My emic reflexive ethnography questions.
Whats reflexive ethnography?
Within cultural anthropology, there are several sub-genres of ethnography. Beginning in the 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bio-confessional" ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Famous examples include Tristes Tropiques (1955) by Claude Lévi-Strauss, The High Valley by Kenneth Read, and The Savage and the Innocent by David Maybury-Lewis, as well as the mildly fictionalized Return to Laughter by Elenore Smith Bowen (Laura Bohannan). Later "reflexive" ethnographies refined the technique to translate cultural differences by representing their effects on the ethnographer. Famous examples include "Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight" by Clifford Geertz, Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco by Paul Rabinow, The Headman and I by Jean-Paul Dumont, and Tuhami by Vincent Crapanzano. In the 1980s, the rhetoric of ethnography was subjected to intense scrutiny within the discipline, under the general influence of literary theory and post-colonial/post-structuralist thought. "Experimental" ethnographies that reveal the ferment of the discipline include Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man by Michael Taussig, Debating Muslims by Michael F. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, A Space on the Side of the Road by Kathleen Stewart, and Advocacy after Bhopal by Kim Fortun. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography, accessed 7/21/2011)
This section contains questions for investigation in relation to Dr. Leland Jensens Teachings. Most of these questions will eventually be answered by research but for now they are just questions for pondering and investigation using anthropological and sociological methods.
Investigative Focus:
After initial investigations the main question of these studies seems to be about the break down in legitimate authority [ending of the Guardianship] in the Baha'i religion, specifically kin based leadership, and an examination of the different coping mechanisms adapted by believers to re-legitimate authority in their religion. Each sect has basically formulated a different way to address this issue. Several additional areas of investigation have surfaced such as the mythologizing process and it's impact on legitimation, multiculturalism in the American environment of Dr. Jensen's school, it is a very localized tradition which has adapted into it local Native traditions as well. Further, to be studied is the impact of religious change as the main sub-branch of his school that I study undergoes further changes and now emphasizes a doctrine based on Love rather then the more millenarian positions of it's founder, Dr. Jensen, I have never encountered such a diverse and interesting group of Baha'is anywhere in the world then those attached to Dr. Jensen's teachings, a group that continuously evolves which seems to be a value and functional design of Dr. Jensen for his group, an endogenous organic principle. With Anthropology primarily being a study of kin groups it is fortunate that the major cleavage point is a kin based relationship the argument of who is a member of the Prophet's kin, the Aghsan.
Myth Empowers Change -> Change empowers deeper Faith -> Faith reinterprets Myth
(myth need not be factual to be held in awe by a faith group, since groups are social constructions not actually objective in logic or consistency)
Reflexive Questions:
Why would Divinity anoint a convicted sex offender as a instrument of guidance, even though most adherents to Doc's teachings do not believe him to be infallible (ma'sum dhatiyya (essential infallibility), in Baha'i terms), a manifestation or a prophet but does have some conferred infallibility (ma'sum sifatiyya), can a convicted sex offender have the moral authority to found a new religious movement? A followup to this would be how does Doc derive his authority? How can we verify the conspiracy theory behind his conviction of a Masonic inspired "frame up", is it even necessary, does it matter aside from character assissination by those that don't agree with Dr. Jensen's positions? Is this similar or different from believers (muslims, baha'is) that give Prophet David (ar. nabi da'ud) authority although he was an adulterer and murderer whose iniquity (hebrew, `avon) was taken away by Yahweh and given a book of revelation the Psalms (az-Zubar), similar to Zech 3:3 in regards to Doc.
Inverse to the Q1 is the understanding that by going to prison Doc was fulfilling prophecy as set down by the Mormon Prophet George Williams. Why are there prophecies from one reform Mormon faith group that seem rather literal in their fulfillment by Doc going to prison in Deer Lodge, what is that phenomena?
Further in relation to Q1 how is it that the Bible in Zechariah 3, which Doc reports is what the angelic annunciation revealed to him in prison, seems to relate a verse about a High Priest that is made clean after having “dirty garments”, which is also the term for a sex offender in prison.
If Doc is a “promised one” why did he either make or approve so many predictions that did not come true? Is this not a process of sect creation studied by sociologists where sect leaders use such mechanisms to further refine group identity and define boundaries between the in-group and the out-groups [this is referred to as "weeding out" by Dr. Jensen's students]? Additionally, how much of this is performing universal acts of the shaman in a group. Further, how much of this is just normal Millenarian tendencies studied by sociologists in relation to social reform sects which Doc's group is considered one: a millenarian sect based in social protest of the dominant faith group.
Is it possible that “Divinity” is real and for whatever reasons gives “markers” or “tags” on certain communities and beliefs by way of pre-cognition (prophecy of the future such as George Williams') to raise awareness of certain important turning points in human development? Is prophecy a localized phenomena? Also, does not prophecy and fulfillment necessitate an emic ("insiders") perspective to become a fulfilled prophecy for a faith group? [for instance only Baha'is and Bayanis (Babis) believe in the fulfillment of the year 1844 in relation to the Biblical prophecies]
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Parapsychology
[in highly stratified societies kin based relationships become replaced by bureaucratic "state" mechanisms creating less social cohesion or communitas? small sects such as the BUPC resemble more a kin based hunter-gatherer group then a stratified civitas like the BWF]