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Death, Time and the Other: Ethics at the Limit of Metaphysics
by Saitya Brata DasThis book addresses the limits of metaphysics and the question of the possibility of ethics in this context. It is divided into six chapters, the first of which broadens readers’ understanding of difference as difference with specific reference to the works of Hegel. The second chapter discusses the works of Emmanuel Lévinas and the question of the ethical. In turn, the concepts of sovereignty and the eternal return are discussed in chapters three and four, while chapter five poses the question of literature in a new way. The book concludes with chapter six. The book represents an important contribution to the field of contemporary philosophical debates on the possibility of ethics beyond all possible metaphysical and political closures. As such, it will be of interest to scholars and researchers in both the humanities and social sciences. Beyond the academic world, the book will also appeal to readers (journalists, intellectuals, social activists, etc.) for whom the question of the ethical is the decisive question of our time.
Islam and Politics in Bangladesh: The Followers of Ummah
by Mubashar HasanThis book conceptualizes the politics of Bangladesh through an Islamic concept called ummah or the global brotherhood of Muslims. It demonstrates that, against the backdrop of geopolitics, capitalism and free flow of ideas, localization of this global religious concept at individual level, institutional level, major party platforms and state has cemented the current political condition in Bangladesh in which religiosity, religious intolerance, Islamization and extremism take place. By exploring the effects of ummah in Bangladeshi politics, this book shows how major political parties have mainstreamed political Islam in the country. The book rejects the long standing scholarly claim of religious-secular distinction in Bangladeshi politics and argues that with most Muslim-dominated states, there are no major secular parties in Bangladesh. There are only Islamic parties, which are more or less Islamic. The purely ‘rational’ domain of politics in Bangladesh is long lost, and political Islam sets the framework for politics in the country. The reason behind this logic of Bangladeshi politics is formed, contained and expanded by ummah.
People, Communities, and the Catholic Church in China (Christianity in Modern China)
by Cindy Yik-yi Chu Paul P. MarianiThis book explores the Chinese Catholic Church as a whole as well as focusing on particular aspects of its activities, including diplomacy, politics, leadership, pilgrimage, youths, and non-Chinese Catholics in China. It discusses Sino-Vatican relations and the rationale behind the decisions taken by Pope Francis with regard to the appointment of bishops in China. The book also examines important changes and personalities in the Chinese Church, the Catholic organizations, and the Catholic communities in the Church, offering a key read for researchers and graduate students studying the Chinese Catholic Church, the Church in Asia, and religion in contemporary China.
A Guide to Tribes in Indonesia: Anthropological Insights from the Archipelago
by Zulyani HidayahThis encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of the traditions, cultures, kinship norms, and other significant cultural aspects of the tribes, or otherwise named ethnic groups, of Indonesia, by an Indonesian anthropologist. The entries are supported by illustrations drawn by the late author himself, and are also accompanied by maps indicating the geographic locations and distributions of each tribe throughout the vast archipelago. Originally written and published in Bahasa Indonesian, the text has been translated into English and revised to feature up-to-date information. In showcasing the extent of diversity and the distinctiveness of the numerous tribal cultures in Indonesia, the volume presents itself as an important academic reference in Indonesian anthropology and ethnography studies, now finally available to global readership. Intended as a short work of reference, it will be indispensable to students and scholars researching Indonesia from anthropological, sociocultural, and ethnographic perspectives.
Regulatory Model for Digital Rights Management: Analysis of U.S., Europe and China
by Cong XuThis book highlights the shortcomings of the present Digital Rights Management (DRM) regulations in China. Using literature reviews and comparative analysis from theoretical and empirical perspectives, it appraises different DRM restriction regulations and practices as well as current advice on balance of interests to analyze the dilemma faced by the DRM system.This research intends to help China establish a comprehensive DRM regulatory model through comparative theoretical and empirical critiques of systems in America and Europe. A newly designed DRM regulatory model should be suitable for specific Chinese features, and should consist of government regulated, self-regulated, and even unregulated sections. The new regulation model might be an addition to existing legal structures, while self-regulations/social enforcement also would be as important as legislation based on case studies.
The Divine Bureaucracy and Disenchantment of Social Life: A Study of Bureaucratic Islam in Malaysia (Contestations in Contemporary Southeast Asia)
by Maznah MohamadThis book traces the expansion of Islamisation within a modern and plural state such as Malaysia. It elaborates on how elements of theology, sacred space, resources, and their interactivity with secular instruments such as legislative, electoral, and new social technological platforms are all instrumentally employed to consolidate a divine bureaucracy. The book makes the point that religious social movements and political parties are only few of the important agents of Islamisation in society. The other is the modern and secular state structure itself. Weber’s legal rational bureaucracy or Hegel’s ethical bureaucracy predominantly characterises a modern feature of governmentality. In this instance an Islamic bureaucracy is advantageously situated not only within an ambit of modernity and therefore legality, but divinity and therefore sacrality as well. This positioning gives religious state agents more salience than any other form of bureaucracy leading to their unquestioned authority in the current contexts of societies with Muslim majority rule. One of the requisites of this condition is the homogenisation of Islam followed by ring-fencing of its constituents. The latter can involve contestations with women, other genders, ‘secular’ Muslims, non-Muslims as well as dissenting Muslims with their differing truthful ‘Islams’.
Religion Matters: The Contemporary Relevance of Religion
by Paul Babie Rick SarreThis book draws together leaders in science, the health sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences to investigate the role of religion, its meaning and relevance, for their area of specialization. It provides a much-needed fresh perspective on the way in which religion operates within the modern, neo-liberal world. The book approaches the topic by way of a critical engagement between religion, broadly defined, and the individual disciplines in which each of the contributors is expert. Rather than simply taking the dogmatic position that religion offers something to every possible discipline, each of the chapters in this collection addresses the question: is there something that religion can offer to the discipline in question? That is the value of the book – it takes a truly critical stance on the place of religion in contemporary society.
Yārsān of Iran, Socio-Political Changes and Migration
by S. Behnaz HosseiniThis book examines how socio-political surroundings have affected the evolution of Yārsāni religious thought and why the Yārsāni religious belief, despite its fundamental disagreement with Islamic tenets, has been affiliated with Islam. It also considers the historical context and socio-religious milieu in which the Yārsāni belief appropriates religious forces to survive, how Yārsānis experience their religion in Islamic society, and what differences are significant in their lived experiences. The author explores how the experience of worship influences real life for the Yārsānis from the perspectives of sociology, behaviorism, content analysis, cultural studies and ethnography in Iran and diaspora with focus on Sweden. Yārsāni followers became known as those who “don’t tell secrets,” primarily because they were not allowed to promote and advertise their religion in public, but recently have started to reveal their religion, especially in social media. This book discovers the transformation of this religion, and in particular in which context an individual can change the content of religion, and bring about new ideas regarding religion and belief.
Malaysian Christians Online: Faith, Experience, and Social Engagement on the Internet
by Meng Yoe TanMany facets of social life are now intrinsically linked to the Internet through increasing dependence of user-centric platforms like blogs, social-networking websites, online forums, and open source websites. The Malaysian Church is not exempt from having to negotiate with an increasingly tech-savvy and networked community of believers. Based primarily on Internet ethnography and interviews with Christian bloggers and church pastors, this book looks at how the Internet is a component of “everyday religion” in the lives of Malaysian Christians at individual, institutional, and national levels. It examines the ways in which online Christian expressions are increasingly integrated into the everyday religious routines of Christians for the development of their personal identities and inter-religious interactions. This book also shows how the spiritual authority of church pastors can be both challenged and reinforced through the creative use of online tools. It addresses some of the creative ways in which Christians utilise the Internet to engage with national socio-political issues within the context of restrictive and controlled mainstream media, as well as the ongoing discourse with Islam in the country. Through a selection of case studies, this book shows that while the Internet may be “free”, the users of the Internet are not necessarily so. While the Internet has provided Malaysian Christians with new tools to experience their faith in new ways, several aspects of “old” offline socio-cultural habits persist online. These, in turn, lead to a robust and growing environment of Internet Christianity in Malaysia. This timely book will be of interest to scholars in religious studies, media and communications, and cultural studies in Southeast Asia.
Intimate Assemblages: The Politics of Queer Identities and Sexualities in Indonesia
by Hendri Yulius WijayaWritten in the aftermath of Indonesia's anti-queer panic in 2016, this book tells the story of local queer movements in challenging the heteronormative society and resisting the homophobic hostility from religious conservative groups and the state. The year 2016 was a touchstone moment for queer issues in Indonesia, marked by the ubiquity of anti-queer campaigns, along with the pervasive use of the term 'LGBT' in public. Drawing on historical archives and his engagements with local queer activisms, Hendri Yulius Wijaya traces the historical shifts of gender and sexual identities in Indonesia, from gay and lesbian, to LGBT, to SOGIE minorities, while exploring their connections with the country's socio-political circumstances and the globalization of queer rights. Using a strategic blend of queer theory and assemblage framework, Wijaya demonstrates how activists refashion transnational sexuality discourses to balance international developments of queer rights against the contingencies of daily life in Indonesia. Equally importantly, he sheds light on emerging practices in activist landscapes, including the emergence of sexuality experts and the professionalization of activisms. In analyzing the rising tide of homophobic paranoia, Wijaya further shows how the current anti-queer campaigns have branched out into a broader assault on feminism and promoted a form of 'aversion therapy' that positions same-sex attraction as a divine ordeal. Intimate Assemblages follows the travails of queer activists in defining what it means to be queer in contemporary Indonesia.
Origin and Expansion of Chinese Sociology
by Shaojie LiuThis book reexamines Chinese sociology's point of departure and boundaries of western sociology from a new academic perspective, and offers a new definition of the essence and mission of sociology, drawing and critically reflecting on the ideological and theoretical theories of the classic sociologists. On this basis, it makes a careful study of the origin of Confucian classics and western sources of Chinese sociology and analyses the origin and evolution of Chinese sociology at the intersection of Chinese and western academic history. Further, it provides a deep and thorough discussion of the social theories of Chinese sociology pioneers and founders (such as Fu Yan, Youwei Kang, and Qichao Liang) and comments on Shuming Liang’s sociological theory, which emphasizes the Chinese culture and tradition as well as the particularity of the Chinese social structure. In addition, it also offers an in-depth analysis of Xiaotong Fei’s advocacy of the idea of expanding the traditional boundaries of sociology in his later years. With regard to promoting the development of a new Chinese sociology, the book is particularly important in terms of expanding academic research and promoting discipline construction.
Tourism Product Development in China, Asian and European Countries
by Yuhua Luo Jinbo Jiang Doudou BiThis book analyzes a broad variety of tourism products in China, Asia and Europe that employ both cutting-edge IT technologies and advanced methodologies. These products are cultural tourism, recreational tourism, sport tourism, adventure tourism, medical tourism and more. Authors from different areas contributed to the book, including academic researchers, graduate students, government administrators and industry practitioners. The book covers the entire chain of tourism product business processes: product development and improvement, tourist behavior analysis, marketing and sales, customer service, etc. In addition, it addresses related issues such as tourism sustainability, policymaking, environmental protection and human resource development. Big data processing, data mining, visual content analysis and textural content analysis, semantic nets and sentiment analysis are among the cutting-edge technological tools used to study tourism product development here. The book gathers selected papers from the 9th International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality between China and Spain (www.china-spain.org) with participants from 18 countries. Though the book is mainly intended for researchers and policymakers, it will also appeal to a wider audience, due to its first-hand content, insightful analysis and broad geographic coverage.
Becoming a Malaysian Trans Man: Gender, Society, Body and Faith (Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia)
by Joseph N. GohThis book explores the fluid, mutable and contingent ways in which transgender men in Malaysia construct their subjectivities. Against the dearth of academic resources on Malaysian trans men, this ground-breaking monograph is rooted in the lived experiences of Malaysian trans men whose vicissitudes have mostly been hidden, silenced and overlooked. Comprising diverse age groups, ethnicities, socio-economic status, educational backgrounds and religious persuasions, these trans men reveal how they navigate life in a country with secular and religious laws that criminalise their embodiments, and the strategies they deploy to achieve self-determination and self-actualisation despite being perceived as aberrant and sinful. This book demonstrates how negotiations with constitutive elements such as gender identity, social interaction, citizenship, legality, bodily struggle, medical transitioning and personal spiritual validation condition the becomings of Malaysian trans men.
Culture’s Engine: Inside Science and Technology
by William GoslingCulture’s Engine offers an insightful and penetrating analysis of the enduring relationship between technology and society. William Gosling explores in absorbing historical detail how humans have experienced change through a sequence of technological revolutions, each giving rise to new social organisation, which in turn influences the shape and timing of the next such revolution. Gosling argues that it is through this dialogue that successful technology sets the direction and pace of all cultural evolution. The state of technology at any time is the major influence on the world, and not just the material world. This book then is not a history of technology, still less of science. It fundamentally questions how technology and social forces interact, leading to these successive revolutions and their outcomes.
Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Social Justice: A Chinese Interdisciplinary Dialogue with Global Perspective
by Zhibin Xie Pauline Kollontai Sebastian KimThis book explores human dignity, human rights and social justice based on a Chinese interdisciplinary dialogue and global perspectives. In the Chinese and other global contexts today, social justice has been a significant topic among many disciplines and we believe it is an appropriate topic for philosophers, theologians, legal scholars, and social scientists to sit together, discuss, enrich each other, and then deepen our understanding of the topic. Many of them are concerned with the conjuncture between social justice, human rights, and human dignity. The questions this volume asks are: what’s the place of human rights in social justice? How is human dignity important in the discourse on human rights? And, through these inquiries, we ask further: how is possible to achieve humanist justice? This volume presents the significance, challenges, and constraints of human dignity in human rights and social justice and addresses the questions through philosophical, theological, sociological, political, and legal perspectives and these are placed in dialogue between the Chinese and other global settings. We are concerned with the norms regarding human dignity, human rights and social justice while we take seriously into account their practice. This volume consists of two main sections. The first section examines Chinese perspectives on human rights and social justice, in which both from Confucianism and Christianity are considered and the issues such as patriotism, religious freedom, petition, social protest, the rights of marginalized people, and sexual violence are studied. The second section presents the perspectives of Christian public theologians in the global contexts. They examine the influence of Christian thought and practice in the issues of human rights and social justice descriptively and prescriptively and address issues such as religious laws and rights, diaconia, majoritarianism, general equality, social-economic disparities, and climate justice from global perspectives including in the contexts of America, Australia, Israel and Europe. With contributions by experts from mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, USA and Norway, the book provides valuable cross-cultural and interdisciplinary insights and perspectives. As such it will appeal to political and religious leaders and practitioners, particularly those working in socially engaged religious and civil organizations in various geopolitical contexts, including the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Philosophical Doctrines of the Andhakas: Exploring Early Buddhist Sects of Andhra (SpringerBriefs in Religious Studies)
by Balaganapathi DevarakondaThis book provides a comprehensive account on the doctrines of the Andhakas, an early Buddhist sect. It explores how cosmopolitan character of Buddhism is nurtured by the Andhakas. Moreover, it shares key insights into the coherent system of Buddhist philosophical doctrines of the Andhakas on the basis of the Kathāvatthu, enabling readers to gain a better understanding of the doctrinal developments that took place during this period. Divided into four chapters, the book offers broad coverage of the Andhakas, making it of interest to researchers focusing on early Buddhism, as well as general readers who want to learn more about Buddhist philosophy and studies on Andhra.
Islamic Economics as Mesoscience: A New Paradigm of Knowledge
by Masudul Alam ChoudhuryThis book presents the building blocks of Islamic economics as meso-science, offering an in-depth study of the Qur’anic worldview of the monotheistic unity of knowledge, which is the universal and unique message of Tawhid in the Qur’an. This primal ontological premise is formalised in an analytical approach that introduces and unpacks the philosophical concepts of ontology, epistemology, and phenomenology in relation to the Tawhidi methodological worldview. The analysis of Qur’anic logical consistency is then cast in a phenomenological perspective by applying the complete model of the unity of knowledge of the Qur’an in a specific study of the Tawhidi methodological approach to Islamic financial-economic theory. In doing so, it tackles the problems of meso-economics given its socio-scientific holism in world affairs. It hones in on the results of the symbiotic modulation of evolutionary learning processes in the world system of the unity of knowledge and its material embedding across knowledge, and knowledge-induced space and time dimensions. The author poses that Shari’ah is only partial in its scope, and excludes an analytical methodological worldview. Shari’ah is thus cast in the midst of a meso-socio-scientific absence of any appertaining methodology. The book is a landmark work in the conceptual and applied understanding of Tawhid as the methodological worldview of the monotheistic unity of knowledge in the meso-socio-scientific realm of ‘everything’, particularised to Islamic economics. Adopting an inter-disciplinary view integrating various fields, it challenges pervasive Western academic and institutional thinking in terms of economics. It will be of interest to students and researchers in Islamic economics, religious theory, Islamic philosophy, development studies, and finance.
China’s Catholics in an Era of Transformation: Observations of an “Outsider” (Christianity in Modern China)
by Anthony E. ClarkThis book features a collection of essays on China’s modern Catholic Church by a scholar of China-West intellectual and religious exchange. The essays and reflections were mostly written in China while the author was traveling by train, or staying in villages or large cities near to Roman Catholic cathedrals or other important historical sites during research trips to the country. It is clear that Clark’s understanding of Catholicism in China evolved from the first entry to the final ones in 2019. The essays included in this compendium were written in disparate contexts and in response to different events. As such, there is no obvious theme or order to the content. However, despite this, the book provides valuable insights for readers wishing to gain a better understanding of the complex topography of Catholic history in China, the contours of which have undergone stark transformations with each dynastic, political, and ecclesial transition. The information presented serves to highlight and explain the lives of Catholic people and the events that have punctuated one of the most significant dimensions of China’s long history of friendship, conflict and exchange with the West.
Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History (Islam and Global Studies)
by R. Charles Weller Anver M. EmonThis book engages the diverse meanings and interpretations of Islamic and Western law which have affected people and societies across the globe, past and present, in correlation to the epistemological groundings of those meanings and interpretations. The volume takes a distinctively comparative approach, advancing dialogue on crucial transnational and global debates over the history of Western and Islamic approaches to law, politics and society and their relevance for today. It discusses how fundamental concepts are understood and even translated from one historical or political context or one semantic domain to another. The book provides focused studies of key figures and theories in a manageable, accessible format useful for specialized academic courses and research as well as general audiences.
Leading Issues in Islamic Economics and Finance: Critical Evaluations
by Zubair HasanThe book discusses leading issues in Islamic economics and finance that continue to remain in a fluid, non-consensual state in the profession. It examines the nature and significance of Islamic economics. The book deals with the mainstream topics including growth, environment, distributive justice, monetary policy, risk treatment, methodology and Basel Accords to rehabilitate them for the Islamic discipline within the framework of scarcity, self-interest and gain maximization. Further, it explores the role of the state in directing the economy toward achieving Islamic goals of development and welfare.
Pragmatism, Spirituality and Society: Border Crossings, Transformations and Planetary Realizations
by Ananta Kumar GiriThis book explores border crossing among pragmatism, spirituality and society. It opens up American pragmatism to dialogues with pragmatism and spiritual quest from other traditions such as India and China thus making contemporary pragmatism a part of much needed planetary conversations. It cultivates new visions and practices of spiritual pragmatism building upon the seminal works of Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, Sri Aurobindo, John Dewey, Martin Heidegger, Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Luce Irigaray which can help us rethink and transform conventional conceptions and constructions of practice, pragmatism, language, religion, politics, society, culture and democracy and create new relationships of pragmatism, spirituality and society.
Pragmatism, Spirituality and Society: New Pathways of Consciousness, Freedom and Solidarity
by Ananta Kumar GiriThis book explores the dynamics of interaction between pragmatism and spirituality in the constitution and working of consciousness, freedom and solidarity. This book is cross-cultural and transdisciplinary in nature and brings critical and transformative perspectives from different philosophical and spiritual traditions of the world. It discusses the works of seminal thinkers such as William James, Rudolf Steiner, John Dewey, Swami Vivekananda, Martin Heidegger, Claude Levi-Strauss, Jordan Peterson, Slavos Zizek, Paul Valeri and O.V. Vijayan. It also explores dialogues between pragmatism and other philosophical and intellectual traditions such as Semiotics, Saiva Siddhanta, Vedanta, Trika Shaivism and Tantra. It explores themes such as pragmatism and belief, evolution of consciousness and happiness, spiritual pragmatism and economics of solidarity, value levels democracy, the perforamtive as an aspect of spirituality and transformation of political theology from Kingdom of God to Gardens of God.
Chinese Narratologies
by Xiuyan FuThis book provides a more rational and systematic explanation for the origin and evolution of the Chinese narrative tradition, based on studies of Chinese literary classics, local culture and items such as bronze wares and porcelain vessels with “portrayed stories.” By doing so, it uncovers forgotten interconnections and reestablishes obscured or unacknowledged lines of descent. Furthermore, it makes an initial study of acoustic narrative. Going beyond the field of literature, it employs tools and materials from diverse fields such as anthropology, religious studies, mythology, linguistics, semiotics, folklore and local culture. The book also offers an archeological inquiry into the knowledge found in various narrative texts, objects with “portrayed stories” and perceptions with “relevant plots.” Providing a wealth of insights, inspiring investigative methods and practical tools that can be applied in narrative studies, the book is an essential resource for researchers and students in the fields of comparative literature, narratology and ancient Chinese literature.
Religion, Sustainability, and Place: Moral Geographies of the Anthropocene
by Steven E. Silvern Edward H. DavisThis book explores how religious groups work to create sustainable relationships between people, places and environments. This interdisciplinary volume deepens our understanding of this relationship, revealing that the geographical imagination—our sense of place—is a key aspect of the sustainability ideas and practices of religious groups. The book begins with a broad examination of how place shapes faith-based ideas about sustainability, with examples drawn from indigenous Hawaiians and the sacred texts of Judaism and Islam. Empirical case studies from North America, Europe, Central Asia and Africa follow, illustrating how a local, bounded, and sacred sense of place informs religious-based efforts to protect people and natural resources from threatening economic and political forces. Other contributors demonstrate that a cosmopolitan geographical imagination, viewing place as extending from the local to the global, shapes the struggles of Christian, Jewish and interfaith groups to promote just and sustainable food systems and battle the climate crisis.
The History of Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya
by K.T.S. SaraoThis book offers an overview of the emergence of Bodh Gayā as a sacred site within Gayā Dharmakṣetra. It contextualizes the different encounters, incidents, and legends connected to the Buddha’s experiences shortly before and after he attained Bodhi – when, spiritually speaking, he was extremely lonely and was trying to carve a place for himself in the highly competitive Gayā Dharmakṣetra. Further, the book examines the role of various personalities and institutions contributed towards the emergence of Mahābodhi Temple. It incorporates a wealth of research on the role of the Victorian Indologists as well as the colonial administrators, the Giri mahants, and Anagārika Dharmapāla, to understand the material milieu pertaining not only to its identity but also access to spiritual resources as its conservation and development. This book is an indispensable read for students and scholars of history, cultural studies, and art and architecture as well as practitioners of Buddhism and Hinduism.