Week 9- Marisa Gee

            Ritskes’ article I think reinforced and consolidated a lot of the larger themes we’ve discussed during the quarter so far. The importance of connections reminds me of the Earth Songs we discussed the week prior and much of our class has been focused on how analyzing spirit realm studies’ space in academia currently. We’ve looked at the oppressive structures that serve to suppress spirit realm studies and I liked Ritskes’ take on shifting away from colonial norms, in a sense I believe he’s saying that we need to decolonize the system. I also particularly enjoyed his commentary on how religion and spirituality seem to have split, when in reality as Ritskes points out elements of both exist in the other. Meaning, spirituality is inherent in religion and on the flip side, structure (while less rigid) is inherent to spirituality. Going back to the theme of connectedness, I learned about indigenous knowledge forms as promoting the idea of resources vs. relatives. In this way, the natural world and all of the connections are seen as relatives, deserving of respect vs. simply as resources for the taking. What do you think it would take to shift our mainstream views into seeing the connectedness of everything and thus the relatedness? We often talk about resistance and education and the creation of safe spaces but I often see that their reach is limited. Is there more that can be done?

            The Fool as a symbol of embarking on a new journey into uncharted water is reflective of our ASA 189B class as a whole. I can personally say I’ve never taken a class like this during my years at UC Davis (that being said I’ve also never taken a religious studies class) and this class has had a lot of firsts. I also see The Adoptee as a way to remake the position of spirit realm studies going forward in the future, but there is also an emphasis placed on reflecting on the past traumas that spirit realm studies has experienced in academia thus far. The Lecher I had more trouble connecting to the theme of this week, but I see it as a warning, to analyze the systems that bind us and to look beyond the individual level as Ritskes also mentions.

References

The Adoptee, The Fool, The Lecher (Tarot Cards)

Eric Ritskes. “Connected: Indigenous Spirituality as Resistance in the Classroom.”

Image

https://spiritualevolution1111.tumblr.com/image/57708183131