@article{JEF, author = {James Kapaló}, title = { Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {7}, number = {1}, year = {2013}, keywords = {folk religion; vernacular religion; Romania; Bourdieu; Riesebrodt}, abstract = {‘Folk religion’ is a contested category within the study of religions, with scholars increasingly advocating its abandonment. This paper encourages a new critical engagement with ‘folk religion’ as both a category of analysis and as a field of practice. I argue for a renewed attentiveness to the ideological dimensions of categories deployed by scholars and to the relationship they bear to the field of practice they seek to signify. Firstly, I explore the discursive nature of the construction of ‘folk religion’ as a category of analysis and how its semantic loading functions to ‘pick up’ distinctive practices from the religious field. Secondly, drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Riesebrodt, I characterise the ‘folk religious field of practice’ as relational, a shifting site of competing agencies. My argument is illustrated with empirical examples drawn from ethnographic research in Romania and Moldova.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {3–18}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/116} }