Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Movement - Softcover

Srinivas, Tulasi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231149336 ISBN 13: 9780231149334

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2010

Synopsis

The Sathya Sai global civil religious movement incorporates Hindu and Muslim practices, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian influences, and "New Age"-style rituals and beliefs. Shri Sathya Sai Baba, its charismatic and controversial leader, attracts several million adherents from various national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. In a dynamic account of the Sathya Sai movement's explosive growth, Winged Faith argues for a rethinking of globalization and the politics of identity in a religiously plural world.

This study considers a new kind of cosmopolitanism located in an alternate understanding of difference and contestation. It considers how acts of "sacred spectating" and illusion, "moral stakeholding" and the problems of community are debated and experienced. A thrilling study of a transcultural and transurban phenomenon that questions narratives of self and being, circuits of sacred mobility, and the politics of affect, Winged Faith suggests new methods for discussing religion in a globalizing world and introduces readers to an easily critiqued yet not fully understood community.

About this title

About the Author

Tulasi Srinivas is assistant professor of anthropology at Emerson College, specializing in South Asia, with a focus on issues of globalization, religion, and identity.

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231149336
• ISBN 13: 9780231149334
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448