“Search-and-Replace”

Artists' Worldviews Detected and Researched

Authors

  • Rhea Hummel University of Groningen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v6i2.134

Keywords:

(Dutch) artists, interdisciplinary methodology, interviews, life-stories, worldview

Abstract

Artists are prototypical over-conscious individuals. For the exploration of the methodological issues of the study of the language used in life stories as expressions of modern worldviews, artists' cases are very useful. Their search for unique authenticity includes their worldview. They do not simply reproduce worldview repertoires, but select items that are subsequently given new meaning, producing a new and exclusive pattern. As a consequence, the grey area between religious and secular convictions is over-represented in artists' autobiographies. Thus the modern processes of individualization and secularization become visible in their life stories. In an interdisciplinary study of thirty life narratives of Dutch artists, the author has combined methodological insights from literary studies and the cultural anthropology of religion. The difficulty of generalizing about what is presented as unique and authentic is discussed, including the author's quest for a plausible typology. Special attention is given to the models that artists use for their life stories, and to the striking role of inconsistency in their accounts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Rhea Hummel, University of Groningen

    Rhea Hummel studied Dutch Language and Literature and Literary Studies. Her MA thesis, an empirical study on reading, was published by the National Reading Foundation (2002). From 2002 to 2007 she held a PhD position at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the VU University, Amsterdam. She recently finished her PhD thesis while working as a teacher at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Since 2010 she has been a lecturer at the Department of Arts, Culture and Media of the University of Groningen.

References

Andringa, Els. 2004. “The Interface between Fiction and Life: Patterns of Identification in Reading Autobiographies,” Poetics Today, 25.2, 205–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/ 03335372-25-2-205

Boven, Erica van, and Gilles J. Dorleijn. 1999. Literair mechaniek: Inleiding tot de analyse van verhalen en gedichten. Bussum: Coutinho.

Charlton, Michael, Corinna Pette and Christina Burbaum. 2004. “Reading Strategies in Everyday Life: Different Ways of Reading a Novel Which Make a Distinction,” Poetics Today, 25.2, 241–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/03335372-25-2-241

Davie, Grace. 1994. Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Malden, USA [etc.]: Blackwell.

Graf, Werner. 1997. Lesen und Biographie: Eine empirische Fallstudie zur Lektüre der Hitlerjugendgeneration. Tübingen; Basel: Francke.

Gullestad, Marianne. 1996. Everyday Life Philosophers: Modernity, Morality, and Autobiography in Norway. Oslo [etc.]: Scandinavian University Press.

Heelas, Paul, and Linda Woodhead. 2005. The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. Oxford, UK and Malden, USA: Blackwell.

Hijmans, E. J. S., and A. Smaling. 1997. “Over de relatie tussen kwalitatief onderzoek en levensbeschouwing: een inleiding,” in A. Smaling, and E. J. S Hijmans, Kwalitatief onderzoek en levensbeschouwing. Amsterdam: Boom, 15–20.

Pette, Corinna. 2001. Psychologie des Romanlesens: Lesestrategien zur subjektiven Aneignung eines literarischen Textes. München and Weinheim: Juventa.

Schram, D. H., and G. J. Steen, eds. 2001. The Psychology and Sociology of Literature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Wuthnow, Robert. 2001. Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Published

2012-04-04

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Hummel, R. (2012). “Search-and-Replace”: Artists’ Worldviews Detected and Researched. Fieldwork in Religion, 6(2), 134-150. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v6i2.134