Show Notes
In this episode, Michael and Michaela go to XO Books, the newest romance bookstore in Pōneke (Wellington), for an interview with bookseller Juliet Gengenbach. We discuss the transformative power of romance books, the misogyny that sidelines romance as a genre, and the close links between materiality and spirituality. Further Reading: Interview with David Morgan about Religion & Material Culture: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/podcast-david-morgan-on-material-religion/. Discussion Questions: Juliet argued that romance books can be profound and life-changing stories. What stories have you found to be inspiring, awe-inducing, or life-changing? For you, what is the relationship—if any—between genre and a story’s impact? A recurring theme in our conversation was how misogyny shows up in discourse about romance stories and even defining 'smut'. What does misogyny mean to you? We spoke at length about material culture. What does your religious tradition say about the importance of physical objects? Are there physical objects that are holy or sacred? If you don’t come from a religious tradition, are there any objects sacred to you? How do these objects become sacred? We suggested that the romance bookstore can operate as a religious site: a place of community, a repository of sacred texts, and a place of transformation. Look at the schedule and kaupapa [underlying philosophy] of a local community bookstore and a local religious site. What is similar? What is different?
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On Lived Religion: Nancy Ammerman, “Lived Religion as an Emerging Field,” Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 29, no. 2 (2022) https://www.tf.uio.no/forskning/forskergrupper/levd-religion/arrangementer/2022/ammerman-2016.pdf. On prototype theory: Kevin Schilbrack, "The Concept of Religion," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2022/entries/concept-religion. On stigma of romance novels: Elizabeth Reid Boyd, “To the mattresses: a defence of romance fiction,” The Conversation, February 14, 2017, https://theconversation.com/to-the-mattresses-a-defence-of-romance-fiction-72587. Molly Tullis, “The Power of Smut,” Freewriting Blog, Sept 28, 2024. https://getfreewrite.com/blogs/writing-success/the-power-of-smut-peeking-inside-the-internet-s-favorite-genre. Discussion Questions: How would you define smut? Think about your definition. What is excluded from your definition? Is there anything included that others might not include? On the pod, we talked about the politics of definitions and categories. What writing counts as ‘high brow’ versus ‘low brow’? Who decides these things? What is the result of these social categorisations? We made the case that definitions actually tell us more about ourselves and society than they do about the definition itself. What do you think of when you think of ‘religion’? What does that tell you about your social position?
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