Animism in Southeast Asia

Animism refers to ontologies or worldviews which assign agency and personhood to human and non-human beings alike. Recent years have seen a revival of this concept in anthropology, where it is now discussed as an alternative to modern-western and naturalistic notions of human-environment relations....

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Århem, Kaj (Editor) , Sprenger, Guido (Editor)
Format: Book/Monograph
Language:English
Published: London New York Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2017
Edition:First issued in paperback 2017
Series:Routledge contemporary Southeast Asia series 77
In: Routledge contemporary Southeast Asia series (77)

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Author Notes:edited by Kaj Århem and Guido Sprenger ; with an end comment by Tim Ingold
Description
Summary:Animism refers to ontologies or worldviews which assign agency and personhood to human and non-human beings alike. Recent years have seen a revival of this concept in anthropology, where it is now discussed as an alternative to modern-western and naturalistic notions of human-environment relations. Based on original fieldwork, this book presents a number of case studies of animism from insular and peninsular Southeast Asia and offers a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon - its diversity and underlying commonalities and its resilience in the face of powerful forces of change. Critically engaging with the current standard notion of animism, based on hunter-gatherer and horticulturalist societies in other regions, it examines the roles of life forces, souls and spirits in local cosmologies and indigenous religion. It proposes an expansion of the concept to societies featuring mixed farming, sacrifice and hierarchy and explores the question of how non-human agents are created through acts of attention and communication, touching upon the relationship between animist ontologies, world religion, and the state. - Provided by publisher
Item Description:Literaturangaben
ISBN:9780415713795
9780815392156
081539215X