| Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism: The Politics of Religious Synthesis Contributor(s): Shaw, Rosalind (Editor), Stewart, Charles (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0415111161 ISBN-13: 9780415111164 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $209.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 1994 Annotation: Syncretism, refers to the mixing of different religious traditions whether as active, ongoing process or as historical fact. In the present era of displacement, migration and generally increasing "cultural compression" syncretism is very much a current event. But syncretism does not just happen because religions have similarities and cross over into one another. It occurs in social conditions characterized by unequal power and it is sometimes directed by the interests and agency of prominent individuals. Contributors to this volume explore not only how syncretism occurs, but how the very idea of religious mixture is accepted or contested in ten different societies. Topics covered include multiculturalism in India, Japanese "new religions," the translation of the Bible in Ghana, the Christian interpretation of circumcision in Papua New Guinea and Turkish migrants' efforts to remain Muslims in Germany. Whether syncretism is a good or a bad thing is a disputed matter. Anti-syncretism can arise in situations of multiculturalism where a group attempts to preserve its integrity by guarding against foreign influences. In situations of ethnic revival groups are liable to deconstruct their own traditions and extirpate elements considered to be foreign or borrowed. Dispensing with objectivist and historicist attempts to decide what is syncretic, the contributors to this volume use their anthropological expertise and experience to present local understandings and debates about what is mixed, what is pure, and which is most "authentic." |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - General - Religion | Comparative Religion |
| Dewey: 291.172 |
| LCCN: 93046102 |
| Series: European Association of Social Anthropologists |
| Physical Information: 0.92" H x 5.8" W x 8.76" (0.88 lbs) 236 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Syncretism - the synthesis of different religious - is a contentious word. Some regard it as a pejorative term, referring to local versions of notionally standard world religions' which are deemed inauthentic' because saturated with indigenous content. Syncretic versions of Christianity do not conform to official' (read European') models. In other contexts however, the syncretic amalgamation of religions may be validated as a mode of resistance to colonial hegemony, a sign of cultural survival, or as a means of authorising political dominance in a multicultural state. |
