The Latvian Association of Anthropologists, in collaboration with Rīga Stradiņš University's Social Anthropology programme, cordially invites you to the upcoming public talk 'Essence/Relation: polytheism, history and Japanese spirits (kami)' by Tobia Farnetti, Honorary Research Associate at University College London.

The literature on polytheistic syncretic religions such as Candomble and Santeria has focused on two different conceptualisations of the gods: on the one hand the gods are immutable essences, given entities impervious to the forces of history and change, while on the other they are motile entities in flux, constantly made and re-made by people and their engagements with their environment. This talk aims to inject the spirits of Japanese Shinto (kami) into the debate to propose a different way of thinking about polytheism. Through an engagement with everyday ritual, shrine chronicles and family histories I aim to show the ways in which the kami exist both as essences outside of time and as motile crystallizations of historical relationships. In turn, I argue that these are not divergent conceptualisations but rather interrelated ways to engage the spirits which depend on each other - history and eternity come to converge in particular moments of the ritual calendar bringing forth a new way to understand polytheism and its relationship to historical change.

About the speaker

Tobia Farnetti is Honorary Research Associate at University College London (UCL), where he teaches and completed his PhD. His main areas of research are Japan and the intersection of religion, politics and aesthetics.