|
|
Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Contemporary non-Christian & para-Christian cults & sects > Spiritualism
By studying intersections among new cults of wealth, ritually
empowered amulets and professional spirit mediumship-which have
emerged together in Thailand's dynamic religious field in recent
decades-Capitalism Magic Thailand explores the conditions under
which global modernity produces new varieties of enchantment. Bruno
Latour's account of modernity as a condition fractured between
rationalizing ideology and hybridizing practice is expanded to
explain the apparent paradox of new forms of magical ritual
emerging alongside religious fundamentalism across a wide range of
Asian societies. In Thailand, novel and increasingly popular
varieties of ritual now form a symbolic complex in which originally
distinct cults centred on Indian deities, Chinese gods and Thai
religious and royal figures have merged in commercial spaces and
media sites to sacralize the market and wealth production. Emerging
within popular culture, this complex of cults of wealth, amulets
and spirit mediumship is supported by all levels of Thai society,
including those at the acme of economic and political power. New
theoretical frameworks are presented in analyses that challenge the
view that magic is a residue of premodernity, placing the dramatic
transformations of cultic ritual centre stage in modern Thai
history. It is concluded that modern enchantment arises at the
confluence of three processes: neoliberal capitalism's production
of occult economies, the auraticizing effects of technologies of
mass mediatization, and the performative force of ritual in
religious fields where practice takes precedence over doctrine.
|
You may like...
Visual Chess
Christopher Hartzer
Hardcover
R764
Discovery Miles 7 640
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.