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ABSTRACT
An ecstatic phenomenon usually labelled with the emic term rørelse (in English literally stirrings, motions or movement) has been central in the description and theoretical interpretation of the Laestadian Christian religious movement in northern Fennoscandia. The article considers two tendencies in the scholarly discussion. Firstly, how the discussion relies on descriptions of the rørelse derived from an evolutionary research paradigm applied to the Sami people during the late 1800s and the early 1900s, and secondly, how theories concerning the rørelse have been used in ideologically laden arguments to map the Laestadian movement as a specific Sami Christian revival. This has implied that the rørelse has been a pillar in arguments regarding the continuity of Sami religion (noaidavoutna) in the Laestadian movement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. I will use the Norwegian and Swedish word “rørelse” throughout this article.
2. The descriptions of the rørelse in Otterbech (Citation1920) and Smith (Citation1938, 210) are completely coherent, suggesting that Smith used Otterbech as a source. Otterbech’s text can also be found in Smith’s references.
3. Otterbech (Citation1920, 42) also emphasized that it was only women who experienced the rørelse. Other sources (cf. Edquist Citation1916, 19–20) suggest that more women than men experienced the rørelse. However, other observers (cf. Koch Citation1918, 111; Hasselberg Citation1935, 280–282; Bergqvist Citation1939, 70; Dahlbäck Citation1953) suggest that it also affected men. Source material from ministers in northern Norway in the late 1800s nevertheless implies that women accounted for the loudest outbursts. Still, this material is more or less solely written by male ministers.
4. The rørelse did not only occur during communion in church but also in the Laestadians’ own assemblies (cf. Nordström Citation1921, 99).
5. See Rydving (Citation1995, Citation2010) for a critical discussion about these sources.
6. The argument that women were especially predisposed for ecstatic phenomena corresponds well with the dominating Victorian view on women and hysteria (cf. Znamenski Citation2007).
7. Meistad does not give any examples on what he refers to concerning ecstatic phenomena among the Kvens.
8. Hultkranz’s theory can be related to explanations of “pibloqtok” among the Inghuit in the American anthropological research. He refers to Wallace and Ackerman’s (Citation1960) work, which later was thoroughly criticized (cf. Dick Citation1995, Citation2001).