic

al C

omm

unity

45

metacommunication - hands: reserved or defensive, alliance?Ev

ange

lical

Com

mun

ity

46

Evan

gelic

al C

omm

unity

audience contact: lack of eye contact

47

The

End