Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine

Más información sobre el libro

Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine reveals how and why religion has become a pivotal political force in a society struggling to overcome the legacy of its entangled past. If Ukraine is ground zero in the tensions between Russia and the West, the establishment of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church is ground zero in the undeclared war between Russia and Ukraine. Vibrant forms of everyday religiosity pave the way for religion to be weaponized and securitized to advance political agendas in Ukraine and beyond. Based on ethnographic data and interviews conducted over the past ten years, Catherine Wanner investigates the conditions that catapulted religiosity, religious institutions, and religious leaders to the forefront of politics and geopolitics. Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine analyzes the paradoxes of everyday religiosity that Eastern Christianity fosters, specifically the myriad popular devotional practices that exist alongside negligible participation in church-based ritual. These practices, Wanner argues, enable religiosity to be increasingly present in public space, institutions, and wartime politics in a pluralist society that claims to be secular.