No King, No Subject: How Theology Shapes Gendered Role Performances and Emotion Management in Patriarchal NRMs

• In Event: 284 - Regular Session. Gender

Abstract

New Religious Movements (NRMs) research has primarily considered gender in two distinct contexts: conversion into the movement and gender role variation across groups. Yet, the daily interactions that form and maintain the structure and culture of these NRMs are largely absent from the literature. Focusing specifically on patriarchal NRMs that impose traditional gender roles on their members these daily interactions as they pertain to maintaining long-term membership increase in importance. While there is a sizeable body of literature that has examined the ways women navigate traditional gender roles across settings from formal organizations (Hochschild 1979, 1983) to abusive relationships (Summers-Effler 2004), the NRMs literature has largely disregarded this micro-level dynamic. Drawing on an ethnography of one such movement, the Twelve Tribes, this paper elucidates the strategies for coping with subordination within a communal setting. Findings suggest that members implement “emotional vocabularies” (Clark 1997), allowing for the construction of feelings rules that tell them what emotions are appropriate in what settings. Additionally, women within this setting use language as a defensive strategy, while simultaneously constructing a structured defensive strategy that uses religious beliefs to protect from emotional energy losses associated with submission.

Author

• Amelia Blume, University of Arizona