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It is often assumed that chaplains who serve in elite sports settings inhabit a position which facilitates a significant level of influence. Yet, in reality, sports chaplains routinely experience a sense of marginality within their host organizations, which is commonly perceived (both by themselves and others) as highly restrictive and constraining. Drawing upon the findings of a small-scale, qualitative study of chaplaincy within the US-based National Football League (NFL) and the English Premier League (EPL), this paper explores the contribution that a sports chaplain might make to their host organizations irrespective of the marginal position which they inhabit. Utilizing the anthropological work of Van Gennep (1960) and Turner (1969) on rites of passage, findings illustrate the level of ambiguity which often accompanies the 'liminal' role of the sports chaplain and the freedoms which this might afforded in terms of organizational impact. This paper concludes by suggesting that, whilst it is often viewed in a negative light, the sense of marginality which commonly characterizes chaplaincy has the potential to be re-configured as an opportunity to positively impact workplace relationships and organizational cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socialization of the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel in Israeli society, is marked by performing cultural customs and rituals to establish its unique tradition and collective ethnic narrative. The Sigd is a holiday that is celebrated on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, when the community marks its devotion to Zion by renewing the covenant between the Jewish people, God, and the Torah. This narrative of return to the homeland is also expressed and framed in a tragic context by observing a Memorial Day for the members of the Ethiopian Jewish community who perished during their journey to Israel from Sudan. These two commemorative dates support the narrative of Beta Israel and advance its public recognition. This ethnographic study examines why and how these practices were mentioned and performed in an Israeli Reform Jewish congregation, a community that does not include Ethiopians members, and has a religious and cultural character that is different from the traditions of Beta Israel. Both the Reform community and the Ethiopian community deal with stereotypes and institutional and public inequality in Israel. I argue that their solidarity is constructed and based on social perceptions and experiences of social alienation and immigration traumas. This political motivation to mark the narrative of the 'other', particularly as an excluded religious group that fights against the Orthodox Jewish monopoly in Israel, marks the Reform community as an egalitarian agent that gives voice to the marginalized. The fact that most Reform congregants are 'sabras' (native) Israelis sheds light on how their perception as a majority, and not only as a minority, produces a critical statement about Zionist immigration and acclimatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often assumed that chaplains who serve in elite sports settings inhabit a position which facilitates a significant level of influence. Yet, in reality, sports chaplains routinely experience a sense of marginality within their host organizations, which is commonly perceived (both by themselves and others) as highly restrictive and constraining. Drawing upon the findings of a small-scale, qualitative study of chaplaincy within the US-based National Football League (NFL) and the English Premier League (EPL), this paper explores the contribution that a sports chaplain might make to their host organizations irrespective of the marginal position which they inhabit. Utilizing the anthropological work of Van Gennep (1960) and Turner (1969) on rites of passage, findings illustrate the level of ambiguity which often accompanies the ‘liminal’ role of the sports chaplain and the freedoms which this might afforded in terms of organizational impact. This paper concludes by suggesting that, whilst it is often viewed in a negative light, the sense of marginality which commonly characterizes chaplaincy has the potential to be re-configured as an opportunity to positively impact workplace relationships and organizational cultures.

The socialization of the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel in Israeli society, is marked by performing cultural customs and rituals to establish its unique tradition and collective ethnic narrative. The Sigd is a holiday that is celebrated on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, when the community marks its devotion to Zion by renewing the covenant between the Jewish people, God, and the Torah. This narrative of return to the homeland is also expressed and framed in a tragic context by observing a Memorial Day for the members of the Ethiopian Jewish community who perished during their journey to Israel from Sudan. These two commemorative dates support the narrative of Beta Israel and advance its public recognition. This ethnographic study examines why and how these practices were mentioned and performed in an Israeli Reform Jewish congregation, a community that does not include Ethiopians members, and has a religious and cultural character that is different from the traditions of Beta Israel. Both the Reform community and the Ethiopian community deal with stereotypes and institutional and public inequality in Israel. I argue that their solidarity is constructed and based on social perceptions and experiences of social alienation and immigration traumas. This political motivation to mark the narrative of the ‘other’, particularly as an excluded religious group that fights against the Orthodox Jewish monopoly in Israel, marks the Reform community as an egalitarian agent that gives voice to the marginalized. The fact that most Reform congregants are ‘sabras’ (native) Israelis sheds light on how their perception as a majority, and not only as a minority, produces a critical statement about Zionist immigration and acclimatization.

The present article discusses the ways in which ethnic Japanese Muslim women are perceived and treated in contemporary Japanese society, through a case study of one Japanese female convert. It examines the complexity found in her experiences of marginality by highlighting three inter-related modes of marginalization: marginality deriving from being a Muslim, from being a Japanese Muslim and from being a woman. It discusses her responses to these discourses of marginalization and how she establishes her identity as a Muslim, through responding to them. The article first shows that ethnic Japanese Muslims suffer ‘inverted marginality’—marginalization due to belonging to the ethno-cultural majority. It then demonstrates their experience of ‘double marginality’, marginalization by the wider Japanese society and foreign-born Muslims alike. It argues that their experience of double marginality has partly resulted from the absence of a self-sufficient ethnic community of Japanese Muslims. Ethnic Japanese Muslim women experience further marginalization when they become targets for criticism of Islam, such as that Islam is a religion of female subjugation—a notion of gender orientalism that deprives these women of their agency. However, the process of responding to these challenges of marginality helps ethnic Japanese Muslim women consolidate their identity as Muslims.

The present article discusses the ways in which ethnic Japanese Muslim women are perceived and treated in contemporary Japanese society, through a case study of one Japanese female convert. It examines the complexity found in her experiences of marginality by highlighting three inter-related modes of marginalization: marginality deriving from being a Muslim, from being a Japanese Muslim and from being a woman. It discusses her responses to these discourses of marginalization and how she establishes her identity as a Muslim, through responding to them. The article first shows that ethnic Japanese Muslims suffer 'inverted marginality'—marginalization due to belonging to the ethno-cultural majority. It then demonstrates their experience of 'double marginality', marginalization by the wider Japanese society and foreign-born Muslims alike. It argues that their experience of double marginality has partly resulted from the absence of a self-sufficient ethnic community of Japanese Muslims. Ethnic Japanese Muslim women experience further marginalization when they become targets for criticism of Islam, such as that Islam is a religion of female subjugation—a notion of gender orientalism that deprives these women of their agency. However, the process of responding to these challenges of marginality helps ethnic Japanese Muslim women consolidate their identity as Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]