A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Gendered and Embodied Un/learning among Women Disengaging from Faith in the UK and Finland
Authors: Brandt Nella van den, Rantala Teija
Publisher: Donner-instituutti
Publication year: 2024
Journal: Approaching Religion
Journal name in source: Approaching Religion
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
First page : 224
Last page: 239
eISSN: 1799-3121
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.137195(external)
Web address : https://journal.fi/ar/article/view/137195(external)
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/393408478(external)
Women often embody the central values and practices of their religious tradition. When they leave their community, women find a part of the “religious tapestry” remaining with them long after their disengagement. In this article, we draw from research in the UK and Finland to explore women’s efforts to unlearn parts of their former religious belonging. We draw on in total thirty-five interviews with women who disengaged from the Mormon Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Conservative Laestadianism. We conceptualize un/learning as a multi-layered process consisting of both un-learning and re-learning. We explore women’s narratives about negotiating bodily limits, conduct and belonging, and understand these as suggesting experiences of a threefold un/learning: gendered, spatial-social and epistemic. We argue that examining gendered and embodied un/learning helps to understand women’s disengagement processes from minority Christian traditions in Western and Northern European secularized contexts such as the UK and Finland.
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