1 - Introduction

Summary

The chapter states the main objective and arguments of the book and situates the study within current research. More importantly, it provides the overall theoretical framework for the particular case and forwards new perspectives for how to better understand the interrelatedness of ethnicity and religion. With reference to the latter, the chapter critiques excessive constructivism and Cartesian-inspired body-mind, culture-nature, rational-emotional dichotomies, claiming that these create unwarranted understandings of human life and realities as dislocated and compartmentalized. Introducing the concept of peoplehood, the chapter argues that this term to a greater extent allows for an integrated understanding of how to approach the question of identity and sees, moreover, ethnicity and religion as two foundational dimensions of peoplehood. Recognizing that notions of peoplehood are constructed, the chapter underscores how these are formed by embodied experiences and emplaced realities – as the bases for processes of abstraction that produce segmentary forms of belonging. Investigating the metaphors of family and home, the chapter emphasizes the affective aspects of the ethnic and religious dimensions of peoplehood, arguing that this can only be fully understood by recognizing the embodied and emplaced bases.