RISULTATI RICERCA

This paper draws on Aron Gurwitsch’s theory of relevance which was of outstanding importance for both Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body and Harold Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology. In the first part we discuss Gurwitsch’s conception of relevance in contrast to Schutz’. We then develop a theory of embodied reflexivity drawing on Merleau-Ponty and Garfinkel together with some newer approaches on embodied practice and knowledge. In the second, empirical section we use the concepts and conceptions developed for the description and analysis of selected video recordings of systemic constellation sessions. Systemic constellation is a psychotherapeutic method which is used predominantly in psychological and pedagogical contexts as well as in management consultations. The basic assumption underlying constellations work is that the experiences of representatives are relevant for the person who has initiated the constellation and that they provide information about the issue at hand. The origin, validity, and reliability of the representatives’ bodily and relational self-perception is difficult to assess and even more difficult to explain. In our contribution we propose a vocabulary with reference to Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty, and Garfinkel, that, as we think, allows for the description of the phenomenon and at the same time throws a light on how relevance can be understood from a sociological perspective inspired by phenomenology.

Together with the concept of lifeworld, the concept of relevance plays a central role in the sociology developed by Alfred Schutz. Both concepts are in some way connected to each other, as occurs with most of the concepts he deals with, it means, the exploration of one concept leads necessarily to another one, making the understanding of Schutz’ work sometimes a complex task. The aim of this article is not so much to explore the concept of «relevance» in itself, but rather to scrutinize some implications of this idea for the sociological empirical investigation.

Food is not only a collection of products that can be used for statistical or nutritional studies. It is also a system of symbols and images, a protocol of usages, situations and behaviours. And this may also involve a belief in spiritual, invisible and transcendent entities. In brief, it can infer religion. Besides, food consumption cannot be seen as an isolated and innocent act. On the contrary, it is a part of the chains of interdependencies, which bind people together across the world, calling for a change in eating behaviours. To become more sustainable, the act of consuming food needs to be changed, in order to decrease diseases caused by food, eliminating the unreasonable- unfair exploitation and distributions of earth’s natural resources. In order to understand if religion can be seen as a sustainable medium in alimentation, the Author will briefly evaluate some theological roots and religious practices associated with food. His attention is in particular focused on selected examples referring to main Abrahamic religious organizations, that is Catholicism and Islam. Then, he underlines the relationships and interconnections between religious rules and consumerism, the ways in which both are reacting to the problems related to food. In this sense, he tries to explore the interplay and intersections between religion and "consuming passions" in contemporary society. This analysis will lead to better understand how religious and secular values responses to above-mentioned problems; the ways in which both can contribute to a more sustainable-fairly food consumption.

Although Greece is commonly considered as a Western democracy, ethnic and religious considerations. seem to affect the concept of citizenship diffused in Greek society. The constant reference of the church throughout Greek history and the exploitation of religion operated by the state have preserved a communitarian vision of belonging and exclusion. Several waves of nationalist propaganda have eventually reinforced a religious vision of citizenship and introduced an ethnic connotation. This orientation is supported by the constitution, where religion represents a source of exclusion. Among the factors that contributed to distancing the Greek Constitution from its liberal models, the Ottoman organization in millet, the integration of the Philhellenes’ vision in the policy of the church, and the incorporation of the latter in state administration during the Bavarian Monarchy appear as relevant. In this study a socio legal analysis of relevant constitutional articles is proposed in the light of historical considerations.

Starting from Rizzuto’s innovative model, the paper aims to open the debate on some issues concerning processes and outcomes (either mentally healthy or psychopatological) of the pathway leading from a psychic representation to the formation of a God concept and a personal attitude towards God, and their possible transformation along the life cycle. The question inherent to a typology (and predictability) of such paths seems to have to deal with a in-dividual’s clinical the development of an ego-syntonic religious attitude, il-lusion, disillusion, disappointment and delusion - invariably mingled and revolving around the pleasure principle -reality principle axis - are always to be found.

Il volume affronta il grande tema dell’insegnamento della religione nella scuola, con attenzione alle sue radici storiche, alla sua situazione concreta nella scuola italiana, all’interno dell’ampio dibattito che si è sviluppato sulle varie forme e possibilità di insegnamento scolastico delle religioni. Un testo pensato per pedagogisti e studiosi di scienze delle religioni, ma soprattutto per studenti universitari dell’area delle scienze umane e studenti e docenti delle facoltà teologiche, che sono specificamente interessati alla formazione degli insegnanti di religione e al loro continuo aggiornamento pedagogico-didattico.

The article considers how Barack Obama has utilised civil religion in his political career since the election to the White House, with particular attention to his religious formation. Through exploration of Obama’s writings and speeches, the paper analyze how in the political debate, and especially in his reflections on the dilemmas and contradictions of international relations, Obama has used religion to assert and claim a midline approach of government. It focuses on the influence of his political theology by Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright and the black church, white liberal Protestantism, his mother Ann Dunham’s skepticism, the pragmatism and the Niebuhr’s work. One aim of this paper is to underline how the religious impulse, in the Obama’s political views, has become consistent with the ethics of a pluralistic democracy. But these innovative, inclusive and national vision did not obtain all of his objectives, especially in the second presidential term because of international instability and the weakening of its leadership.

Fascism proclaimed to be a religious movement and many scholars today look at it as one of the totalitarian political religions of the 20th century. Did Italian Catholics perceive this aspect of the regime and did they feel Fascism as a religious danger? The essay examines a wide range of sources (newspapers, journals, books) and tries to specify the main different trends and phases in Catholic attitude: the dispute of the ’20s against the pagan State, the discussion, after the Conciliazione of 1929, on the religious nature of the Fascist totalitarian State, the persuasion that Nazism and Communism were both part of a common neo-pagan phenomenon, both forms of a new modern idolatry. For a long time, however, the idea of neo-paganism led to distinguish Italian Fascism from other political religions: Catholic analysts asserted that the difference between Fascism and Nazism lay exactly in the fact that Fascism, unlike Nazism, was not an antichristian religion. Nevertheless, at the end of the ’30s, with the growing friendship between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and the introduction of racism, eminent members of the clergy begun to consider pagan idolatry the most dangerous enemy for the Church, including Fascism in their condemnation. At the same time, Catholic interpretations viewed the religious dimension of Fascism more as a possible future menace (dangerously alive in some currents of the Pnf) than as the real nature of the Mussolini’s regime.

Il convegno organizzato a Bologna da Cesarina Casanova, Francesca Sofia e Vincenzo Lagioia (Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, 28-29 aprile 2014) ha mostrato la complessità della relazione tra religione e cultura dell’età dei Lumi, contribuendo a correggere il pregiudizio di un Illuminismo tutto irreligioso se non ateo e a moltiplicarne invece le immagini attraverso indagini su figure e casi particolarmente significativi. Gli studi presentati al convegno, interrogando la cultura dell’età attraverso l’idea di religione, hanno rilevato le certezze dell’Illuminismo, ma ne hanno sottolineato anche le difficoltà e le variazioni nei campi sensibili dell’esegesi biblica e della filosofia, delle istituzioni nazionali e della legislazione politica, della storia ecclesiastica e dei generi letterari..

Premessa. Una delle principali sfide che le seconde generazioni di immigrati devono affrontare e rappresentata dalla costruzione di un’identita sulla base di una doppia appartenenza culturale. Tale costruzione deriva, da una parte, dalla trasmissione culturale dei loro genitori e, dall’altra, dalla pretesa assimilativa esercitata dalla societa occidentale nei loro confronti. In aggiunta, nel caso delle seconde generazioni di immigrati cresciute in famiglie che confessano la fede islamica, la complessita nella costruzione identitaria puo essere esacerbata dalla presenza di una religione difficilmente conciliabile all’interno delle societa occidentali. Tra le sfide che questi giovani devono affrontare, emerge un’ulteriore complessita per le giovani musulmane, data dalla scelta di indossare il velo. Infatti, questa pratica viene spesso considerata dagli autoctoni come simbolo della subordinazione della donna alla volonta dell’uomo. L’obiettivo di questo studio e stato indagare, quindi, quale fosse il ruolo dell’Islam nella costruzione di un’identita religiosa attraverso un focus sulle principali differenze tra giovani uomini e donne musulmani. Metodo. In uno studio qualitativo, attraverso interviste semi-strutturate, e stato indagato il ruolo della religione islamica nella costruzione identitaria in un campione di 20 giovani marocchini di seconda generazione (F = 10; eta 18-27; M = 21; DS = 2.3). Le interviste sono state codificate attraverso il software Atlas.Ti. Risultati. I risultati hanno evidenziato una relazione tra il genere degli intervistati e il modo in cui viene vissuta la religione. Per i giovani musulmani l’identita religiosa viene considerata come un aspetto culturale ereditato. Per le giovani musulmane, invece, l’identita religiosa viene concepita come un sostegno per l’affermazione della loro identita multiculturale, principalmente attraverso la scelta libera di indossare il velo.