Welcome to GEOG 424’s website! This site, and our group’s project in particular, can be navigated through the lens of how lived religion and institutionalized, “Big R” religion intersect and how these relationships play out on different scales. As you navigate this site, you will notice how different each oral history and person’s religious experiences are; however, the utilization of this lens can give insight as to how there is a unifying way to think about these stories. Lived religion refers to personalized actions or experiences that provide an individual with their own way of understanding and embodying their religiosity. Though this is often thought about alongside spirituality and very individualized approaches, we found that lived religion can also be linked to “Big R” religion as it pertains to institutionalized, community-based, “official” practices.
Our group found that each of our oral histories had themes that related to the ways in which the practices prescribed by institutions relate to practices that resonate most for each person on an individual, independent level. While browsing these projects, keep these questions in mind—under which circumstances does a person turn to the institution and the practices that it prescribes to? When do people connect to the “spiritual”? How do traditional religious practices influence the practices that individuals choose to partake in? And finally, when are “big R” and “little r” religion separate, when are they connected, and when are they the same?
Bria, Dana, Katherine, Shar, Anne