Author: Eminent Contributors
Editor(s): Rowena Robinson
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 359
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761997822
Description
Theorists of modernity had written off religion in the 1950s and 1960s and predicted that it would become unimportant as a marker of identity. However, the very reverse has happened and religion today plays an increasingly significant role in the cohesion and operation of identities on a global scale.
Focused on the theme of the sociology of religion, this volume brings together essays by well-known scholars which examine the resurgence of religious identities in the Indian context. The contributors question many received notions, address critical problems, and raise important issues surrounding various current debates.
The papers are divided into four sections. The first deals with religion, society and national identity. The next section is devoted to sects, cults, shrines and the making of traditions. The third section discusses religious conversion, while the last section provides a comparative perspective drawn from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.
Among the many topics covered are:
The original impulses that led to the declaration of India as a secular republic.
The role of religion and ideology in economic growth.
The negative role that religion can play in public life, particularly because of political manipulation.
The way boundaries are created between different groups.
The search for economic and Political mobility and/or social dignity and respect through conversion.
Tackling a subject of immense contemporary importance and demonstrating a sensitivity to the shifts and changes brought about in faith, identity and tradition, this volume will be of considerable interest to students of sociology, anthropology, religion, politics and history.
ROWENA ROBINSON is Associate Professor in Sociology, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai.
Contents
Series Note
Foreword by C N Venugopal
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Rowena Robinson
PART I- RELIGION, SOCIETY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
Visions of Nationhood and Religiosity among Early Freedom Fighters in India
National Integration and Religion
Religion and Economic Development
The Indo-Islamic Tradition
Ethnic Process and Minority Identity: A Comparative Study of Muslims and Christians of UP
PART II-SECTS, CULTS, SHRINES AND THE MAKING OF TRADITIONS
Manipur Vaishnavism: A Sociological Interpretation
The Factor of Anti-Pollution in the Ideology of the Lingayat Movement
The Immortal Cowherd and the Saintly Carrier: An Essay in the Study of Cults
Emergence of Shrines in Rural Tamil Nadu: A Study of Little Traditions
PART III-RELIGIOUS CONVERSION IN INDIA: SOME SOCIALOGICAL ISSUES
Some Neglected Aspects of the Conversion of Goa:
A Socio-Historical Perspective
The First Protestant Mission to India: Its Social and Religious Developments
Issues of Christianity in Colonial Chhatisgarh
Emancipation through Proselytism? Some Reflections on the Marginal Status of the Depressed Classes
PART IV-RELIGION BEYOND INDIA’S BORDERS
Religion and Language in the Formation of Nationhood in Pakistan and Bangladesh
The Influence of Indian Islam on Fundamentalist Trends in Trinidad and Tobago
Religious Resurgence in Contemporary United States: A View from India
Related Readings in the Sociological Bulletin
About the Editor
About the Contributors
Index