Nicholas Lackenby
Biographic Data
| ID | 78523 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nicholas Lackenby |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nicholas |
| FAMILY NAME | Lackenby |
| SIGNATURE | LACKENBY N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3692-2536 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
History's sides: How people morally inscribe themselves into fractured times
This article considers how people think about history in terms of its 'sides'. When people claim to be on the 'right side' - or denounce others as being on the 'wrong side' - of history, they simultaneously evoke a (culturally specific) concept of 'history' and morally evaluate its passage. This article thinks about this process with reference to the interplay between what Michael Lambek identifies as 'historical consciousness' and 'historical co…
Ecclesiological rifts and methodological possibilities: Thoughts on Ukraine from Serbia
Have you visited our monasteries? Serbian monastic heritage as religious infrastructure
In Serbia, monasteries are shared points of reference, permeating everyday life in banal ways. This contribution considers the extensive network of Serbian monasteries as a form of ‘religious infrastructure’. Monasteries sit in a recursive, mutually formative relationship with ideas about the Serbian collective self. Just as monasteries shape claims about the historical rootedness of the Serbian people, so discourse about Serbdom positions monast…
A technology of re-enchantment: Reading, referencing, and redistributing Orthodox 'spiritual literature' in post-Yugoslav Serbia
This article explores the issue of 're-enchantment' through an ethnographic analysis of 'spiritual literature' in post-Yugoslav Serbia. Following the anthropologist Alfred Gell, it argues that Orthodox texts can be understood as 'enchanted technology' which, in turn, allows them to work as a 'technology of enchantment'. Spiritual literature - distributed as physical objects between bags, bookshelves, bookshops, and kiosks, as well as digitally vi…
Evoking Eternity: Orthodox Co-presence in Post-Yugoslav Central Serbia
This article approaches the idea of eternity ethnographically. Specifically, it turns to post-Yugoslav central Serbia and the version of eternity (večnost) evoked by practicing Orthodox Christians in their daily lives. In this context, the eternal does not imply the everlastingness of persons and things in this life, or an inevitable cyclical "return." Rather, eternity constitutes a dimension outside of time that sits alongside the present, a dim…
Peoplehood and the Orthodox person: A view from central Serbia
Practising Orthodox Christians in central Serbia live their liturgical lives within the idiom of Serbian peoplehood. This article probes the 'people' (narod) - perceived locally as an historically and geographically rooted ethno-moral collectivity - as a core concept of belonging which is key for understanding post-Yugoslav Orthodox life. The 'people' functions as a this-worldly collective identity within which my interlocutors situate themselves…
“Symphonia”? A New Patriarch Attempts to Redefine Church–State Relations in Serbia
The authors examine the relationship between Church and state in Serbia since the election of the new patriarch in February 2021. They demonstrate the ways in which Church and state have begun to take divergent paths. This is not to suggest that political and ecclesiastical power are not deeply entwined in contemporary Serbia—they are. However, the authors show how—contrary to accounts which present Church and state as practically homologous—cler…
Eating, Eschatology, Expectation: Fasting and Salvation in Serbian Orthodox Christianity
Practising Orthodox Christians in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo 'work on' their salvation by striving to live a 'liturgical life' structured around attending the Divine Liturgy, taking Divine Communion regularly, and fasting. However, in these committed churchgoing circles there is little explicit eschatological discussion about the Second Coming. The paper argues that the intensity of fasting practices in the liturgical everyday not only …
'They're so into it': Perceptions of 'Religion', Orthodoxy and Belonging in Post-Yugoslav Serbia
Much has been written about how people embraced new religious identities following the collapse of socialist regimes. This article argues that it is also important to consider the perspective of those (sometimes sceptical) people who may be less eager to participate in new, emergent forms of embodied religious practice. In the ethnographic context of post-Yugoslav Serbia, I ask how 'religion' is perceived, constituted, and evaluated from the side…
Orthodoxy in Serbia: Between its public image and the everyday religiosity of its believers
This article characterises and contrasts the most visible changes in the Serbian Church’s public role with less visible and analysed trends among its believers. A very tight intertwining of the religious and the political elevated the Serbian Church’s institutional position, secured an unprecedented construction boom, and even influenced some devotional practices of the faithful, especially through victimhood-oriented collective identity building…
Apophatic love, contagion, and surveillance: Orthodox Christian responses to the global pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Orthodox Christians globally reacted to the possibility of contagion and risk in dialogue with theological positions about materials, their own long history which includes surviving previous pandemics and plagues, governmental and civil expectations and edicts, and pious - but often unofficial - understandings about protection and the sacrality of religious artefacts and the space of the temple. This article draws up…
Paper Icons and Fasting Bodies: The Esthetic Formations of Serbian Orthodoxy
Drawing on ethnographic data from central Serbia, the article uses the concept of “esthetic formations” to consider how divergent expressions of Orthodox Christianity intersect in postsocialist space. The majority of Serbs identify as “Orthodox” and Orthodox imagery pervades the public sphere-but only a minority engage concertedly with liturgical practice. Through their regular fasting and churchgoing such self-identifying “believers” embody an O…
Eating, Eschatology, Expectation: Fasting and Salvation in Serbian Orthodox Christianity
Practising Orthodox Christians in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo 'work on' their salvation by striving to live a 'liturgical life' structured around attending the Divine Liturgy, taking Divine Communion regularly, and fasting. However, in these committed churchgoing circles there is little explicit eschatological discussion about the Second Coming. The paper argues that the intensity of fasting practices in the liturgical everyday not only …
Peoplehood and the Orthodox person: A view from central Serbia
Practising Orthodox Christians in central Serbia live their liturgical lives within the idiom of Serbian peoplehood. This article probes the 'people' (narod) - perceived locally as an historically and geographically rooted ethno-moral collectivity - as a core concept of belonging which is key for understanding post-Yugoslav Orthodox life. The 'people' functions as a this-worldly collective identity within which my interlocutors situate themselves…
Paper Icons and Fasting Bodies: The Esthetic Formations of Serbian Orthodoxy
Drawing on ethnographic data from central Serbia, the article uses the concept of “esthetic formations” to consider how divergent expressions of Orthodox Christianity intersect in postsocialist space. The majority of Serbs identify as “Orthodox” and Orthodox imagery pervades the public sphere-but only a minority engage concertedly with liturgical practice. Through their regular fasting and churchgoing such self-identifying “believers” embody an O…
Ecclesiological rifts and methodological possibilities: Thoughts on Ukraine from Serbia
Have you visited our monasteries? Serbian monastic heritage as religious infrastructure
In Serbia, monasteries are shared points of reference, permeating everyday life in banal ways. This contribution considers the extensive network of Serbian monasteries as a form of ‘religious infrastructure’. Monasteries sit in a recursive, mutually formative relationship with ideas about the Serbian collective self. Just as monasteries shape claims about the historical rootedness of the Serbian people, so discourse about Serbdom positions monast…
A technology of re-enchantment: Reading, referencing, and redistributing Orthodox 'spiritual literature' in post-Yugoslav Serbia
This article explores the issue of 're-enchantment' through an ethnographic analysis of 'spiritual literature' in post-Yugoslav Serbia. Following the anthropologist Alfred Gell, it argues that Orthodox texts can be understood as 'enchanted technology' which, in turn, allows them to work as a 'technology of enchantment'. Spiritual literature - distributed as physical objects between bags, bookshelves, bookshops, and kiosks, as well as digitally vi…
Apophatic love, contagion, and surveillance: Orthodox Christian responses to the global pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Orthodox Christians globally reacted to the possibility of contagion and risk in dialogue with theological positions about materials, their own long history which includes surviving previous pandemics and plagues, governmental and civil expectations and edicts, and pious - but often unofficial - understandings about protection and the sacrality of religious artefacts and the space of the temple. This article draws up…
'They're so into it': Perceptions of 'Religion', Orthodoxy and Belonging in Post-Yugoslav Serbia
Much has been written about how people embraced new religious identities following the collapse of socialist regimes. This article argues that it is also important to consider the perspective of those (sometimes sceptical) people who may be less eager to participate in new, emergent forms of embodied religious practice. In the ethnographic context of post-Yugoslav Serbia, I ask how 'religion' is perceived, constituted, and evaluated from the side…
Orthodoxy in Serbia: Between its public image and the everyday religiosity of its believers
This article characterises and contrasts the most visible changes in the Serbian Church’s public role with less visible and analysed trends among its believers. A very tight intertwining of the religious and the political elevated the Serbian Church’s institutional position, secured an unprecedented construction boom, and even influenced some devotional practices of the faithful, especially through victimhood-oriented collective identity building…
Apophatic love, contagion, and surveillance: Orthodox Christian responses to the global pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Orthodox Christians globally reacted to the possibility of contagion and risk in dialogue with theological positions about materials, their own long history which includes surviving previous pandemics and plagues, governmental and civil expectations and edicts, and pious - but often unofficial - understandings about protection and the sacrality of religious artefacts and the space of the temple. This article draws up…
Paper Icons and Fasting Bodies: The Esthetic Formations of Serbian Orthodoxy
Drawing on ethnographic data from central Serbia, the article uses the concept of “esthetic formations” to consider how divergent expressions of Orthodox Christianity intersect in postsocialist space. The majority of Serbs identify as “Orthodox” and Orthodox imagery pervades the public sphere-but only a minority engage concertedly with liturgical practice. Through their regular fasting and churchgoing such self-identifying “believers” embody an O…
“Symphonia”? A New Patriarch Attempts to Redefine Church–State Relations in Serbia
The authors examine the relationship between Church and state in Serbia since the election of the new patriarch in February 2021. They demonstrate the ways in which Church and state have begun to take divergent paths. This is not to suggest that political and ecclesiastical power are not deeply entwined in contemporary Serbia—they are. However, the authors show how—contrary to accounts which present Church and state as practically homologous—cler…
Eating, Eschatology, Expectation: Fasting and Salvation in Serbian Orthodox Christianity
Practising Orthodox Christians in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo 'work on' their salvation by striving to live a 'liturgical life' structured around attending the Divine Liturgy, taking Divine Communion regularly, and fasting. However, in these committed churchgoing circles there is little explicit eschatological discussion about the Second Coming. The paper argues that the intensity of fasting practices in the liturgical everyday not only …
Ecclesiological rifts and methodological possibilities: Thoughts on Ukraine from Serbia
Have you visited our monasteries? Serbian monastic heritage as religious infrastructure
In Serbia, monasteries are shared points of reference, permeating everyday life in banal ways. This contribution considers the extensive network of Serbian monasteries as a form of ‘religious infrastructure’. Monasteries sit in a recursive, mutually formative relationship with ideas about the Serbian collective self. Just as monasteries shape claims about the historical rootedness of the Serbian people, so discourse about Serbdom positions monast…
A technology of re-enchantment: Reading, referencing, and redistributing Orthodox 'spiritual literature' in post-Yugoslav Serbia
This article explores the issue of 're-enchantment' through an ethnographic analysis of 'spiritual literature' in post-Yugoslav Serbia. Following the anthropologist Alfred Gell, it argues that Orthodox texts can be understood as 'enchanted technology' which, in turn, allows them to work as a 'technology of enchantment'. Spiritual literature - distributed as physical objects between bags, bookshelves, bookshops, and kiosks, as well as digitally vi…
Evoking Eternity: Orthodox Co-presence in Post-Yugoslav Central Serbia
This article approaches the idea of eternity ethnographically. Specifically, it turns to post-Yugoslav central Serbia and the version of eternity (večnost) evoked by practicing Orthodox Christians in their daily lives. In this context, the eternal does not imply the everlastingness of persons and things in this life, or an inevitable cyclical "return." Rather, eternity constitutes a dimension outside of time that sits alongside the present, a dim…
Peoplehood and the Orthodox person: A view from central Serbia
Practising Orthodox Christians in central Serbia live their liturgical lives within the idiom of Serbian peoplehood. This article probes the 'people' (narod) - perceived locally as an historically and geographically rooted ethno-moral collectivity - as a core concept of belonging which is key for understanding post-Yugoslav Orthodox life. The 'people' functions as a this-worldly collective identity within which my interlocutors situate themselves…
History's sides: How people morally inscribe themselves into fractured times
This article considers how people think about history in terms of its 'sides'. When people claim to be on the 'right side' - or denounce others as being on the 'wrong side' - of history, they simultaneously evoke a (culturally specific) concept of 'history' and morally evaluate its passage. This article thinks about this process with reference to the interplay between what Michael Lambek identifies as 'historical consciousness' and 'historical co…
Sociology (10 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Balkans: History, Politics, Society (7 works) · Serbian (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · History (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (6 works) · Religious Tourism and Spaces (6 works) · Law (5 works)