Ritual-theoretical and religious-aesthetic analyses of the Basel Fasnacht (including field research in the period marked by the Covid pandemic)

The state of emergency in social life that has existed since the Corona pandemic has had a profound impact on public rituals and festivities. This raises fundamental questions about the nature of such rituals and festivals, in particular about their ability to change and adapt. Crisis events of such magnitude represent a unique field for research into innovative processes in post-secular societies, in particular the transformation processes of religious rituals in public. Methodologically, the research project is based on the religious-aesthetic questions and analyses on the interpretation of religious dimensions of the applicant's society on the one hand, and on the scientific observation of the Basel carnival by the visiting scientist Olga Cieslarová, which has been carried out for twelve years, on the other. The combination of these two perspectives should make it possible to describe the perceptual space of the carnival from a religious-aesthetic point of view and to analyze the new ritual developments using the classic ethnographic tools and the method of participant observation. The main lines of the project are: (a) field research on the Basel carnival during the corona pandemic, (b) theoretical and practical training of students at the University of Basel based on this research, (c) religious studies processing of the planned field research, namely: two seminars at the University of Basel, a study day "Basel Carnival, Ritual and Religion", a public symposium with presentation of the field research, an interdisciplinary specialist congress, preparation for the publication of an anthology "Carnival, Religion, Ritual" and a separate scientific article on the topic "Basel Carnival, Ritual, Tradition and Innovation during the Pandemic".With a few exceptions, the Basel carnival has not yet been the subject of academic reflection. The project presented is intended to make a contribution to establishing carnival research more clearly as an academic field in religious studies. International academic cooperation will also be initiated, followed by research presentations at conferences and publications (Fribourg: Ritual Creativity Conference, Prague: Symposium on Public Festivity, USA: Annual Meeting of American Academy of Religion). With the help of the analysis of the historical development of carnival in the 20th century and current field research, the core characteristics that give public rituals their adaptability and resilience will be analyzed. The hypothesis is that the ability to integrate innovations in small steps is crucial. The current exceptional situation makes it possible to observe corresponding ritual processes in a realistic way and to test the aforementioned hypothesis. The project focuses on innovations and creative implementations that have a significant influence on the future development of public festivities and rituals.