The Privilege of Being Banal: Art, Secularism, and Catholicism in Paris

by Elayne Oliphant

France, officially, is a secular nation. Yet Catholicism is undeniably a monumental presence, defining the temporal and spatial rhythms of Paris. At the same time, it often fades into the background as nothing more than “heritage.” In a creative inversion, Elayne Oliphant asks in The Privilege of Being Banal what, exactly, is hiding in plain sight? Could the banality of Catholicism actually be a kind of hidden power?Exploring the violent histories and alternate trajectories effaced through this banal backgrounding of a crucial aspect of French history and culture, this richly textured ethnography lays bare the profound nostalgia that undergirds Catholicism’s circulation in nonreligious sites such as museums, corporate spaces, and political debates. Oliphant’s aim is to unravel the contradictions of religion and secularism and, in the process, show how aesthetics and politics come together in contemporary France to foster the kind of banality that Hannah Arendt warned the incapacity to take on another person’s experience of the world. A creative meditation on the power of the taken-for-granted, The Privilege of Being Banal is a landmark study of religion, aesthetics, and public space.

Genres: Anthropology

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[Derek de Vlieger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elayne Oliphant is an illusionist. Not in the sense that she hides things from plain view. Rather she makes things appear that were always in plain view. She brings our attention to what we ignore. The foundations of our society is all around us in our art, buildings and even the basis for our laws. Yet, we gloss over their origins and attempt place them in a modern narrative that fits how we want to perceive our society - which is not the same how others, particularly those with fresh views - may view our culture and society. Very interesting read.

[iako]

read for class so no rating, but there is something exhilarating about writing the first review for a book.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that proposes a new concept to study secularism in France.

[versarbre]

Yet another anthropologist joining the critique of the (failed) ideal of equality and showing the politics of inequality....