Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism - The Politics of Religious Synthesis

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.
In Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism the contributors explore the issues of agency and power which are integral to the very process of syncretism and to the competing discourses surrounding the term.

List of contents

Contributors: Mariane Ferme, University of California, Berkeley; David Guss, Harvard University; Wolfgang Kempf, University of TÜbingen; Jim Kiernan, University of Natal, South Africa; Klaus-Peter Koepping, University of Heidelberg, Birgit Meyer, Amsterdam School for Social Research; David Mosse, University of Wales; Rosalind Shaw, Tufts University, USA; Charles Stewart, University College London; Peter van der Veer, University of Amsterdam; Richard Werbner, University of Manchester; Lale Yalsin-Heckmann, University of Bamberg

About the author

Charles Stewart, Rosalind Shaw

Summary

The contributors explore the issues of agency and power which motivate the conflicting discourses surrounding syncretism, that is the mixing of different religious traditions within a culture.

Product details

• Assisted by: Rosalind Shaw (Editor), Shaw Rosalind (Editor), Charles Stewart (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.10.1994
• EAN: 9780415111164
• ISBN: 978-0-415-11116-4
• No. of pages: 236
• Weight: 600 g
• Series: European Association of Social Anthropologists
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Sociology, Anthropology, Society & culture: general, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, Society and culture: general