Farrer War Magic

Religion, Sorcery, and Performance
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78533-330-9
Verlag: Berghahn
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 180 Seiten, Mobipocket Unencrypted

This compelling volume explores how war magic and warrior religion unleash the power of the gods, demons, ghosts, and the dead. Documenting war magic and warrior religion as they are performed in diverse cultures and across historical time periods, this volume foregrounds embodiment, practice, and performance in anthropological approaches to magic, sorcery, shamanism, and religion. The authors go beyond what magic 'represents' to consider what magic does. From Chinese exorcists, Javanese spirit siblings, and black magic in Sumatra to Tamil Tiger suicide bombers, Chamorro spiritual re-enchantment, tantric Buddhist war magic, and Yanomami dark shamans, religion and magic are re-evaluated not just from the practitioner's perspective but through the victim's lived experience. These original investigations reveal a nuanced approach to understanding social action, innovation, and the revitalization of tradition in colonial and post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social transformation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Farrer, Douglas

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Religionsethnologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations

Introduction: War Magic: Religion, Sorcery, and Performance

D. S. Farrer

Chapter 1. Tangki War Magic: Spirit Warfare in Singapore

Margaret Chan

Chapter 2. Javanese Ritual Initiation: Invulnerability, Authority, and Spiritual Improvement

Jean-Marc de Grave

Chapter 3. Discourse of Decline: Sumatran Perspectives on Black Magic

J. David Neidel

Chapter 4. Tamil Tiger Ritual, War, and Mystical Empowerment

Michael Roberts

Chapter 5. Shamanic Battleground in Venezuela

Zeljko Jokic

Chapter 6. Chants of Re-enchantment: Chamorro Spiritual Resistance to Colonial Domination

D. S. Farrer and James D. Sellmann

Chapter 7. War Magic and Just War in Indian Tantric Buddhism

Iain Sinclair

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Farrer, Douglas
Douglas Farrer is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Guam. He is the author of Shadows of the Prophet: Martial Arts and Sufi Mysticism (Springer), and co-author of Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge: Asian Traditions in a Transnational World (SUNY).