Articles | Volume 81, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-393-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-393-2026
Standard article
 | 
16 Jul 2026
Standard article |  | 16 Jul 2026

“Doing” ontological security: on the role of traditional festivals and heritage in times of crisis

Joanna Jurkiewicz and Ilse Helbrecht

Cited articles

Agius, C., Rosamond, A. B., and Kinnvall, C.: Populism, ontological insecurity and gendered nationalism: masculinity, climate denial and Covid-19, Polit. Relig. Ideol., 21, 432–450, https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2020.1851871, 2020. 
Amin, A. and Roberts, J.: Knowing in action: beyond communities of practice, Res. Policy, 37, 353–369, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.11.003, 2008. 
Banham, R.: Emotion, vulnerability, ontology: Operationalising “ontological security” for qualitative environmental sociology, Environ. Sociol., 6, 132–142, https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2020.1717098, 2020. 
Bartoszewicz, M. G.: Identity and security: the affective ontology of populism, in: Political Identification in Europe: Community in Crisis?, edited by: Machin, A. and Meidert, N., Emerald Publishing Limited, 93–110, https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-124-020211011, 2021. 
Bennett, A. and Woodward, I.: Festival spaces, identity, experience, and belonging, in: The Festivalization of Culture, edited by: Bennett, A., Taylor, J., and Woodward, I., Routledge, 11–27, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315558189, 2016. 
Download
Short summary
The paper shows how a centuries-old traditional festival can stabilize people’s sense of security in a world marked by crisis. Based on qualitative research in rural Germany, we analyse how the Schäferlauf enables individuals to anchor their identities through embodied and place-based practices, including wearing traditional costumes and preparing the festival. We show that security is not only imagined or narrated but also something people do.
Share