Language Appropriation and Identity Construction in New Religious Movements: Peoples Temple as Test Case
This article uses sociolinguistic research on cultural markers, combined with Tim Murphy’s semiotic theory of religion, to argue that linguistic fluency signals and shapes group identity in new religious movements. Asserting that religions are systems of signification with shifting meanings, I argue...
| Published in: | Journal of the American Academy of Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Peoples Temple
/ Language usage
/ New religion
/ Religious identity
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article uses sociolinguistic research on cultural markers, combined with Tim Murphy’s semiotic theory of religion, to argue that linguistic fluency signals and shapes group identity in new religious movements. Asserting that religions are systems of signification with shifting meanings, I argue that examining acts of language appropriation lets scholars explain the influences, concerns, and behaviors of new religions. Moreover, I use Murphy’s focus on asymmetrical relations to show that new religions appropriate and recode extant terms in ways that disempower competing groups while simultaneously constructing their own identity. To demonstrate this theory, I examine language appropriation in Peoples Temple; specifically, Jim Jones’s recoding of the racial slur nigger. Jones simultaneously supported and subverted nigger’s usual connotations to critique American society while casting his congregation as a persecuted—but ultimately noble—minority. This recoding encouraged members to express unity by accepting collective guilt, contributing to the group’s demise. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfw082 |