Amsterdam University Press Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia: Magic and Modernity (Global Asia)

Drawing on recent ethnographic research in Southeast Asia, the contributors to this wide-ranging volume demonstrate how religious concepts contribute to meeting the challenges of modernity. Religion and modernity, they argue, need not be perceived as mutually contradictory; rather, we should revise our Western notion of religion in order to grasp the complexity of 'multiple modernities' in the globalised world. Review "An excellent collection of ethnographically and historically well-informed and well-written essays. . . . For many the book will serve as a welcome introduction to non-Anglophone research into Southeast Asia."-- "Pacific Affairs" "Gottowick has collected a vibrant sample of case studies from across the region that will interest a broad audience of students, teachers and scholars alike." -- "New Asia Books" From the Back Cover Modernity is surrounded by an almost magic aura that casts a spell over people all over the world. To connect with modernity, various ways and means are used, among them magic practices and religious ideas. Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia: Magic and Modernity deals with the magic in and of modernity and asks about its current significance for the dynamics of religion in Southeast Asia. Drawing on recent ethnographic research in this area, the contributors to this wide-ranging volume demonstrate how religious concepts contribute to meeting the challenges of modernity. Against this background, religion and modernity are no longer perceived as in contradiction; rather, it is argued that a revision of the western notion of religion is required to understand the complexity of 'multiple modernities' in a globalised world.. Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia: Magic and Modernity is part of the series Global Asia, published by Amsterdam University Press (AUP) in close collaboration with the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) About the Author Volker Gottowik is postdoctoral researcher in the area studies network 'Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia' (DORISEA) at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Heidelberg.