Friday, the 8th of April from 4 to 6 pm CET via Zoom.
“Gendered religious work and self-making among Hindu women in Bali”
by Irina Savu Cristea, Free University Berlin
According to the Tri Hita Karana philosophy, Balinese Hindu should maintain harmonious relationships with God, people, and nature. Prosperity may be gained through prayers, rituals, communal cooperation practices, and sustained effort in maintaining harmonious social ties (public display of “negative” emotions—worries, sadness, anger—is avoided through hard emotion work). Women are responsible for most of the physical tasks of the religious labor, and its related expenses. The management of one’s and others’ emotions has a greater impact on the women, given their expected roles within the family and the community. The frequent ceremonies entail physical `closeness among family and community members, which sometimes leads to social envy and prying. This makes it harder for women to display “positive” emotions, and creates internal emotional distress. This presentation attempts a localized definition of gendered religious work and explores the tensions between the highly valued emotion work of the Balinese women and its emotional costs.
The ENPA Works-in-Progress Seminar is a new venue for researchers, faculty and postgraduate students to present ongoing work, receive feedback and share ideas about their research in psychological anthropology and allied fields. The seminar meets on the second Friday of every month via Zoom.
To join ENPA WiPS and receive the link for the seminar, please register here.
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