Weapons of the weak or weak weapons? Women, priests, and power negotiations in roman catholic parishes in rural Poland.

Abstract

Drawing on James Scott’s works on “everyday resistance” and “weapons of the weak”, this article inquires whether Roman Catholic women’s gossip and jokes about priests may lead to a redefi nition of priest-parishioners’ relations. Using ethnographic material collected during fi eld research in rural Poland, the article demonstrates the ambivalent nature of anticlerical jokes and rumours, which, rather than constituting a tool of change, reaffi rm the existing order. In putting forward this argument, the article critically engages with Scott’s theory and refl ects on the problematic role of researchers in presenting the issue of agency and resistance. The analyzed case-study from the Polish countryside constitutes a point of departure for addressing a broader context of church-state relations and the situation of women in the Catholic Church in Poland.

Keywords

• women
• Catholicism
• priests
• gossip
• jokes
• resistance and domination