Contemporary Godparenthood in Central and Eastern Europe

Introduction

Bibliographic Data

ID8046010
AuthorsMonica Vasile (0000-0003-2034-3126, Romanian Academy, corresponding author), Jennifer R Cash (0000-0003-1213-2361, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany), Patrick Heady (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany)
Year2017
Volume43
Issue1
Pages3-11
Publication date2017-11-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Family History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0363-1990 • E-ISSN: 1552-5473
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0363199017738203
OpenAlexW2765282269
LanguageEN
Citations received3

This introduction to the collection opens up the conversation between historians and anthropologists about the practical significance and social meaning of spiritual kinship. By discussing the key findings of five anthropological studies—in Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova—we point to resemblances and differences. We examine common structural elements of the spiritual kinship system and the religious and material meanings involved. We find differing symbolic logics as well as different intensities of godparental practices, which can be described as a geographical, east-west gradient. Speaking broadly, the more to the east a place is, the more thriving the practice. In explaining the variation, ethnographic insights suggest that long-term differentiating trends are important, and also contemporary historical factors—substantial economic and political changes since the mid-twentieth century

Thriving · Variation (astronomy · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition · Soviet and Russian History

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