Religious Categories and the Construction of the Indigenous: First Peoples and the Study of Religion

This volume significantly advances the academic debate surrounding the taxonomy and the categorisation of ‘indigenous religion’. Developing approaches from leading scholars in the field, this edited volume provides the space for established and rising voices to discuss the highly problematic topic of how indigenous 'religion' can be defined and conceptualised. Constructing the Indigenous highlights the central issues in the debate between those supporting and refining current academic frameworks and those who would argue that present thinking remains too dependant on misunderstandings that arise from definitions of religion that are too inflexible, and from problems caused by the World Religion paradigm. This book will prove essential reading for those that wish to engage with contemporary discussions regarding the definitions of religion and their relations to the indigenous category.

Contributors are: Zoe Alderton, Steve Bevis, James L. Cox, Christopher Hartney, Graham Harvey, Milad Milani, Bjørn Ola Tafjord, Daniel J. Tower, Garry W. Trompf, and Jack Tsonis.

Christopher Hartney, Ph.D. (2004), University of Sydney, is a lecturer in the department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney. He has published extensively on Caodaism, Vietnams largest indigenous religious system, He editor of numerous scholarly journals and books including: Secularisation: New Historical Perspectives (2014).
Daniel J. Tower, B.E. B.A., is a doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney. His current research examines the relationship between religion, conflict, and resources in Northern Iraq.