Jainism as Social and Visual Practice: Anthropological Perspective

Jainism as Social and Visual Practice: Anthropological Perspective contains Marcus Banks’s ethnographic writings on Jainism, posthumously gathered in a single volume. The writings are concerned with two major issues: first, the social organization of Jains in India and in England; and second, visual representation among Jains. To this day, there remains a dearth of good anthropological studies of the lay Jain community. This book will significantly supplement existing scholarship in the field. That Banks conducted research both in India and the United Kingdom is a unique feature in the scant anthropological literature on the Jains. Furthermore, the way in which the book integrates the study of Jain social structures with Jain visual and material culture distinguishes this volume’s contribution. It will be an invaluable resource for all scholars interested in Jainism and South Asian religion more broadly. As Professor John E. Cort states, ‘Marcus Banks […] was one of a handful of scholars in anthropology and related fields who in the 1980s and 1990s transformed Jain Studies in ways that have been foundational to the current increasing interest in the field.’.