Diversifying settler voices : how the lived religion approach can lead to a more inclusive colonial history / Elizabeth Offer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Offer, Elizabeth, author.

Series:

SAGE Research methods: diversifying and decolonizing research.

SAGE Research methods: diversifying and decolonizing research

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Colonies--Religious aspects--Research.

Colonies.

History--Research.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications Ltd, 2024.

Summary:

While undertaking PhD research, I came across an incredible source material: three infant dresses, delicately made and lovingly preserved by the descendants of Rebecca Abraham, who sewed the clothing when she lived in Ballarat between the 1860s and 1880s. This case study is an examination of the methodological and theoretical approaches I utilized in my PhD thesis and when writing a journal article on Rebecca Abraham and the infant dresses. It provides suggestions and directions for those undertaking similar research into material culture, religion, and colonial history. For the article, I relied upon material culture studies and a microhistorical approach, both of which I will describe in the case study. I was also grappling with my place as a potential ‘outsider' to the community I was studying and that even this rather simple dichotomy between an ‘insider'/‘outside' did not fully encapsulate my place as a researcher, an aspect I will also discuss. Through further reading, I found the lived religion approach. This approach provided a powerful and flexible theory through which I could uncover the shifting religious and social life of Rebecca Abraham, her family, and also her community. As such, it allowed for a greater diversification of colonial history, to deviate from overarching Protestant or Catholic colonialist narratives and allow for a more inclusive history to emerge.

Notes:

Description based on XML content.

ISBN:

1-5296-9071-4

9781529690712

OCLC:

1428169108