Social groups: religious groups and communities
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Strategic Acts in the Study of Identity
Strategic Acts in the Study of Identity is a multi-authored work that tackles the problem of how to examine the historicity of identity. Six scholars of religion, all members of the Culture on the Edge group, engage in a constructive dialogue mediating and critically cross-examining issues of identi...
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Sufism, Pluralism and Democracy
This volume provides a composite of contemporary Sufi involvement in politics using a range of approaches and disciplines. It explores the role of Sufi-related parties where they exist or are emerging. It also examines how parties that condemn Sufism have adopted aspects of Sufi organization and pra...
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Unveiling Sufism
William Rory Dickson, Meena Sharify-Funk
In contrast to most introductory texts on Sufism, this work begins not with the historical past, but with the contemporary present. Beginning with Sufism as it is lived today, each chapter further unveils the complexities of Sufism, journeying through a variety of historical, political, and cultural...
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Fabricating Difference
The fabrication of groups as different, as other, often has significant consequences, including violence and discrimination. This volume focuses on the discourses that construct Islam in the aftermath of traumatic events and thus illustrates how academic analysis of the fabrication of difference can...
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Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation
Heather Eaton, Lauren Michelle Levesque
Nonviolence is emerging as a topic of great interest in activist, academic and community settings. In particular, nonviolence is being recognized as a necessary component of constructive and sustainable social change. This book considers nonviolence in relationship to specific social, political, eco...
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Claiming Identity in the Study of Religion
Focusing on the academic study of religion, Claiming Identity in the Study of Religion is the first in a series that grapples with the historicity of identity and the social and rhetorical techniques that make claims to identity possible. In this volume, six previously published essays by scholar of...
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New Religiosity in Contemporary Sweden
Peter Akerback, Liselotte Frisk
The contemporary popular or new religious landscape in Sweden - arenas with religious elements outside the established churches - is large and multifaceted. Religion is today expressed in different localities, like retreat centers, health centers and gyms, and can manifest as for, example, healing,...
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Anime, Religion and Spirituality
Katharine Buljan, Carole M Cusack
Barely a century has passed since anime (Japanese animation) was first screened to a Western audience. Over time the number of anime genres and generic hybrids have significantly grown. These have been influenced and inspired by various historical and cultural phenomena, one of which - Japanese nati...
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Sects and Stats
A major, perhaps the major, focus of early research on New Religious Movements (NRMs) was on the people who joined. Most of the field's pioneer researchers were sociologists. However, the profile of NRM members had changed substantially by the twenty-first century -- changes largely missed because t...
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The Arabs and the Scramble for Africa
This book examines the history of the European Scramble for Africa from the perspective of the Omanis and other Arabs in East Africa. It will be of interest not only to African specialists, but also those working on the Middle East, where awareness is now emerging that the history of those settled o...