Ahiṃsā in and within words: Conversations on Jain practices in Italy and southern Europe

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research titled ‘Distinctive Values and Non-Violent Practices of Jainism and “Jainness” in Southern Europe,’ the article analyses the discourses on ahiṃsā of people who born into the Jain tradition or who have converted to Jainism in Italy and Southern Europe. Although the ethnographic material and the collected stories are much richer than the line of interpretation I have given to their partial restitution in this context, I have analysed them through two lenses: Ahiṃsā in words and Ahiṃsā within words. The first kind of discursive non-violence, Ahiṃsā in Words, is generally shaped like a narrative of non-violence recounting specific episodes and concrete situations. It is a way of putting the practice of non-violence in dialogical form. The second kind of discursive non-violence, Ahiṃsā within words, concerns the various ethical, philosophical, and spiritual conceptions of non-violence and the need to aptly describe it and understand it verbally. It refers to an ongoing process of clarification, characterised by a continuous exercise of critical reflexivity on the part of the speaker, as manifested in proxemics and in the mannerisms of speech. Non-violent speech thus becomes an enacted reflection visible in different aspects of daily life, such as education, dietary practices, and daily choices.