Time, Materiality, and History in UK-based Interfaith Solidarity Work

Egorova, Yulia

Abstract

In this paper, building upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted among members of one initiative of Jewish-Muslim dialogue in the UK, I will discuss how my interlocutors thematize the temporal dimension of anti-minority discrimination and perceive remaining historical material heritage associated with it. Using the example of problematic artefacts pertaining to mediaeval Lincoln, such as the so-called ‘shrine to the Little Hugh’, I will discuss how in engaging the memory of traumatic past events in Jewish history activists of inter-faith dialogue reflect on their current conditions of minoritization and attempt a projection of their communities’ lives in the UK in the future. I also borrow insight from the presentist theoretical framework in anthropology of time to highlight the impact that my interlocutors’ life histories have had on the way they relate to and conceptualize their own and other minoritized groups’ histories and imagine their personal and collective futures on the basis of their experiences in the present. I will suggest that in these reflections, narratives of positive historical trajectories in the minority experience sit alongside an anticipation of multiple possible futures, some inflected with anxiety about a repetition of difficult pasts, others imbued with a vision connecting the past, the present and the future of minoritized communities into a common presence.

Citation

Egorova, Y. (online). Time, Materiality, and History in UK-based Interfaith Solidarity Work. Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2024.2424719

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 30, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 15, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 1, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 27, 2024
• Journal: Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief
• Print ISSN: 1743-2200
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-8342
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2024.2424719
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3029382