Buddhism and coffee: the transformation of locality and non-human personhood in Southern Laos

Among Jru' (Loven) uplanders in southern Laos, three different ecologies intersect. Animism focuses on local non-human persons like rice and earth spirits. Cash cropping elaborates translocal relationships with foreigners and technology, but reduces the extent of non-human personhood. Buddhism...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Sprenger, Guido (VerfasserIn)
Dokumenttyp: Article (Journal)
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: July 2018
In: Sojourn
Year: 2018, Jahrgang: 33, Heft: 2, Pages: 265-290
ISSN:0217-9520
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Verfasserangaben:Guido Sprenger
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Among Jru' (Loven) uplanders in southern Laos, three different ecologies intersect. Animism focuses on local non-human persons like rice and earth spirits. Cash cropping elaborates translocal relationships with foreigners and technology, but reduces the extent of non-human personhood. Buddhism stresses both the translocal character and the transcendence of non-human persons. Villages are now in transition from subsistence swidden agriculture to coffee production and from animism to Buddhism. These two processes reinforce each other, as the question of non-human personhood defines both the differences and the potential conflicts between ecologies. The translocalization of local reproductive cycles thus conditions the decreased importance of non-humans as persons. (Sojourn/GIGA)
ISSN:0217-9520