Jan Kapusta | University of West Bohemia (original) (raw)
Papers by Jan Kapusta
IBERO-AMERICANA PRAGENSIA, 2024
Maya crosses have always inspired a sense of wonder in the modern observer, because they have bee... more Maya crosses have always inspired a sense of wonder in the modern observer, because they have been considered animate persons with whom people establish and maintain intersubjective relationships and whom they cherish and nurture. In this study, drawing on my ethnography of “dressing the cross”, an Easter ceremony, I suggest that what separates Maya traditionalism from globalizing modern Maya Spirituality is a particular form of “hierarchical animism”.
Religion, State & Society, 2022
In this contribution, I provide an ethnography of the Maya New Year's pilgrimage and sacrifice ri... more In this contribution, I provide an ethnography of the Maya New Year's pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual, in which a delicate relatedness between people and animate mountains is established, enacted, and expressed. Far from the body-spirit, object-subject, and nature-culture dualities, these mountains appear to be bodilysouled and immanent-transcendent beings that participate, together with people, in the ongoing process of shaping a single shared world. The pilgrimage, therefore, is a route along which a larger than human community is being formed and along which the world-in all its contingency, fragility, and precariousness-is continuously brought into existence. This existentially animist cosmology situates humans and nonhumans within the-world-information , rather than the-world-inrepresentation of some pre-existent cultural and political contents. Finally, I discuss some of the recent attempts to challenge representationalist approaches in Maya studies, arguing that they have escaped the tenets of representationalism just to fall into the trap of western alternative spirituality.
Journal of Religion in Europe, 2020
In this introductory study, we place the articles collected in this special issue on 'spiritualit... more In this introductory study, we place the articles collected in this special issue on 'spirituality' in a more general context. In so doing, we contest the idea that alternative spirituality is best studied within the conceptual framework of the 'vernacular.' We argue that such an approach tends to unintentionally overstate the empirical particularities and overlook the broader aspects of the subject in question, which results in unreflexively accepting alternative spirituality's own claim that it is 'doctrinefree' and 'non-institutional' by nature. Contrary to this claim, we show that alternative spirituality is (a) pregnant with a distinguishable doctrine despite being glocal and inventive; (b) profoundly social and effectively socialized; (c) about to be visibly socially organized and institutionalized; and (d) a way of addressing and redressing the key existential issues of human life, just as any other religion.
Traditiones, 2018
In this paper, I present a Maya legend of travelling saints and people searching for their home. ... more In this paper, I present a Maya legend of travelling saints and people searching for their home. The story shows the ways in which a sense of belonging is contested, recreated and sustained within the context of place and pilgrimage. I argue that to understand such a narrative, a phenomenal and existential experience associated to particular collective memories and performances must be taken into consideration in addition to historical, political and cultural backgrounds.
Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, 2016
In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountai... more In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountain-related pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual performed by the present-day highland Maya. The question I ask is why the sense of sacredness, animation and power of the mountains endures among the traditionalist as well as Pentecostal Maya in spite of the extensive transformations of the world today. In so doing, I examine the native concept of the mountain not merely as a social or cultural representation, but as an expression of everyday lived experiences and existential relationships between people and the physical and spiritual world they inhabit. Finally, I argue that the experience of interaction, communication and intimacy between the Maya and their mountain deities can be best defined as a dynamic participation in the course of the world – an existential economy of 'working the world'.
Anthropos, 2016
Esquipulas, Guatemala, is the most significant pilgrimage site in Central America. Maya tradition... more Esquipulas, Guatemala, is the most significant pilgrimage site in Central America. Maya traditionalists come here to materialize their pleas through the bodily enactments of journey, touch, and sacrifice that set in motion not only the lives of the pilgrims but also the world as such. In this article, the meaning of pilgrimage, usually trapped in culturalist or historicist explanations, is placed in a relationship between pilgrims’ practices and their understandings of their lifeworld. This phenomenological perspective enables the anthropology of Latin American pilgrimage to take seriously both native cosmology and experience basis of everyday life on which it is based.
Abstrakt: Počáteční inspirací tohoto textu byla otázka, jaký je rozdíl ve vnímání světa, transcen... more Abstrakt: Počáteční inspirací tohoto textu byla otázka, jaký je rozdíl ve vnímání světa, transcendence a božství v podání – spíše stereotypního či lidového – platonismu na jedné straně a mayské kosmologie na straně druhé. Tato otázka dává smysl zvláště tehdy, jsou-li – zpravidla nevědomě – mayskému pohledu na svět podsouvány určité prvky platonismu sa-motnými představiteli mayských studií. Na základě interpretace etnografické evidence (pře-devším fenoménu nawalismu) a hermeneutiky písemných památek (především stvořitelské mytologie) půjde o to ukázat, že transcendence pro Maye není funkcí diskontinuity světů, nýbrž míry rozpoznání kontinuity světa jednoho. Viditelná i neviditelná stránka světa se zde vyznačují spíše vzájemností než jednostranným působením, spíše bazální nedokonalostí, proměnlivostí a časností než idealizovanou dokonalostí, neměnností a věčností.
Abstract: The initial inspiration for this paper was the issue of the difference between – rather stereotypical or popular – Platonism on the one hand and Maya cosmology on the other in terms of perception of the world, transcendence and divinity. In particular, this question makes sense when certain elements of Platonism are – mostly unconsciously – attributed to Maya worldview by proper representatives of Maya studies. Based on the interpretation of ethnographic evidence (especially the phenomenon of nawalism) and the hermeneutics of written narrative (especially creation mythology), the paper will try to show that, for the Maya, transcendence is not a function of the discontinuity of two worlds, but a function of the extent of recognition of the continuity of one world. Then, both visible and invisible aspects of the world are characterized by mutuality rather than one-sided influence , and by basic imperfection, changeability and timeness rather than idealized perfection, immutability and eternity.
The so-called ontological turn, drawing largely on Viveiros de Cas-tro's notion of Amazonian pers... more The so-called ontological turn, drawing largely on Viveiros de Cas-tro's notion of Amazonian perspectivism, has attracted considerable attention in contemporary anthropology. The proponents of ontological relativism were indeed submitted to strong criticism focusing, among other things, on the questions of obscurity, solipsism or meta-ontology. In the theoretical section of the study, I present selected themes of this approach, its merits, but also its diffi cul-ties that I try to overcome by means of present-day phenomenological anthropology. The key question – in which are the examined otherness and its apprehending grounded? – I attempt to answer through the concepts of the everyday experience and the lifeworld. In the empirical section of the study, I illustrate the theory with the ethnography of Maya perception of crosses, mountains and caves, which are considered to be living and acting beings. Then, I situate Maya cosmology into lived experience of both natural and social world, into an ongoing human engagement with the land and with the beings that dwell therein. Special attention is devoted to the phenomenal and existential aspects of the mountains and their importance, which is based not only on their representations , but also on the mountains as such.
The study deals with pilgrimages to esquipulas, guatemala, and patterns of miracle in terms of th... more The study deals with pilgrimages to esquipulas, guatemala, and patterns of miracle in terms of their perception by the pilgrims reaching this prominent religious hub of central america. two key pilgrimage discourses are distinguished: traditional Maya pilgrimage, based on regular, calendar customs, and conventional catholic pilgrimage, founded on occasional journeys to fulfil a vow. The Western understanding of miracle as a transgression of " natural laws " or " common course of nature " is relativized and contested arguing that the ethnographic evidence of esquipulas shows not only different, but also opposite conceptions. Then, the study presents a spectrum of miracle ideas drawing from the Maya as well as european – the case of lourdes is exemplary here – traditions in terms of the degree of their uncommonness. it is concluded that anthropology has to comprehend miracles as marvels in its cultural context; nevertheless, there is a widespread idea among many cultures that miracle is something wonderful, related to the awareness of non-obviousness of certain things and phenomena. Miracles find its content and meaning within particular cosmology, but, anchored in the psychological characteristics of the astonishment and the difference between usual and unusual or ordinary and extraordinary, they refer to features of human mind in a more general way.
The article deals with the Victor Turner's anthropology of pilgrimage in the light of the journey... more The article deals with the Victor Turner's anthropology of pilgrimage in the light of the journey to Compostela. First, an introduction to the concept of rites de passage and communitas is given. The following is a description of the Way of Saint James, its medieval and postmodern forms. The core of the study lies in the comparison of the ethnohistoric as well as ethnographic data and corresponding pilgrims' competing discourses with the theory. It is argued that communitas may be conceived as a structuralistic, sociological or psychological phenomenon, and that all of these levels may be included in the pilgrimage. Nevertheless, it is sustained that it depends on various circumstances and multiple discourses that operate and interact in the pilgrimage process. Finally, three Turner's topics are stressed to be useful in the present anthropology of pilgrimage: the experience as subjective feeling, bodily practice, and sensual enjoyment. Using the arguments of Halbwachs, Bruner, Connerton or Stoller, a shift from general ideas, norms, values, systems and structures to specifi c images, feelings, experiences and goals is recognized. Thereby the Turner's anthropology of performance and experience is situated within the particular direction of the postmodern turn and recent social theory.
The study summarizes the work of Maurice Bloch, especially his theory of ritual and religion. Foc... more The study summarizes the work of Maurice Bloch, especially his theory of ritual and religion. Focusing on Blochs concepts of rebounding violence, ideology and knowledge, it is argued that the cognitive dualism does not correspond to the fact of the entirety of the human mind, a unique constellation of specific biological, natural environmental, historical, social and cultural circumstances as well as personal and experiential conditions. When dealing with some analogies of Blochs thought, the assumptions of Marx, Freud and Rousseau are recalled. The recognition of the europocentric polarization also demands a mention of the Latin naturalis and supernaturalis dichotomy as well as the Greek sophistic duality of fysei and nomó. On the other hand, Blochs precise critique of functionalist and Marxist approaches allows moving towards deeper psychosocial processes within ritual.
The study has two objectives. Firstly, offering a summary of theory of collective memory, it is ... more The study has two objectives. Firstly, offering a summary of theory of
collective memory, it is argued that the concept of memory tends to be used in
a broad sense, threatening to fusion with the anthropological notion of culture. In this respect, it is proposed to use the term when referring to the social remembering of specific historical events, persons and experiences in a particular society or culture at a particular place and time. Moreover, several reasons of the memory boom such as some theoretical problems within the social sciences, the specificity of French culture and historiography, postmodern turn, detraditionalism or discourse of postcolonialism are indicated. The other purpose of the study consists in emphasising of the asychosocial power of the past and socially constructed history in the traditional as well as contemporary pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The disintegration of old myths demands the rise of new chains of memory. Comparing the work of the scholars like Nora and Hervieu-Léger with the ideas of Halbwachs and Eliade, the same power of the past is recognized in some academic and intellectual discourses. The conclusion presents the social and scientific attractiveness of memory as a consequence of the need of identity, significance and sense, and the never-ending debate about change and continuity.
Books by Jan Kapusta
Argo, 2020
Tato kniha se zabývá náboženstvím dnešních Mayů obývajících Guatemalskou vysočinu. Zkoumá mayskou... more Tato kniha se zabývá náboženstvím dnešních Mayů obývajících Guatemalskou vysočinu. Zkoumá mayskou kosmologii a pojetí božstev, vztah k přírodě a horám, obětní a poutní rituály a jejich existenciálně-fenomenologické ukotvení. Pozornost je věnována i mayskému kulturnímu obrození a s ním spjatému dynamickému a tvůrčímu setkávání a mísení lokální mayské tradice a globálního spirituálního diskursu. Tato kniha prezentuje náboženství jako takové myšlení a praxi, v nichž se podstatnou měrou vyjevují rozhodující témata lidské existence, pramenící ve zkušenosti nepřetržitého procesu utváření vždy nehotových životních forem v tenzi daností světa a možností lidí, kteří tento křehký a vrtkavý svět obývají. Kniha tak nepředstavuje jen první českou odbornou monografii pojednávající o současné mayské religiozitě, ale nabízí i svěží pohled na aktuální situaci nativních, šamanistických a animistických kultur stejně jako na některé teoretické problémy recentní antropologie náboženství.
![Research paper thumbnail of Jakub MLYNÁŘ, Miroslav PAULÍČEK, Jiří ŠUBRT a kol.: Člověk v teoretické perspektivě společenských věd [The human being in the theoretical perspective of social sciences]. Prague: Karolinum, 2017.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/55441469/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](What picture do the contemporary social and human sciences present? This question is addressed by... more What picture do the contemporary social and human sciences present? This question is addressed by a group of scholars coming from many different backgrounds, including sociology, anthropology, philosophy, historiography, andragogy, psychology and evolutionary biology. Although this book is primarily theoretical, we can find many specific real-world examples: from art, to the square dance and ice hockey through the Barbie doll and people’s relationship to mountains. The book demonstrates that images of man in different disciplines are not incompatible, and in fact allow for mutual enrichment. These are not competing "views” of the same subject, but instead represent the option to freely choose from different social scientific "games”, knowing well that each of them has its own limits and rules as well as its intrinsic charm.
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Jaký obraz člověka nabízejí současné společenské a humanitní vědy? Tato otázka je středobodem zájmu autorského kolektivu, v němž má své zastoupení sociologie, antropologie, filosofie, historiografie, andragogika, psychologie i evoluční biologie. Ač je publikace jako celek svým zaměřením především teoretická, v jednotlivých kapitolách nalezneme množství konkrétních příkladů z reálného světa: od umění a vážení přes čtverylku a hokej až po panenku Barbie či vztah lidí k horám. Kniha ukazuje, že obrazy člověka v různých oborech nejsou zcela nesourodé, ale že naopak umožňují vzájemné obohacení. Nejde o soupeřící „pohledy“ na tentýž předmět zájmu, ale spíše o možnost mezi jednotlivými společenskovědními „hrami“ svobodně volit – s vědomím toho, že každá z nich má nejen své meze a pravidla, ale i svůj vlastní půvab.
IBERO-AMERICANA PRAGENSIA, 2024
Maya crosses have always inspired a sense of wonder in the modern observer, because they have bee... more Maya crosses have always inspired a sense of wonder in the modern observer, because they have been considered animate persons with whom people establish and maintain intersubjective relationships and whom they cherish and nurture. In this study, drawing on my ethnography of “dressing the cross”, an Easter ceremony, I suggest that what separates Maya traditionalism from globalizing modern Maya Spirituality is a particular form of “hierarchical animism”.
Religion, State & Society, 2022
In this contribution, I provide an ethnography of the Maya New Year's pilgrimage and sacrifice ri... more In this contribution, I provide an ethnography of the Maya New Year's pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual, in which a delicate relatedness between people and animate mountains is established, enacted, and expressed. Far from the body-spirit, object-subject, and nature-culture dualities, these mountains appear to be bodilysouled and immanent-transcendent beings that participate, together with people, in the ongoing process of shaping a single shared world. The pilgrimage, therefore, is a route along which a larger than human community is being formed and along which the world-in all its contingency, fragility, and precariousness-is continuously brought into existence. This existentially animist cosmology situates humans and nonhumans within the-world-information , rather than the-world-inrepresentation of some pre-existent cultural and political contents. Finally, I discuss some of the recent attempts to challenge representationalist approaches in Maya studies, arguing that they have escaped the tenets of representationalism just to fall into the trap of western alternative spirituality.
Journal of Religion in Europe, 2020
In this introductory study, we place the articles collected in this special issue on 'spiritualit... more In this introductory study, we place the articles collected in this special issue on 'spirituality' in a more general context. In so doing, we contest the idea that alternative spirituality is best studied within the conceptual framework of the 'vernacular.' We argue that such an approach tends to unintentionally overstate the empirical particularities and overlook the broader aspects of the subject in question, which results in unreflexively accepting alternative spirituality's own claim that it is 'doctrinefree' and 'non-institutional' by nature. Contrary to this claim, we show that alternative spirituality is (a) pregnant with a distinguishable doctrine despite being glocal and inventive; (b) profoundly social and effectively socialized; (c) about to be visibly socially organized and institutionalized; and (d) a way of addressing and redressing the key existential issues of human life, just as any other religion.
Traditiones, 2018
In this paper, I present a Maya legend of travelling saints and people searching for their home. ... more In this paper, I present a Maya legend of travelling saints and people searching for their home. The story shows the ways in which a sense of belonging is contested, recreated and sustained within the context of place and pilgrimage. I argue that to understand such a narrative, a phenomenal and existential experience associated to particular collective memories and performances must be taken into consideration in addition to historical, political and cultural backgrounds.
Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, 2016
In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountai... more In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountain-related pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual performed by the present-day highland Maya. The question I ask is why the sense of sacredness, animation and power of the mountains endures among the traditionalist as well as Pentecostal Maya in spite of the extensive transformations of the world today. In so doing, I examine the native concept of the mountain not merely as a social or cultural representation, but as an expression of everyday lived experiences and existential relationships between people and the physical and spiritual world they inhabit. Finally, I argue that the experience of interaction, communication and intimacy between the Maya and their mountain deities can be best defined as a dynamic participation in the course of the world – an existential economy of 'working the world'.
Anthropos, 2016
Esquipulas, Guatemala, is the most significant pilgrimage site in Central America. Maya tradition... more Esquipulas, Guatemala, is the most significant pilgrimage site in Central America. Maya traditionalists come here to materialize their pleas through the bodily enactments of journey, touch, and sacrifice that set in motion not only the lives of the pilgrims but also the world as such. In this article, the meaning of pilgrimage, usually trapped in culturalist or historicist explanations, is placed in a relationship between pilgrims’ practices and their understandings of their lifeworld. This phenomenological perspective enables the anthropology of Latin American pilgrimage to take seriously both native cosmology and experience basis of everyday life on which it is based.
Abstrakt: Počáteční inspirací tohoto textu byla otázka, jaký je rozdíl ve vnímání světa, transcen... more Abstrakt: Počáteční inspirací tohoto textu byla otázka, jaký je rozdíl ve vnímání světa, transcendence a božství v podání – spíše stereotypního či lidového – platonismu na jedné straně a mayské kosmologie na straně druhé. Tato otázka dává smysl zvláště tehdy, jsou-li – zpravidla nevědomě – mayskému pohledu na svět podsouvány určité prvky platonismu sa-motnými představiteli mayských studií. Na základě interpretace etnografické evidence (pře-devším fenoménu nawalismu) a hermeneutiky písemných památek (především stvořitelské mytologie) půjde o to ukázat, že transcendence pro Maye není funkcí diskontinuity světů, nýbrž míry rozpoznání kontinuity světa jednoho. Viditelná i neviditelná stránka světa se zde vyznačují spíše vzájemností než jednostranným působením, spíše bazální nedokonalostí, proměnlivostí a časností než idealizovanou dokonalostí, neměnností a věčností.
Abstract: The initial inspiration for this paper was the issue of the difference between – rather stereotypical or popular – Platonism on the one hand and Maya cosmology on the other in terms of perception of the world, transcendence and divinity. In particular, this question makes sense when certain elements of Platonism are – mostly unconsciously – attributed to Maya worldview by proper representatives of Maya studies. Based on the interpretation of ethnographic evidence (especially the phenomenon of nawalism) and the hermeneutics of written narrative (especially creation mythology), the paper will try to show that, for the Maya, transcendence is not a function of the discontinuity of two worlds, but a function of the extent of recognition of the continuity of one world. Then, both visible and invisible aspects of the world are characterized by mutuality rather than one-sided influence , and by basic imperfection, changeability and timeness rather than idealized perfection, immutability and eternity.
The so-called ontological turn, drawing largely on Viveiros de Cas-tro's notion of Amazonian pers... more The so-called ontological turn, drawing largely on Viveiros de Cas-tro's notion of Amazonian perspectivism, has attracted considerable attention in contemporary anthropology. The proponents of ontological relativism were indeed submitted to strong criticism focusing, among other things, on the questions of obscurity, solipsism or meta-ontology. In the theoretical section of the study, I present selected themes of this approach, its merits, but also its diffi cul-ties that I try to overcome by means of present-day phenomenological anthropology. The key question – in which are the examined otherness and its apprehending grounded? – I attempt to answer through the concepts of the everyday experience and the lifeworld. In the empirical section of the study, I illustrate the theory with the ethnography of Maya perception of crosses, mountains and caves, which are considered to be living and acting beings. Then, I situate Maya cosmology into lived experience of both natural and social world, into an ongoing human engagement with the land and with the beings that dwell therein. Special attention is devoted to the phenomenal and existential aspects of the mountains and their importance, which is based not only on their representations , but also on the mountains as such.
The study deals with pilgrimages to esquipulas, guatemala, and patterns of miracle in terms of th... more The study deals with pilgrimages to esquipulas, guatemala, and patterns of miracle in terms of their perception by the pilgrims reaching this prominent religious hub of central america. two key pilgrimage discourses are distinguished: traditional Maya pilgrimage, based on regular, calendar customs, and conventional catholic pilgrimage, founded on occasional journeys to fulfil a vow. The Western understanding of miracle as a transgression of " natural laws " or " common course of nature " is relativized and contested arguing that the ethnographic evidence of esquipulas shows not only different, but also opposite conceptions. Then, the study presents a spectrum of miracle ideas drawing from the Maya as well as european – the case of lourdes is exemplary here – traditions in terms of the degree of their uncommonness. it is concluded that anthropology has to comprehend miracles as marvels in its cultural context; nevertheless, there is a widespread idea among many cultures that miracle is something wonderful, related to the awareness of non-obviousness of certain things and phenomena. Miracles find its content and meaning within particular cosmology, but, anchored in the psychological characteristics of the astonishment and the difference between usual and unusual or ordinary and extraordinary, they refer to features of human mind in a more general way.
The article deals with the Victor Turner's anthropology of pilgrimage in the light of the journey... more The article deals with the Victor Turner's anthropology of pilgrimage in the light of the journey to Compostela. First, an introduction to the concept of rites de passage and communitas is given. The following is a description of the Way of Saint James, its medieval and postmodern forms. The core of the study lies in the comparison of the ethnohistoric as well as ethnographic data and corresponding pilgrims' competing discourses with the theory. It is argued that communitas may be conceived as a structuralistic, sociological or psychological phenomenon, and that all of these levels may be included in the pilgrimage. Nevertheless, it is sustained that it depends on various circumstances and multiple discourses that operate and interact in the pilgrimage process. Finally, three Turner's topics are stressed to be useful in the present anthropology of pilgrimage: the experience as subjective feeling, bodily practice, and sensual enjoyment. Using the arguments of Halbwachs, Bruner, Connerton or Stoller, a shift from general ideas, norms, values, systems and structures to specifi c images, feelings, experiences and goals is recognized. Thereby the Turner's anthropology of performance and experience is situated within the particular direction of the postmodern turn and recent social theory.
The study summarizes the work of Maurice Bloch, especially his theory of ritual and religion. Foc... more The study summarizes the work of Maurice Bloch, especially his theory of ritual and religion. Focusing on Blochs concepts of rebounding violence, ideology and knowledge, it is argued that the cognitive dualism does not correspond to the fact of the entirety of the human mind, a unique constellation of specific biological, natural environmental, historical, social and cultural circumstances as well as personal and experiential conditions. When dealing with some analogies of Blochs thought, the assumptions of Marx, Freud and Rousseau are recalled. The recognition of the europocentric polarization also demands a mention of the Latin naturalis and supernaturalis dichotomy as well as the Greek sophistic duality of fysei and nomó. On the other hand, Blochs precise critique of functionalist and Marxist approaches allows moving towards deeper psychosocial processes within ritual.
The study has two objectives. Firstly, offering a summary of theory of collective memory, it is ... more The study has two objectives. Firstly, offering a summary of theory of
collective memory, it is argued that the concept of memory tends to be used in
a broad sense, threatening to fusion with the anthropological notion of culture. In this respect, it is proposed to use the term when referring to the social remembering of specific historical events, persons and experiences in a particular society or culture at a particular place and time. Moreover, several reasons of the memory boom such as some theoretical problems within the social sciences, the specificity of French culture and historiography, postmodern turn, detraditionalism or discourse of postcolonialism are indicated. The other purpose of the study consists in emphasising of the asychosocial power of the past and socially constructed history in the traditional as well as contemporary pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The disintegration of old myths demands the rise of new chains of memory. Comparing the work of the scholars like Nora and Hervieu-Léger with the ideas of Halbwachs and Eliade, the same power of the past is recognized in some academic and intellectual discourses. The conclusion presents the social and scientific attractiveness of memory as a consequence of the need of identity, significance and sense, and the never-ending debate about change and continuity.
Argo, 2020
Tato kniha se zabývá náboženstvím dnešních Mayů obývajících Guatemalskou vysočinu. Zkoumá mayskou... more Tato kniha se zabývá náboženstvím dnešních Mayů obývajících Guatemalskou vysočinu. Zkoumá mayskou kosmologii a pojetí božstev, vztah k přírodě a horám, obětní a poutní rituály a jejich existenciálně-fenomenologické ukotvení. Pozornost je věnována i mayskému kulturnímu obrození a s ním spjatému dynamickému a tvůrčímu setkávání a mísení lokální mayské tradice a globálního spirituálního diskursu. Tato kniha prezentuje náboženství jako takové myšlení a praxi, v nichž se podstatnou měrou vyjevují rozhodující témata lidské existence, pramenící ve zkušenosti nepřetržitého procesu utváření vždy nehotových životních forem v tenzi daností světa a možností lidí, kteří tento křehký a vrtkavý svět obývají. Kniha tak nepředstavuje jen první českou odbornou monografii pojednávající o současné mayské religiozitě, ale nabízí i svěží pohled na aktuální situaci nativních, šamanistických a animistických kultur stejně jako na některé teoretické problémy recentní antropologie náboženství.
What picture do the contemporary social and human sciences present? This question is addressed by... more What picture do the contemporary social and human sciences present? This question is addressed by a group of scholars coming from many different backgrounds, including sociology, anthropology, philosophy, historiography, andragogy, psychology and evolutionary biology. Although this book is primarily theoretical, we can find many specific real-world examples: from art, to the square dance and ice hockey through the Barbie doll and people’s relationship to mountains. The book demonstrates that images of man in different disciplines are not incompatible, and in fact allow for mutual enrichment. These are not competing "views” of the same subject, but instead represent the option to freely choose from different social scientific "games”, knowing well that each of them has its own limits and rules as well as its intrinsic charm.
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Jaký obraz člověka nabízejí současné společenské a humanitní vědy? Tato otázka je středobodem zájmu autorského kolektivu, v němž má své zastoupení sociologie, antropologie, filosofie, historiografie, andragogika, psychologie i evoluční biologie. Ač je publikace jako celek svým zaměřením především teoretická, v jednotlivých kapitolách nalezneme množství konkrétních příkladů z reálného světa: od umění a vážení přes čtverylku a hokej až po panenku Barbie či vztah lidí k horám. Kniha ukazuje, že obrazy člověka v různých oborech nejsou zcela nesourodé, ale že naopak umožňují vzájemné obohacení. Nejde o soupeřící „pohledy“ na tentýž předmět zájmu, ale spíše o možnost mezi jednotlivými společenskovědními „hrami“ svobodně volit – s vědomím toho, že každá z nich má nejen své meze a pravidla, ale i svůj vlastní půvab.