Learning Religion: Exploring Young People’s Participation Through Timespace and Mediation at Confirmation Camp

Abstract

This article explores how material tools mediate affordances for and constraints on young people’s participation in the religious practice of confirmation. Learning is understood as a process of participation in a religious practice in which most participants enter as subalterns. The material established by ethnographic fieldwork from two confirmation camps is analyzed, and the findings suggest that time and space as unified features played a significant role in opening up or closing off participation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful for the support and advices from the LETRA research group at MF. I also thank my anonymous reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments on this article.

Notes

¹ Wertsch (1998) argued for the following basic characteristics of mediated actions: (a) mediated action is an irreducible tension between agent and mediational means; (b) mediational means are material; (c) mediated action typically has multiple simultaneous goals; (d) mediated action is situated on one or more developmental paths; (e) mediational means constrict, as well as enable action; (f) new mediational means transform mediated action; (g) the relationship of agents toward mediational means can be characterized in terms of mastery; (h) the relationship of agents toward mediational means can be characterized in terms of appropriation; (i) mediational means are often produced for reasons other than to facilitate mediated action; and (j) mediational means are associated with power and authority.

² The anthology The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (Schatzki et al., 2001) is an example of how authors work across disciplines to develop the understanding of practice. There are contributions from philosophy, social theory, practice theory, and posthuman theories. A common stance is that practice is an embodied activity and materially mediated.

³ With the concept of “activity timespace,” Schatzki has changed the analytical language from “practice” to “activity.” The difference between practice and activity is not always clear; both are theoretically laden concepts. I have chosen to use practice to avoid confusion. In this study, I use Schatzki’s theory of timespace as unified and constitutive features for practice.

⁴ The study is part of a larger project, LETRA, which examines learning and knowledge trajectories in congregations.

⁵ On July 22, 2011, Norway experienced two sequential terrorist attacks, leaving 77 persons killed. As many as 69 of the victims were young people who were attending the Workers’ Party Youth camp at Utøya, outside Oslo.

⁶ The information regarding the reading of prayer notes was unclear to the confirmands. Some understood that notes with an X mark implied that these were not to be read. To my knowledge, it was only the notes without marks that were read. The issue of reading the notes poses an ethical dilemma. The confirmands were given information about which notes would be read. However, this was obviously not absolutely clear to the confirmands. As a researcher, I did not read any notes, but I obtained the information through the interviews with the pastor and leaders.

⁷ This follows Leontev’s notion of motive or goal as a focal part in understanding human activity (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2006; Wertsch, 1998).