This rich ethnographic account by Catherine Wanner is divided into five thematic chapters between introduction and conclusion. In her book, Wanner focuses on vernacular practices in everyday religiosity in a land with an Orthodox majority population but two canonically recognized Orthodox churches. In this situation, some Ukrainians define themselves as just Orthodox (prosto pravoslavni) “preferring to eschew allegiance to a particular denomination” (10). In her analysis, Wanner emphasizes the complexities of the local setting that escape overly simplistic qualifications of being either secular or religious, opposing the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church or supporting the creation of ecclesiastical independence.
With her ethnographic analysis, the author addresses the relation of politics and religion, and shows how “political views . . . find expression in terms of religion” (3). For this, the religious dimension of political life is analyzed (Chap. 1), the power of an affective atmosphere is described (Chap. 2), the iconic events during the Maidan uprising are portrayed in detail (Chap. 3), the aesthetics of relatedness with practices of commemoration and mourning are scrutinized (Chap. 4) and the relevance of military chaplains is shown (Chap. 5).
Particularly valuable and insightful is the ethnographic chapter in which the author addresses the creation of an affective atmosphere (44–81). Here Wanner carefully shows the paradox that “many in Ukraine claim to be nonreligious . . . and yet, they feel a strong emotional attachment to Orthodoxy” (44). With the right balance of theoretical rigor and insightful ethnography, the author is able to show how religious practices and sites become national cultural heritage and receive meaning.
Despite the important elements in this work, there are also some drawbacks. Although the ethnographic facts in themselves are described convincingly, the theoretical contribution of the book could be enhanced. Giving an extended discussion on how religion and politics have been conceptualized in anthropology (Katherine Verdery, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Postsocialist Change, 1999; Eric R. Wolf, ed., Religious Regimes and State-Formation: Perspectives from European Ethnology, 1991) and adjacent social sciences (Racie G. Davie, “Vicarious Religion: A Methodological Challenge,” in Nancy T. Ammermann, ed., Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives, 2007; N. J. Demerath III, “The Rise of ‘Cultural Religion’ in European Christianity: Learning from Poland, Northern Ireland, and Sweden” Social Compass 47, no. 1 [2000]: 127–39; and Umut Parmaksız, “Making Sense of the Postsecular” European Journal of Social Theory 21, no 1 [2018]: 98–116) would have been helpful.
Secondly, it is puzzling that local concepts on the role of religion and the state such as symphonia are not discussed at all. Although I am critical about the analytical value of such a concept, I still believe that it is worthy of discussion. In addition, I was wondering why there is no extended analysis on religion and politics in neighboring states with Orthodox majority populations, such as Romania or Russia, where we find similar close entanglements and processes of creating meaning (Tobias Koellner, “On the Restitution of Property and the Making of ‘Authentic’ Landscapes in Contemporary Russia,” Europe-Asia Studies 70, no. 7 [2018]: 1083–1102; Koellner, Religion and Politics in Contemporary Russia: Beyond the Binary of Power and Authority, 2021; and Giuseppe Tateo, Under the Sign of the Cross: The People's Salvation Cathedral and the Church-Building Industry in Postsocialist Romania, 2020). Finally, it was surprising to see a strong reliance on the notion of relatedness without any reference to ongoing discussions in the new kinship anthropology (Janet Carsten, Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study of Kinship, 2000). Here it would have been interesting to know how the findings from small-scale kin groups can be transferred to complete nations, such as Ukraine.
To conclude, despite some weaknesses, it is fair to say that Wanner's book is an insightful account analyzing the role of everyday religiosity in relation to politics in contemporary Ukraine. In the analysis, the author gives useful ethnographic insights, which provide evidence for the fact that religion can be helpful for creating belonging. Drawing on the concept of affective atmosphere, Wanner is able to show how the group of the Just Orthodox is incorporating religion into public life and wider society with relevance for wider spheres of society in Ukraine.
