Re-contextualizing the Framework of Scene for the Empirical Study of Post-institutional Religious Spaces in Practice

Authors

  • Marcus Moberg Åbo Akademi University
  • Tommy Ramstedt Åbo Akademi University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v10i1.18619

Keywords:

field methodology, Finland, fringe-knowledge, post-institutional religion, scene

Abstract

Following the continuing general decline of institutional religion across the Western world, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to the emergence of various types of, less conventionally organized, post-institutional forms of religion. Post-institutional religious spaces have, however, often proven difficult to pin down and grasp empirically through already available frameworks and concepts. This article aims to provide an impetus for further methodological discussion on the empirical study of post-institutional religious spaces through re-contextualizing the framework of scene for the study of post-institutional religious spaces in actual practice. The article outlines and explicates the methodological utility of the framework of scene through applying it on a particular geographically located post-institutional religious space: the present-day so-called “fringe-knowledge” scene in Finland.

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Author Biographies

  • Marcus Moberg, Åbo Akademi University

    Marcus Moberg is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Comparative Religion, Abo Akademi University, Finland. His main research interests include the sociology of religion, religion and political economy, and religion, media and culture.

  • Tommy Ramstedt, Åbo Akademi University

    Tommy Ramstedt is a PhD student in Comparative Religion at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. His thesis deals with the alternative spiritual milieu in Finland and focuses on the so-called “FringeKnowledge scene” which centres around paranormal and ufological truth claims. He has been published in Handbook of Nordic New Religions, edited by James R. Lewis and Inga Bårdsen Tøllefsen (Brill, 2015).

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Online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gAzAoCqJwY (accessed 6 November 2013).

Published

2016-03-29

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Moberg, M., & Ramstedt, T. (2016). Re-contextualizing the Framework of Scene for the Empirical Study of Post-institutional Religious Spaces in Practice. Fieldwork in Religion, 10(2), 155-172. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v10i1.18619