Meneses, “Religiously Engaged Ethnography”
Abstract:Â Anthropology has rejected religiously based thought in its analysis from its inception. Now, due to developments in the anthropology of Christianity, âtheologically engaged anthropologyâ is inviting mutually productive interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology and theology. What might anthropology look like, going forward, if the religious views of ethnographers were to be included in the production of ethnographies? Those in reflexive ethnography have already acknowledged that ethnographersâ cultural backgrounds enter into representations of other cultures, and those in âthe ontological turnâ are challenging anthropologyâs ontological assumptions through the serious consideration of their interlocutorsâ views. I suggest that there is value for the discipline in permitting discourses of ethnography and analysis that reflect the multiple, sometimes religiously-based, ontologies of ethnographers as well.