Koinonia through commensality?
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Rosa Huotari
Abstract
Drawing from ethnography in six faith-based community food banks located in urban Finland, this paper explores the dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion as manifested in everyday life in food assistance. The findings propose that different framings, social distances and power hierarchies affect both promoting and experiencing social inclusion and exclusion that appear situational and relational through the everyday discourse and praxis. By reflecting on these dynamics from a theological perspective and employing the concept of ‘lived koinonia’, the discussion shows that the food banks are still hesitant to imagine themselves as a source of liberation that would challenge structural, epistemic inequalities.
Zusammenfassung
Auf der Grundlage einer ethnographischen Untersuchung von sechs religiösen Lebensmittelbanken im städtischen Finnland untersucht dieser Beitrag die Dynamiken sozialer Inklusion und Exklusion, wie sie sich im Alltag der Lebensmittelhilfe manifestieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass unterschiedliche Rahmungen, soziale Distanzen und Machthierarchien sowohl die Förderung als auch die Erfahrung von sozialer Inklusion und Exklusion beeinflussen. Inklusion und Exklusion erscheinen als situativ und relational, geprägt von alltäglichen Diskursen und Praktiken. Die theologische Reflexion dieser Dynamiken und die Verwendung des Konzepts der „gelebten Koinonia“ zeigen, dass die Tafeln noch zögern, sich als Quelle von Befreiung zu verstehen, die strukturelle und epistemische Ungleichheiten in Frage stellt.
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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- Editorial
- Boundary Crossing
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- Christian Practical Theology and Islam: Disciplinary Intersections and Opportunities for Growth
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- In Search of Dialogical Partners for Asian Practical Theology
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- Sa Awa ng Diyos (Through God’s Mercy): Investigating the Family and Faith Lives of Left-Behind Fathers
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- Book Reviews
- Julia Feder, Incarnating Grace: A Theology of Healing from Sexual Trauma, New York, NY (Fordham University Press) 2023, 240 pp., ISBN 978–1531504724, $30.
- Choi Hee An, A Postcolonial Relationship: Challenges of Asian Immigrants as the Third Other, Albany, NY (SUNY Press) 2022, 181pp., ISBN 9781438486574, $99.
- Chris A. M. Hermans, Kobus Schoeman (Eds.), Resilient Religion, Resilience and Heartbreaking Adversity, Berlin (LIT VERLAG) 2023, 195 pp., ISBN 978-3-643-91500-9 (pb), $49.38.
- Kristin Merle, Manuel Stetter, Katharina Krause (Eds.), Prekäres Wissen. Praktische Theologie im Horizont postkolonialer Theorien, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2024, 496 pp., ISBN 978-3-374-07604-8, 118 €.
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Boundary Crossing
- Research Report
- Christian Practical Theology and Islam: Disciplinary Intersections and Opportunities for Growth
- International Report
- In Search of Dialogical Partners for Asian Practical Theology
- Practice What We Teach: Academic Leadership in Times of Crisis
- The Paradoxical Concept of “Body” as Social Relation: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Corinth and an Indigenous Community in Lermatang, Maluku, Indonesia
- Sa Awa ng Diyos (Through God’s Mercy): Investigating the Family and Faith Lives of Left-Behind Fathers
- Koinonia through commensality?
- Forgiveness before its time: A theological reflection on the practice of forgiveness as experienced by Christian women survivors of sexual violence trauma
- Is the Machine Surpassing Humans?
- Preaching and Generative AI: A Perspective from Early 2024
- Who Is Interested (or Not) in Church-Administered Lifecycle Rituals?
- The Sociocultural Constructs Of Secular Time And Labour Among The Christian Farmers Of Tigray, Ethiopia
- Book Reviews
- Julia Feder, Incarnating Grace: A Theology of Healing from Sexual Trauma, New York, NY (Fordham University Press) 2023, 240 pp., ISBN 978–1531504724, $30.
- Choi Hee An, A Postcolonial Relationship: Challenges of Asian Immigrants as the Third Other, Albany, NY (SUNY Press) 2022, 181pp., ISBN 9781438486574, $99.
- Chris A. M. Hermans, Kobus Schoeman (Eds.), Resilient Religion, Resilience and Heartbreaking Adversity, Berlin (LIT VERLAG) 2023, 195 pp., ISBN 978-3-643-91500-9 (pb), $49.38.
- Kristin Merle, Manuel Stetter, Katharina Krause (Eds.), Prekäres Wissen. Praktische Theologie im Horizont postkolonialer Theorien, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2024, 496 pp., ISBN 978-3-374-07604-8, 118 €.
