Embodying the sacred and profane: how temporal empires, narratives of salvation, and the prison regime value bodies in the United States

Abstract

Although analyses of the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ tend to remain within the discipline of religious studies, categories of sacrality and profane-ness actively shape and label all bodies in the United States. Combining theories of the sacred and profane with formulations of race, gender and sexuality, I investigate the social de/valuation of specific bodies at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. During each period, three structural factors influence these categorisations: empires of hegemonic social time, dominant Christian narratives of salvation and the role of prison. A comparative analysis demonstrates both continuity and specificity in producing sacred and profane bodies.

Keywords:

• Twentieth century
• twenty-first century
• theories of time
• prison industrial complex
• theology
• critical race theory

Notes

1. For the sacred and profane in business, see Belk, Melanie, and John (1989); for other disciplines, see next paragraph for further citations.

2. There is a fourth context in which ‘sacred’ is used interchangeably to mean ‘religion’ and ‘profane’ become interchangeable with ‘secular.’ In these instances, the sacred and profane are usually not employed as technical concepts but are shorthand for an assumed religious/secular dichotomy.