HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Dec 1, 2022
In 2007, the city of Marseille was preparing an application to become the European Capital of Cul... more In 2007, the city of Marseille was preparing an application to become the European Capital of Culture. The person in charge of this endeavour invited one of us to collaborate on the drafting of the dossier to be submitted for evaluation. The latter presented a project for an exhibition on the sharing of holy places in the Mediterranean region, a theme he had been studying for several years. This exhibition project was included in the city's application, which was finally selected in 2008 by a European jury. In the following years, preparatory work was carried out to organise this exhibition, but in the end (due to budgetary arbitrations linked to the implementation of the initiative), this project was abandoned and did not feature among the official events of Marseille-Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture. However, around the same time, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem) showed an interest in the subject. This new museum was then in an advanced phase of prefiguration work and was to be inaugurated the same year, 2013, in Marseille. For this kind of "museum of society" ("musée de société") 1 , where anthropology plays a leading role, in line with the Musée national des arts
En vue d’un dialogue entre, d’un côté, les perspectives d’une anthropologie historique des religi... more En vue d’un dialogue entre, d’un côté, les perspectives d’une anthropologie historique des religions dans l’espace méditerranéen et, de l’autre, la théologie de la Méditerranée développée, sous l’impulsion notamment du pape François, par l’Église catholique, l’article s’efforce de dégager quelques éléments constitutifs d’un style religieux qui, dans l’arène méditerranéenne, apparaît composite et contradictoire. Les relations entre groupes religieux sont souvent orientées vers la partition, sans pourtant exclure des moments de partage.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 16, 2018
les Turcs, un prêtre faisait cuire des poissons près de cette source. En apprenant que les Ottoma... more les Turcs, un prêtre faisait cuire des poissons près de cette source. En apprenant que les Ottomans étaient entrés dans la ville, il dit qu'il y croirait seulement si les poissons, déjà à moitié grillés, s'en retourneraient dans l'eau de la fontaine. Ce que les poissons firent immédiatement.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Apr 1, 2019
The anthropologist Michael Carrithers introduced the notion of polytropy in the field of the stud... more The anthropologist Michael Carrithers introduced the notion of polytropy in the field of the study of religion, proposing that this notion (deriving from the Greek poly, ‘many’, and tropos, ‘turning’) may account for the eclecticism and fluidity of South Asian religious life. The exploration effectuated in the article suggests that the notion of polytropy could offer a promising tool for capturing some important features of religiosity in other Asiatic contexts, too, as well as in the Mediterranean. Polytropic trends appear in different religious contexts, from the fuzzy Chinese situation, where religious affiliations are very limited in their scope and relevance, to the South Asian contexts, in which religious orientations coalesce around the multivocal concept of dharma, to the tightly structured Abrahamic religions in the Mediterranean with their strong confessionalism. Polytropy is associated with a practical mode of religiosity and is linked to a particular conception of believing in which the believer tends to multiply the transactions with different supra-mundane partners. This orientation is distinct from religious styles that are based on a discursive and scriptural approach and/or on the cultivation of oneself, which often display a tendency towards unity, coherence and continuity. This permits identifying an opposite pole with respect to polytropy, which I define as monotropy.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2017
A la fois lieu de culte et lieu saint, la synagogue de la Ghriba sur l’ile de Djerba en Tunisie e... more A la fois lieu de culte et lieu saint, la synagogue de la Ghriba sur l’ile de Djerba en Tunisie est un sanctuaire frequente conjointement par des fideles juifs et musulmans. Ce type de « partage » releve d’un phenomene atteste dans l’ensemble du Maghreb sur la longue duree, mais qui s’est vu considerablement reduit a la suite de l’emigration progressive des juifs sepharades vers l’Europe et Israel a partir du milieu du xxe siecle. A Djerba toutefois, cette mixite interreligieuse a perdure, car une communaute juive a subsiste localement jusqu’a nos jours. En 2002, un attentat attribue a Al-Qaida puis les consequences de la revolution dite « de Jasmin » (2011) ont particulierement limite cette inclusivite, ainsi que le retour ponctuel de ces juifs tunisiens en quete de racines. Le pelerinage annuel revet en effet une forte dimension memorielle et identitaire valorisee par l’Etat au nom d’une mythique « convivencia ». Plus largement, cet article vise a apprehender cette heterogeneite interconfessionnelle en questionnant la problematique de l’ouverture de ce sanctuaire emblematique des croisements devotionnels entre juifs et musulmans au Maghreb.
En particulier deux workshops hybrides, un à Jérusalem (26 novembre 2020) en remplacement de celu... more En particulier deux workshops hybrides, un à Jérusalem (26 novembre 2020) en remplacement de celui prévu en mars et un autre à Tunis (26 mai 2021) en hommage au photographe Jacques Perez, ainsi qu'un panel au congrès de la Société des études juives (14 décembre 2021).
International audienceBasandosi su studi etnografici che restituiscono un’immagine inedita, dal b... more International audienceBasandosi su studi etnografici che restituiscono un’immagine inedita, dal basso, di una religiosità in movimento, questo volume attesta la vitalità della mobilità religiosa nelle varie aree del Mediterraneo. Qui i pellegrinaggi hanno saputo adattarsi ai cambiamenti sociali e tecnologici e sembrano addirittura nutrirsene per fortificarsi. L’aspetto religioso è indissociabile dalle implicazioni economiche, politiche e sociali di questa mobilità, che possono a loro volta avere ripercussioni su vasta scala. Il bacino mediterraneo appare così come un laboratorio comparativo estremamente fecondo per l’antropologia
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Dec 1, 2022
In 2007, the city of Marseille was preparing an application to become the European Capital of Cul... more In 2007, the city of Marseille was preparing an application to become the European Capital of Culture. The person in charge of this endeavour invited one of us to collaborate on the drafting of the dossier to be submitted for evaluation. The latter presented a project for an exhibition on the sharing of holy places in the Mediterranean region, a theme he had been studying for several years. This exhibition project was included in the city's application, which was finally selected in 2008 by a European jury. In the following years, preparatory work was carried out to organise this exhibition, but in the end (due to budgetary arbitrations linked to the implementation of the initiative), this project was abandoned and did not feature among the official events of Marseille-Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture. However, around the same time, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem) showed an interest in the subject. This new museum was then in an advanced phase of prefiguration work and was to be inaugurated the same year, 2013, in Marseille. For this kind of "museum of society" ("musée de société") 1 , where anthropology plays a leading role, in line with the Musée national des arts
En vue d’un dialogue entre, d’un côté, les perspectives d’une anthropologie historique des religi... more En vue d’un dialogue entre, d’un côté, les perspectives d’une anthropologie historique des religions dans l’espace méditerranéen et, de l’autre, la théologie de la Méditerranée développée, sous l’impulsion notamment du pape François, par l’Église catholique, l’article s’efforce de dégager quelques éléments constitutifs d’un style religieux qui, dans l’arène méditerranéenne, apparaît composite et contradictoire. Les relations entre groupes religieux sont souvent orientées vers la partition, sans pourtant exclure des moments de partage.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 16, 2018
les Turcs, un prêtre faisait cuire des poissons près de cette source. En apprenant que les Ottoma... more les Turcs, un prêtre faisait cuire des poissons près de cette source. En apprenant que les Ottomans étaient entrés dans la ville, il dit qu'il y croirait seulement si les poissons, déjà à moitié grillés, s'en retourneraient dans l'eau de la fontaine. Ce que les poissons firent immédiatement.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Apr 1, 2019
The anthropologist Michael Carrithers introduced the notion of polytropy in the field of the stud... more The anthropologist Michael Carrithers introduced the notion of polytropy in the field of the study of religion, proposing that this notion (deriving from the Greek poly, ‘many’, and tropos, ‘turning’) may account for the eclecticism and fluidity of South Asian religious life. The exploration effectuated in the article suggests that the notion of polytropy could offer a promising tool for capturing some important features of religiosity in other Asiatic contexts, too, as well as in the Mediterranean. Polytropic trends appear in different religious contexts, from the fuzzy Chinese situation, where religious affiliations are very limited in their scope and relevance, to the South Asian contexts, in which religious orientations coalesce around the multivocal concept of dharma, to the tightly structured Abrahamic religions in the Mediterranean with their strong confessionalism. Polytropy is associated with a practical mode of religiosity and is linked to a particular conception of believing in which the believer tends to multiply the transactions with different supra-mundane partners. This orientation is distinct from religious styles that are based on a discursive and scriptural approach and/or on the cultivation of oneself, which often display a tendency towards unity, coherence and continuity. This permits identifying an opposite pole with respect to polytropy, which I define as monotropy.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2017
A la fois lieu de culte et lieu saint, la synagogue de la Ghriba sur l’ile de Djerba en Tunisie e... more A la fois lieu de culte et lieu saint, la synagogue de la Ghriba sur l’ile de Djerba en Tunisie est un sanctuaire frequente conjointement par des fideles juifs et musulmans. Ce type de « partage » releve d’un phenomene atteste dans l’ensemble du Maghreb sur la longue duree, mais qui s’est vu considerablement reduit a la suite de l’emigration progressive des juifs sepharades vers l’Europe et Israel a partir du milieu du xxe siecle. A Djerba toutefois, cette mixite interreligieuse a perdure, car une communaute juive a subsiste localement jusqu’a nos jours. En 2002, un attentat attribue a Al-Qaida puis les consequences de la revolution dite « de Jasmin » (2011) ont particulierement limite cette inclusivite, ainsi que le retour ponctuel de ces juifs tunisiens en quete de racines. Le pelerinage annuel revet en effet une forte dimension memorielle et identitaire valorisee par l’Etat au nom d’une mythique « convivencia ». Plus largement, cet article vise a apprehender cette heterogeneite interconfessionnelle en questionnant la problematique de l’ouverture de ce sanctuaire emblematique des croisements devotionnels entre juifs et musulmans au Maghreb.
En particulier deux workshops hybrides, un à Jérusalem (26 novembre 2020) en remplacement de celu... more En particulier deux workshops hybrides, un à Jérusalem (26 novembre 2020) en remplacement de celui prévu en mars et un autre à Tunis (26 mai 2021) en hommage au photographe Jacques Perez, ainsi qu'un panel au congrès de la Société des études juives (14 décembre 2021).
International audienceBasandosi su studi etnografici che restituiscono un’immagine inedita, dal b... more International audienceBasandosi su studi etnografici che restituiscono un’immagine inedita, dal basso, di una religiosità in movimento, questo volume attesta la vitalità della mobilità religiosa nelle varie aree del Mediterraneo. Qui i pellegrinaggi hanno saputo adattarsi ai cambiamenti sociali e tecnologici e sembrano addirittura nutrirsene per fortificarsi. L’aspetto religioso è indissociabile dalle implicazioni economiche, politiche e sociali di questa mobilità, che possono a loro volta avere ripercussioni su vasta scala. Il bacino mediterraneo appare così come un laboratorio comparativo estremamente fecondo per l’antropologia
Shared Sacred Sites in the Balkans and the Mediterranean / Κοινοί Ιεροί Τόποι στα Βαλκάνια και στη Μεσόγειο , 2018
As they have done for centuries, Christians, Jews and Muslims pray today in sanctuaries belonging... more As they have done for centuries, Christians, Jews and Muslims pray today in sanctuaries belonging to another religion. Shared sacred sites are a well–established phenomenon in the Mediterranean, revealing the permeability of the frontiers between religious communities. Despite theological differences, the three religions share a number of elements in terms of beliefs, rites, holy figures and sites. These crossovers, however, are not devoid of ambiguity and can sometimes also lead to conflict. The Mediterranean world thus offers many examples of sharing, but also of partition and division. The three–part exhibition Shared Sacred Sites explores this phenomenon by locating it through various examples in different contexts and by bringing forward the entangled places and practices, symbols and figures that define it. Thessaloniki, is ideally positioned to tell the story of “Shared Sacred Sites”, not only because the three monotheistic religions have historically flourished here, but also because today the city finds itself at the Mediterranean crossroads of migration. The three–part exhibition, designed as a sort of ‘pilgrimage’ to the city, reveals both historical and contemporary aspects of “sharing the sacred.”
In a world torn apart by ethnic, political, and religious struggles, there could be no better ill... more In a world torn apart by ethnic, political, and religious struggles, there could be no better illustration of coexistence than the extensive history of sacred sites shared by members of different beliefs and backgrounds. Chronicles of the three monotheistic faiths are full of examples of conflicts and antagonisms, but also of occurrences of cohabitation, hospitality, and tolerance. The maps of the Mediterranean and the Near East are strewn with examples of shared sacred sites. Yesterday as today, many believers – Jews, Christians or Muslims – do not hesitate to pray in the holy place of another religion. Often people of different religions converge in the same sanctuary because they are animated by a common quest for supernatural help, and seek the protection of a particular saint with a reputation for efficacy. Despite theological differences, the Abrahamic religions possess many common elements, such as beliefs, rites, stories, and personages. These mutual influences and superimpositions form a fertile ground for the sharing of sacred sites, even if they may also generate the partition of such places between different denominations.
This book has been published on the occasion of the exhibition "Shared Sacred Sites" at the The New York Public Library, The Morgan Library & Museum, The James Gallery at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, March 27–June 30, 2018
Despite the different types of pilgrimage (internal, moral, and place pilgrimage), they all invol... more Despite the different types of pilgrimage (internal, moral, and place pilgrimage), they all involve movement and an engagement with the sacred. Anthropological research has focused mainly on place pilgrimage and this entry begins by outlining the social and economic processes which have encouraged the growth of this form of pilgrimage since the 1960s. It then proceeds to discuss both religious and nonreligious place pilgrimage around the world and illustrates these pilgrimages through particular examples. Key changes in the anthropological study of pilgrimage since the 1970s are considered next and the entry concludes by outlining two promising avenues which researchers are exploring: (1) alternatives to the dominant constructivist approach; and (2) attempts to break down the boundaries between Anglophone and non‐Anglophone pilgrimage research.
In this article, I discuss several options for apprehending the rurality of the Mediterranean wor... more In this article, I discuss several options for apprehending the rurality of the Mediterranean world. The place, if any, of the ‘rural’ is related to the geographical basis of the construction of the Mediterranean as a scholarly category. A broad conception of the Mediterranean world that treats it as a region encompassing large parts of the hinterland must take the rural dimension into account. This is demonstrated through a discussion of two historiographical masterpieces dealing with Mediterranean history from the perspective of the longue durée – Braudel’s Mediterranean and Horden and Purcell’s The Corrupting Sea – which are among the best representatives of this broad conception of the Mediterranean region. However, although Braudel devoted many pages to the rural world, he sometimes offers a distor- ted view of rurality, thus ending up affirming the traditional view of the centrality of the Mediterranean town, influenced by an urbano-centric vision of the region and a solid environmental determinism. In criticizing these biases, Horden and Purcell announce their programmatic intention of ruralizing Mediterranean history, though they finish by revoking the category of the rural itself, alongside that of the urban. They propose instead a view of the Mediterranean world as characterized by the endless vibrancy of the variegated realm of microecologies, with their infinite and minuscule manifestations of connectivity. Their comparative approach implies a passage from the lowest common denominator of microecologies to the whole region, without intermediate levels. The article suggests that, in constructing a history of Mediterranean ruralities, it is important to build a comparative perspective going beyond both Braudel’s determinism and Horden and Purcell’s indifference to space. In this perspective, microecologies should be organized into a sort of ‘Linnaean system’ through a process of separation that takes into account intermediate scales in space and time. From this point of view, ecological types, as portrayed by Braudel, may offer a suitable starting point for a comparative analysis of the various contours of rurality in Mediterranean history. Braudelian ecological types could be a preliminary tool for organizing the analysis of difference, thus building a comparative perspective that takes into account a number of socio-cultural variables that are absent from Horden and Purcell’s perspective. Drawing on material from anthropological and historical research I have carried out in the Alps, I propose some pathways towards a comparative perspective of this sort.
"In a world torn apart by ethnic, political, and religious struggles, there could be no better il... more "In a world torn apart by ethnic, political, and religious struggles, there could be no better illustration of coexistence than the extensive history of sacred sites shared by members of different beliefs and backgrounds. Chronicles of the three monotheistic faiths are full of examples of conflicts and antagonisms, but also of occurrences of cohabitation, hospitality, and tolerance. The maps of the Mediterranean and the Near East are strewn with examples of shared sacred sites. Yesterday as today, many believers – Jews, Christians or Muslims – do not hesitate to pray in the holy place of another religion. Often people of different religions converge in the same sanctuary because they are animated by a common quest for supernatural help, and seek the protection of a particular saint with a reputation for efficacy. Despite theological differences, the Abrahamic religions possess many common elements, such as beliefs, rites, stories, and personages. These mutual influences and superimpositions form a fertile ground for the sharing of sacred sites, even if they may also generate the partition of such places between different denominations."
Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Shared Sacred Sites" at The New York Public Library, The Morgan Library & Museum, The James Gallery at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY), March 27–June 30, 2018
In North Africa the long-term coexistence between Jews and Muslims has given rise to numerous cro... more In North Africa the long-term coexistence between Jews and Muslims has given rise to numerous crossovers and interactions between the two faiths. It was not uncommon for people of one religion to visit the shrine of another religion to obtain baraka (“divine grace” or “blessing” in Arabic). The act of sharing holy places (such as the tombs of rabbis or Muslim saints) was even an important phenomenon in the Maghreb. But after the Sephardic Jews left North Africa in the second half of the twentieth century, incidences of this cross-fertilization died out with the exception of a few places, mainly in Morocco and Tunisia. Despite the large-scale immigration of Jews, a local Jewish community of hundreds of people still inhabits the island of Djerba in southeastern Tunisia, and has maintained an important pilgrimage that draws Tunisian Jews from Europe, Israel, and North America. Although the Ghriba hiloula is a well-known phenomenon in Tunisia, the synagogue has been less studied in terms of sharing and interfaith heterogeneity. This essay aims to understand interfaith practices by examining the sanctuary’s open qualities, both as a local place of worship dedicated to the regular service of the community, and as a powerful holy place of pilgrimage.
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Papers by Dionigi Albera
The three–part exhibition Shared Sacred Sites explores this phenomenon by locating it through various examples in different contexts and by bringing forward the entangled places and practices, symbols and figures that define it.
Thessaloniki, is ideally positioned to tell the story of “Shared Sacred Sites”, not only because the three monotheistic religions have historically flourished here, but also because today the city finds itself at the Mediterranean crossroads of migration. The three–part exhibition, designed as a sort of ‘pilgrimage’ to the city, reveals both historical and contemporary aspects of “sharing the sacred.”
ISBN 978-960-6777-29-5
Often people of different religions converge in the same sanctuary because they are animated by a common quest for supernatural help, and seek the protection of a particular saint with a reputation for efficacy. Despite theological differences, the Abrahamic religions possess many common elements, such as beliefs, rites, stories, and personages. These mutual influences and superimpositions form a fertile ground for the sharing of sacred sites, even if they may also generate the partition of such places between different denominations.
This book has been published on the occasion of the exhibition "Shared Sacred Sites" at the The New York Public Library, The Morgan Library & Museum, The James Gallery at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, March 27–June 30, 2018
ISBN 978-0-692-12337-9
The article suggests that, in constructing a history of Mediterranean ruralities, it is important to build a comparative perspective going beyond both Braudel’s determinism and Horden and Purcell’s indifference to space. In this perspective, microecologies should be organized into a sort of ‘Linnaean system’ through a process of separation that takes into account intermediate scales in space and time. From this point of view, ecological types, as portrayed by Braudel, may offer a suitable starting point for a comparative analysis of the various contours of rurality in Mediterranean history. Braudelian ecological types could be a preliminary tool for organizing the analysis of difference, thus building a comparative perspective that takes into account a number of socio-cultural variables that are absent from Horden and Purcell’s perspective. Drawing on material from anthropological and historical research I have carried out in the Alps, I propose some pathways towards a comparative perspective of this sort.
Often people of different religions converge in the same sanctuary because they are animated by a common quest for supernatural help, and seek the protection of a particular saint with a reputation for efficacy. Despite theological differences, the Abrahamic religions possess many common elements, such as beliefs, rites, stories, and personages. These mutual influences and superimpositions form a fertile ground for the sharing of sacred sites, even if they may also generate the partition of such places between different denominations."
Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Shared Sacred Sites" at The New York Public Library, The Morgan Library & Museum, The James Gallery at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY), March 27–June 30, 2018
Although the Ghriba hiloula is a well-known phenomenon in Tunisia, the synagogue has been less studied in terms of sharing and interfaith heterogeneity. This essay aims to understand interfaith practices
by examining the sanctuary’s open qualities, both as a local place
of worship dedicated to the regular service of the community, and
as a powerful holy place of pilgrimage.