Do you want to stay informed about this journal? Click the buttons to subscribe to our alerts.
Out of several years of research experience in the field of religion in prison, this article proposes some reflections on how to consider both a superdiverse situation and power issues in public total institutions. It proposes to use the notion of ‘gray zone,’ which refers to both the fluidity of current religious practices in contrast to a clear-cut distinction between secularity and religion and to an ambiguous positioning of actors in the complex field of institutional power relations. First, the author discusses briefly the structural locations of religion in European public total institutions and the ways these have been studied. Second, the focus shifts to those locations and uses of religion that are informal and that open up what the author calls a ‘gray zone.’ The concluding remarks highlight the complex power issues and relations at work in the realm of such a gray zone.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Apelt Maja , & Tacke Veronika , Handbuch Organisationstypen (Wiesbaden: vs Verlag, 2013).
Asad Talal , Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (Baltimore & London: John Hopkins University Press, 1993).
Bauman Zygmunt , Liquid Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000).
Beaman Lori G. , & Sullivan Winnifred Fallers , “Neighbo(u)rly Misreadings and Misconstruals: A Cross-border Conversation,” in: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan & Lori G. Beaman (eds.), Varieties of Religious Establishment (Burlington: Ashgate, 2013), 1–11.
Becci Irene , & Knobel Brigitte , “La diversité religieuse en prison: Entre modèles de régulation et émergence de zones grises (Suisse, Italie et Allemagne),” in: Anne-Sophie Lamine (ed.), Quand le religieux fait conflit: Désaccord, négociations ou arrangements (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2013), 109–121.
Becci Irene , et al, “Enjeux sociologiques de la pluralité religieuse dans les prisons suisses- rapport final” (EESP / PNR 58, 2011).
Becci Irene , & Olivier Roy (eds.), Religious Diversity in European Prisons: Challenges and Implications for Rehabilitation (The Netherlands: Springer, 2015).
Beckford James A. , “The Restoration of ‘Power’ to the Sociology of Religion,” Sociological Analysis 44/1 (1983), 11–32.
Beckford James A. , & Gilliat Sophie , Religion in Prison: Equal Rites in a Multi-faith Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Burchardt Marian , & Becci Irene , “Religion and Superdiversity: An Introduction,” New Diversities 18/1 (2016), 1–8.
Cadge Wendy , et al, “Religion in Public Institutions: Comparative Perspectives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56/2 (2017), 226–233.
Clemmer Donald , The Prison Community (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1940).
Crozier Michel , & Friedberg Erhard , L’Acteur et le système (Paris: Le Seuil, 1977).
Dahl Robert A. , “The Concept of Power,” Systems Research and Behavioral Science 2/3 (1957), 201–215.
Dammer Harry R. , Religion in Corrections (Lanham: American Correctional Association, 2000).
Dammer Harry R. , “Religion in Prison,” in: McShane Marylin D. & Williams Frank P (eds.), Encyclopedia of American Prisons (New York: Garland Publishing, 2006), 399–402.
de Certeau Michel , The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. by Rendall Steven (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
Dubler Joshua , Down in the Chapel (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013).
Fligstein Neil , & McAdam Doug , “Toward a General Theory of Strategic Action Fields,” Sociological Theory 29/1 (2011), 1–26.
Goffman Erving , Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (New York: Penguin Books, 1991 [1961]).
Griera Mar , & Clot-Garrell Anna , “Doing Yoga Behind Bars: A Sociological Study of the Growth of Holistic Spirituality in Penitentiary Institutions,” in: Irene Becci & Olivier Roy (eds.), Religious Diversity in European Prisons: Challenges and Implications for Rehabilitation (The Netherlands: Springer, 2015), 141–157.
Johnson Andrew , If I Give my Soul: Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).
Levi Primo , “The Gray Zone”, in: idem, The Drowned and the Saved, trans. by Rosenthal Raymond (London: Abacus, 1989), 22–51.
Lindemann Anaïd , Zurbuchen Aude , & Becci Irene , “Religions. Et spiritualités dans les prisons en Suisse,” working paper no. 13 (Lausanne: issr, Université de Lausanne, 2017).
Lipsky Michael , Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1980).
Mottas Christian , et al, “NFP 58 ‘Religionsgemeinschaften, Staat und Gesellschaft,’” http://www.nfp58.ch/d_projekte_institutionen.cfm?projekt=86 (accessed 26 June 2018).
Repstad Pål , “Studying Religion and Power: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges,” Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe 5/1 (2012), 9–19.
Purdie Schneuwly , Mallory, “‘Silence… Nous sommes en direct avec Allah:’ Réflexions sur l’émergence d’intervenants musulmans en contexte carceral,” Archives de sciences sociales des religions 153/1 (2011), 105–121.
Sykes Gresham M. , The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958).
Vertovec Steven , “Super-diversity and Its Implications,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 30/6 (2007), 1024–1054.
Weick Karl E. , The Social Psychology of Organizing (Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1979).
Wood Matthew , Possession, Power and the New Age (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007).
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 2031 | 430 | 6 |
Full Text Views | 183 | 17 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 6 | 0 |
Out of several years of research experience in the field of religion in prison, this article proposes some reflections on how to consider both a superdiverse situation and power issues in public total institutions. It proposes to use the notion of ‘gray zone,’ which refers to both the fluidity of current religious practices in contrast to a clear-cut distinction between secularity and religion and to an ambiguous positioning of actors in the complex field of institutional power relations. First, the author discusses briefly the structural locations of religion in European public total institutions and the ways these have been studied. Second, the focus shifts to those locations and uses of religion that are informal and that open up what the author calls a ‘gray zone.’ The concluding remarks highlight the complex power issues and relations at work in the realm of such a gray zone.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 2031 | 430 | 6 |
Full Text Views | 183 | 17 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 6 | 0 |