Can West and East ever understand each other? In this extraordinary book one of the world's leading Muslim scholars explores an area which has been almost entirely neglected by scholars in the field - the area of postmodernism and Islam. This landmark work is startling and constantly perceptive in its exploration of Western and Islamic culture. Emphasizing the role of the mass media in shaping our understanding of East-West relations, Akbar S. Ahmed analyses the ways in which the media turned events like the Salman Rushdie affair and the Gulf war into a carnival of spectacle and entertainment. He makes use of the postmodern theme of the displaced, circulating image to show how images are used to tell stories - stories which are not always helpful or accurate. In this new, revised edition, Akbar S. Ahmed includes a remarkable and stimulating new preface, in which he reconsiders this topic in the light of the contemporary, post September 11th, world.

Part of the 'Religion and Citizenship' series, this book is an ethnographic study of marginality of Muslims in urban India. It explores the realities and consequences of socio-spatial segregation faced by Muslim communities and the various ways in which they negotiate it in the course of their everyday lives. By narrating lived experiences of ordinary Muslims, the author attempts to construct their identities as citizens and subjects. What emerges is a highly variegated picture of a group (otherwise viewed as monolithic) that resides in very close quarters, more as a result of compulsion than choice, despite wide differences across language, ethnicity, sect and social class. The book also looks into the potential outcomes that socio-spatial segregation spelt on communal lines hold for the future of the urban landscape in South Asia. Rich in ethnographic data and accessible in its approach, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of sociology, social anthropology, human geography, political sociology, urban studies, and political science.

Latino Protestantism is growing rapidly in the United States. Researchers estimate that by 2030 half of all Latinos in America will be Protestant. This remarkable growth is not just about numbers. The rise of Latino Protestants will impact the changing nature of American politics, economics, and religion. Latino Protestants in America takes readers inside the numbers to highlight the many reasons Latino Protestants are growing as well as the diversity of this group. The book brings together the best existing scholarship on this group with original research to offer a nuanced picture of Latino Protestants in America, from worship practices to political engagement. The narrative helps readers move beyond misconceptions about Latino religion and offers a window into the diverse ways that religion plays out in real life. Latino Protestants in America is an essential resource for anyone interested in the beliefs and practices of this group, as well as the implications for its growth and areas for further study.

The book reveals the nexus between religion and politics today and shows that we live in an interdependent world where one global civilization is emerging and where the world's peoples are continuing to coalesce around a series of values that contain potent Western overtones. Both Putin's Orthodox Russia and regions under the control of such Islamist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda resent and attempt, in a largely languishing effort, to frustrate this series of values. The book explains the current tension between the West and Russia and parts of the Muslim world and sheds light on the causes of such crises as the Syrian Civil War, Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and acts of terrorism such as 9/11 and the ISIS-inspired massacres in Paris. It shows that religion continues to affect global order and that knowledge of its effect on political identity and global governance should guide both government policy and scholarly analysis of contemporary history.

This book serves as a conversational, colourful, engaging, and provocative introduction to the sociology of religion for undergraduates. Written in lively prose, this volume introduces students to the major themes, problems and goals of the sociological study of religion while also summoning the sense of wonder and curiosity for the enterprise itself.

This book proposes a radical shift in the way the world thinks about itself by highlighting the significance of Cross-Cultural Conversations. Moving beyond conventional boundaries, it examines the language in which histories are written; analyzes how scientific technology is changing the idea of identity; and highlights the need for a larger identity across nationality, race, religion, gender, ethnicity and class. It asks for a concerted effort to engage each other in open conversational forums on a range of contemporary global issues, alter our attitudes toward self and the other, and unlearn prejudices that perpetuate the practice of divisive identities. The book also explores critical themes such as political actions, solidarity-in-diversity, clash of social identities, tensions between nationalism and globalism, the quest for global peace and authentic meeting of world religions. Further, it discusses the evolving connection between science and religion, focusing on key philosophical ideas that have permeated the Indian cultural soil. The book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy, religious studies, science and technology studies, and cultural studies.

Asian and Pacific Islander Americans constitute the fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are also one of the most religiously diverse. Through them Asian traditions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Confucianism, and Buddhism have been introduced into every major American city and across a wide swath of Middle America. The contributors to this volume provide an essential inter-disciplinary resource for the study of Asian and Pacific Islander American religion.

The emergence of religious fundamentalism in a globalized, post-colonial world poses a significant challenge to the "End of History" narratives common in academic and non-academic literature alike. Globalization, Modernity and the Rise of Religious Fundamentalism proposes that we must seek new explanations for this phenomenon that recasts the relationship between globalization, modernity and religion. One model through which this possible is that of a dialectical kaleidoscopic methodology - one that applies a variety of theoretical tools and takes a truly multi-dimensional perspective. Through the overlapping and complementary approaches of systems theory, field theory and network theory, this book redefined the concepts of globalization, modernity and religion itself by challenging the inherent misconceptions of ethnocentric biases. It also provides a thorough historical analysis of religious systems from antiquity to the present to show the integration of modern and archaic elements within the structure of religious fundamentalism. Interdisciplinary in nature, Globalization, Modernity and the Rise of Religious Fundamentalism will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as geopolitics, history of race and ethnicity, postcolonialism, globalization and sociology of religion.

Congolese Social Networks: Living on the Margins in Muizenberg, Cape Town is a closely researched ethnography that focuses predominantly on the lives of three Congolese transmigrants (self-identified as such). This monograph situates them in a cosmopolitan South African space amongst dissimilar South African others, and similar national others. Unlike other contemporary international texts on transnational migrants, this book discusses entree into the immigration country, and the diverse attempts of Congolese men to situate themselves within social networks. In the intellectual move to focus on transnational spaces and transnationality, the reality of migration in a specific socio-political context-a focus on place-has been ignored. Migration on the African continent is more similar to the early migrations of Italian, Polish, and Jewish immigrants to the United States in the initial phases of arrival, adaptation, and reproduction of the national self. While these Congolese transmigrants maintain contact with those back home through various social media applications, their very real survival needs force a day-to-day living that secures survival needs, whilst those of a higher class maintain a focus on lola (paradise)-onward migration out of South Africa. An important aspect of securing one's survival needs is the creation of diverse social networks. Through these networks, Congolese transmigrants access information regarding employment, information on appropriate educational opportunities for children, information regarding safe residential areas, and a number of other forms of information that support their existence in an oftentimes alienating South African space.

The new immigrants coming to the United States and establishing ethnic congregations do not abandon religious ties in their home countries. Rather, as they communicate with family and friends left behind in their homelands, they influence religious structures and practices there. Religion Across Borders examines both personal and organizational networks that exist between members in U.S. immigrant religious communities and individuals and religious institutions left behind. Building upon Religion and the New Immigrants (2000) their previous study of immigrant religious communities in Houston sociologists Ebaugh and Chafetz ask how religious remittances flow between home and host communities, how these interchanges affect religious practices in both settings, and how influences change over time as new immigrants become settled. The study's unique comparative perspective looks at differing faith groups (Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist) from Argentina, Mexico, Guatamala, Vietnam and China. Data on ways in which historic, geographic, economic and religious factors influence transnational religious ties makes necessary reading for students of immigration, religion and anyone interested in the increasingly global aspects of American religion.

A comparative, whole-of-society approach to the Boko Haram insurgency that offers a more nuanced understanding of the risks, resilience and resolution of violent radicalization in Nigeria and beyond. It is now more than a decade since the violent Islamic group Boko Haram launched its reign of terror across northern Nigeria, claiming more than 27,000 lives and displacing over 2 million people. While its territorial gains have largely been recaptured, the insurgency rages on, devastating communities across vast stretches of the north-east and disrupting governance, livelihoods and food security, as well as posing a security risk to Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Less attention is paid to the pervasive popular rejection of violent extremism on the ground. How did a diverse and economically dynamic West African society unravel so violently, and for so long? Why does radicalizationhave so little influence on large Muslim populations in surrounding areas, such as the Yoruba in south-western Nigeria, or the poor ethnically similar Muslim majority in central Niger just north of the border? This book looks beyond the details of the insurgency to examine the wider social and political processes that explain why Boko Haram emerged when and where it did, and what forces exist within society to contain it. Drawing on the detailed fieldworkof specialist Nigerian and Nigerianist scholars from Nigeria, connecting the worst of Boko Haram violence to the wider realities of the present, the book offers new insights into the drivers of Islamic extremism in Nigeria - poverty, regional inequality, environmental stress, migration, youth unemployment, and state corruption and human rights abuses - with a view to charting more sustainable paths out of the conflict. Nigeria: Premium Times Books

A detailed case study of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Britain. The book studies the particular development of a new religious movement within the context of Britain, and issues relating to minority religions' place within a multicultural but still hegemonically Christian society.

Hinduism outside the Indian subcontinent represents a divergent diaspora. From Britain to the Caribbean, diasporic Hindus have substantially reformed their beliefs and practiced in accordance with their historical and social circumstances. In this analysis Steven Vertovec looks at why Hindu indentities have developed in such different ways in different contexts and in doing so questions the assumption that subcontinent Hinduism represents the authentic articulation of Hindu identity. Amongst the case studies Vertovec examines are: the historical construction of the category "Hinduism in India", the formation of a distinctive Caribbean Hindu culture during the nineteenth century, the role of youth groups in forging new identities during Trinidad's Hindu Renaissance, the reproduction of regionally based identities and frictions in Britain's Hindu communities and the differences in temple use across the diaspora. This book provides a detailed view of the Hindu diaspora in the past, present and its possible future.

Hinduism outside the Indian subcontinent represents a contrasting and scattered community. From Britain to the Caribbean, diasporic Hindus have substantially reformed their beliefs and practices in accordance with their historical and social circumstances. In this theoretically innovative analysis Steven Vertovec examines:
* the historical construction of the category 'Hinduism in India'
* the formation of a distinctive Caribbean Hindu culture during the nineteenth century
* the role of youth groups in forging new identities during Trinidad's Hindu Renaissance
* the reproduction of regionally based identities and frictions in Britain's Hindu communities
* the differences in temple use across the diaspora.
This book provides a rich and fascinating view of the Hindu diaspora in the past, present and its possible futures.

This unique book explores criminalized identities and the idea of 'viscous culture' to provide new understandings of crime, punishment and justice. It shows that viscous culture encourages some of us to become outlaws, monsters or shapeshifters who challenge systems of domination and forces of control. Crime, Prisons and Viscous Culture interweaves analyses of popular culture with extensive empirical research to explore both the glamorous and grotesque nature of crime, control and containment. Through encounters with numerous popular and mythological archetypes the book explores the boundaries of the criminological discipline. Criminology itself is presented as fragmented, distorted and fascinating, and the important transdisciplinary potential of criminology is highlighted. In doing so, this book will be of great interest to scholars of criminology, cultural studies, popular culture and sociological theory.

Known in the Dominican Republic and Togo as Vodu, in Benin as Vodun, and in Haiti as Vodou, West African religion has, for hundreds of years, served as a repository of sacred knowledge while simultaneously evolving in response to human experience and globalization. Spirit Service: Vodun and Vodou in the African Atlantic World explores this dynamic religion, its mobility, and its place in the modern world. By examining the systems-ritual practices, community-based spirit veneration, and spiritual means of securing opportunity and well-being-alongside the individuals who worship, this rich collection offers the first comprehensive ethnographic study of West African spirit service on a broad scale. Contributors consider social encounters between African/Haitian practitioners and European / North American spiritual seekers, economies and histories, funerary rites and spirit possessions, and examinations of gender and materiality. Offering much-needed perspective on this historically disparaged religion, Spirit Service reminds us all that the gods are growing, assimilating, and demanding recognition and respect.

Sociology of Religion is a collection that seeks to explore the relationship between the structure and culture of religion and various elements of social life in the United States. This reader is an ideal standalone course text and can also serve as supplement to the text written by the same author team, Religion Matters (Routledge, 2010). Based on both classic and contemporary research in the sociology of religion, this new, third edition highlights a variety of research methods and theoretical approaches to studying the sociological elements of religion. It explores the ways in which religious values, beliefs and practices shape the world outside of church, synagogue, or mosque walls while simultaneously being shaped by the non-religious forces operating in that world.

This book provides a critical academic evaluation of the 'music city' as a form of urban cultural policy that has been keenly adopted in policy circles across the globe, but which as yet has only been subject to limited empirical and conceptual interrogation. With a particular focus on heritage, planning, tourism and regulatory measures, this book explores how local geographical, social and economic contexts and particularities shape the nature of music city policies (or lack thereof) in particular cities. The book broadens academic interrogation of music cities to include cities as diverse as San Francisco, Liverpool, Chennai, Havana, San Juan, Birmingham and Southampton. Contributors include both academic and professional practitioners and, consequently, this book represents one of the most diverse attempts yet to critically engage with music cities as a global cultural policy concept.

Both a demonstration of and critical self-reflection on method, this book explores how methodologies shape our understanding of the diversity of Buddhist traditions in the past and the present. International contributors from the West and Asia explore case studies and reflect on methods in the study of Buddhism, united in their debt to Richard K. Payne, the influential Buddhist studies scholar. Methods in Buddhist Studies features new translations of Buddhist works as well as ethnographic studies on contemporary Buddhism in the United States and China. Topics discussed include Buddhist practices in relation to food, material culture, and imperial rituals; the development of modern Buddhist universities; the construction of the canon from the perspective of history, textual analysis, and ritual studies; and the ethical obligations of scholars toward the subject of Buddhism itself. Chapters are drawn from Payne's students and his colleagues, demonstrating the breadth of his intellectual interests. Payne's scholarship has left a remarkable impact on the field, making this volume essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary Buddhism and Buddhist studies.

This book offers an overview of the Sikh diaspora, exploring the relationship between home and host states and between migrant and indigenous communities. The book considers the implications of history and politics of the Sikh diaspora for nationality, citizenship and sovereignity.; The text should serve as a supplementary text for undergraduates and postgraduates on courses in race, ethnicity and international migration within sociology, politics, international relations, Asian history, and human geography. In particular, it should serve as a core text for Sikh/Punjab courses within Asian studies.

This book offers an overview of the Sikh diaspora, exploring the relationship between home and host states and between migrant and indigenous communities. The book considers the implications of history and politics of the Sikh diaspora for nationality, citizenship and sovereignity. The text should serve as a supplementary text for undergraduates and postgraduates on courses in race, ethnicity and international migration within sociology, politics, international relations, Asian history, and human geography. In particular, it should serve as a core text for Sikh/Punjab courses within Asian studies.

Embodied Idolatry: A Critique of Christian Nationalism is an examination of the effect of Christian nationalism on Christian practice in the United States. Kyle Edward Haden focuses on the mechanisms by which such beliefs become sedimented into the emotional, embodied structures of the church and the individual. Using a variety of disciplines, Haden thus identifies and highlights how such beliefs and practices are, in fact, idolatrous and inhabit an anti-Christian theological and ethical space. This book describes the formative process and mechanisms by which social and cultural values are acquired through imitation, by the individual and within ecclesial communities. As a constructive countermeasure, it investigates Jesus's practice in his own social, cultural, political, religious, and economic context, and argues that Christian nationalism is a betrayal of Jesus's teachings in light of his own practice of hospitality and table fellowship. This book thus calls Christians to conversion, putting loyalty to the kingdom of God over that of the nation.

A detailed study of the Teutonic Knights in the Holy Land, covering both their military and administrative affairs. The Teutonic Order was founded in 1190 to provide medical care for crusaders in the kingdom of Jerusalem. In time, it assumed a military role and played an important part in the defence of the Christian territories in the EasternMediterranean and in the Baltic regions of Prussia and Livonia; in the Levant, it fought against the neighbouring Islamic powers, whilst managing their turbulent relations with their patrons in the papacy and the German Empire. Asthe Order grew, it colonised territories in Prussia and Livonia, forcing it to address how it distributed its resources between its geographically-spread communities. Similarly, the brethren also needed to develop an organisational framework that could support the conduct of war on frontiers that were divided by hundreds of miles. This book - the first comprehensive analysis of the Order in the Holy Land - explores the formative years of this powerful international institution and places its deeds in the Levant within the context of the wider Christian, pagan and Islamic world. It examines the challenges that shaped its identity and the masters who planned its policies. Dr NICHOLAS MORTON is Lecturer in History at Nottingham Trent University.

"Silver" Winner of the 2008 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award, Religion Category Before he began his recent travels, it seemed to Phil Zuckerman as if humans all over the globe were "getting religion"-praising deities, performing holy rites, and soberly defending the world from sin. But most residents of Denmark and Sweden, he found, don't worship any god at all, don't pray, and don't give much credence to religious dogma of any kind. Instead of being bastions of sin and corruption, however, as the Christian Right has suggested a godless society would be, these countries are filled with residents who score at the very top of the "happiness index" and enjoy their healthy societies, which boast some of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world (along with some of the lowest levels of corruption), excellent educational systems, strong economies, well-supported arts, free health care, egalitarian social policies, outstanding bike paths, and great beer. Zuckerman formally interviewed nearly 150 Danes and Swedes of all ages and educational backgrounds over the course of fourteen months. He was particularly interested in the worldviews of people who live their lives without religious orientation. How do they think about and cope with death? Are they worried about an afterlife? What he found is that nearly all of his interviewees live their lives without much fear of the Grim Reaper or worries about the hereafter. This led him to wonder how and why it is that certain societies are non-religious in a world that seems to be marked by increasing religiosity. Drawing on prominent sociological theories and his own extensive research, Zuckerman ventures some interesting answers. This fascinating approach directly counters the claims of outspoken, conservative American Christians who argue that a society without God would be hell on earth. It is crucial, Zuckerman believes, for Americans to know that "society without God is not only possible, but it can be quite civil and pleasant."

This book is an unprecedented effort to compare representations and practices of social distinction worldwide and over the centuries. It is based on years of observation in many countries and on the consultation of more than 2 500 multi-disciplinary publications dealing directly or indirectly with this theme. In two previous theoretical volumes on the topic (The Sociology of Elite Distinction and Rethinking Social Distinction) welcomed as major breakthroughs, Jean-Pascal Daloz has established himself as the foremost scholar of symbolic social superiority from a comparative perspective. After having rigorously shown the limits of the main analytical frameworks available and outlined a much more inductive approach, his new empirical book continues this intellectual journey. Taking into consideration all sorts of cases and patterns of meaning, it offers an impressive synthesis demonstrating how diverse the expressions of high status can be. This comparative work is intended to be a crucial reference point and an important source of inspiration for researchers and students across many fields.