Experiencing Globalization

Description

This collection of essays, with special reference to Asia, analyzes religion through lived experience and reveals how religious phenomena are inextricably linked to globalizing processes.

Today, in an age of globalization, religion represents a potent force in the lives of billions of people worldwide. Yet when social theorists examine the impact of globalization on contemporary religious movements, they tend to focus on issues such as Islamic fundamentalism and threats to US or global security. This collection of essays takes a different approach, analyzing – with special reference to Asia – religion through lived experience. The key issues covered in the volume include: how religious impulses contribute to globalization; how religious groups and organizations repackage traditional beliefs for transcultural appeal; how religious adherents cope with external threats to identity; how new technologies are reshaping the nature of religious beliefs and images; and how local and global religious influences blend and/or clash. Far from religion being a subject of peripheral concern to globalization, the contributors demonstrate that from the most basic level of our interactions with the natural environment to the socio-political behavior of the “great religions” – and even to the profusion of folk and pop culture phenomena – the influence of religion upon globalization, and vice versa, is apparent at all levels.

Preface; Chapter 1: Introduction – Bei Dawei, Evangelos Voulgarakis and Derrick M. Nault; PART ONE: RELIGION IN GLOBAL AND TRANSCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: Chapter 2: Adam Smith and the Neo-Calvinist Foundations of Globalization – Christian Etzrodt; Chapter 3: Daniel Quinn on Religion: Saving the World through Anti-globalism? – Bei Dawei; Chapter 4: Globalized Religion: The Vedic Sacrifice (“Yajña”) in Transcultural Public Spheres – Silke Bechler; PART TWO: COMPARATIVE AND PLURALISTIC APPROACHES: Chapter 5: Mary, Athena and Guanyin: What the Church, the Demos and the Sangha Can Teach Us about Religious Pluralism and Doctrinal Conformity to Socio-cultural Standards – Evangelos Voulgarakis; Chapter 6: The Globalization of the New Spirituality and its Expression in Japan: The Case of Mt Ikoma – Girardo Rodriguez Plasencia; Chapter 7: Globalization and Religious Resurgence: A Comparative Study of Bahrain and Poland – Magdalena Karolak and Nikodem Karolak; PART THREE: RELIGION IN TAIWAN: Chapter 8: Religion in the Media Age: A Case Study of Da Ai Dramas from the Tzu Chi Organization – Pei-Ru Liao; Chapter 9: “Techno Dancing Gods”: Comicized Deity Images as Expressions of Taiwanese Cultural Identity – Thzeng Chi Hsiung and Tsai Chin Chia; Chapter 10: Rituals of Identity in “Alid” Belief: Siraya Religion in Taiwan since 1945 – Tiaukhai Iunn; List of Contributors 

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• Books
• Savoirs
• Humanities and social sciences
• Comparative religion

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• Published by: Anthem Press
• Published: 01 February 2013
• Reads: 0
• EAN13: 9780857285768
• Language: English
• Document size: 2 MB

Exrait

Experiencing Globalization

Experiencing Globalization

Religion in Contemporary Contexts

Edited by Derrick M. Nault, Bei Dawei, Evangelos Voulgarakis, Rab Paterson and Cesar AndresMiguel Suva

Anthem Press An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2013 by ANTHEM PRESS 7576 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK and 244 Madison Ave. #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

© 2013 Derrick M. Nault, Bei Dawei, Evangelos Voulgarakis, Rab Paterson and Cesar AndresMiguel Suva editorial matter and selection; individual chapters © individual contributors

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library CataloguinginPublication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Experiencing globalization : religion in contemporary contexts / edited by Derrick M. Nault ... [et al.]. p. cm. Proceedings of a conference held in Mar. 2010 at National Chung Cheng University. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 9780857285591 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Globalization–Religious aspects–Congresses. 2. Asia–Religion–Congresses. I. Nault, Derrick M. BL65.G55E97 2013 201’.7–dc23 2012036395

ISBN13: 978 0 85728 559 1 (Hbk) ISBN10: 0 85728 559 9 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an eBook.

Preface Chapter 1

Part One

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Part Two Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Bei Dawei, Evangelos Voulgarakis and Derrick M. Nault

Religion in Global and Transcultural Perspective

Adam Smith and the NeoCalvinist Foundations of Globalization Christian Etzrodt

Daniel Quinn on Religion: Saving the World through Antiglobalism? Bei Dawei

Globalized Religion: The Vedic Sacrifice (Yajña) in Transcultural Public Spheres Silke Bechler

Comparative and Pluralistic Approaches

Mary, Athena and Guanyin: What the Church, the Demos and the Sangha Can Teach Us about Religious Pluralism and Doctrinal Conformity to Sociocultural Standards Evangelos Voulgarakis

The Globalization of the New Spirituality and its Expression in Japan: The Case of Mt Ikoma Girardo Rodriguez Plasencia

Globalization and Religious Resurgence: A Comparative Study of Bahrain and Poland Magdalena Karolak and Nikodem Karolak

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43

59

81

109

129

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EXPERIENCING GLOBALIZATION

Part Three Religion in Taiwan Chapter 8 Religion in the Media Age: A Case Study of Da Ai Dramas from the Tzu Chi Organization PeiRu Liao

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

“Techno Dancing Gods”: Comicized Deity Images as Expressions of Taiwanese Cultural Identity Thzeng Chi Hsiung and Tsai Chin Chia

Rituals of Identity inAlidBelief: Siraya Religion in Taiwan since 1945 Tiaukhai Iunn

List of Contributors

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181

195

215

PREFACE

The essays in this volume were originally presented at a conference held at National Chung Cheng University in Jiayi, Taiwan in March 2010 entitled (En)countering Globalizations: Religion in the Contemporary World. Convened by the Asia Association for Global Studies (AAGS), a scholarly organization based in Tokyo, the conference gathered scholars from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America to examine the impact of globalization on contemporary religious life. Many individuals helped to make the event a success. Though he was unfortunately unable to attend due to illness, Dr Hans Peter Liederbach (Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan), the former president of AAGS, provided the original idea for the conference. Dr Mark Juergensmeyer (University of California, Santa Barbara), noted expert on religious violence, conflict resolution and South Asian religion and politics, delivered an insightful and captivating keynote address on religious challenges to the secular state. Dr Joujuo Chu (National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan) and her onsite conference organizing team of students did an exceptional job of welcoming, entertaining and assisting guests. Last but not least, the conference would not have been possible without the enthusiastic participation of some 120 presenters and attendees hailing from 12 different nations. For the publication of this volume, the contributors are indebted to Tej P. S. Sood and the Anthem Press team for their suggestions, guidance and expertise.

Derrick M. Nault University of Calgary

Globalization

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Bei Dawei Hsuan Chuang University, Taiwan

Evangelos Voulgarakis Independent Scholar, Taiwan

Derrick M. Nault University of Calgary, Canada

Centuries hence, when future historians look back upon our era, surely globalization will stand out as one of its defining trends. Technological advances have resulted in everaccelerating levels of travel, trade and communication. Human ties (e.g., crossborder marriage and adoption) and population movements have followed, challenging various regional and cultural identities. Transnational institutions and agreements have gained new importance. Integration into global markets has brought routine contact with “foreigners,” whether in the form of competition or alliance, and imitation is widespread. Elements of a common culture can be identified in our business practices, choice of languages, clothing and hairstyles, consumer products, entertainment, education, military affairs and politics, among other spheres. We may even speak of a certain “global consciousness,” a reflexive awareness 1 of our growing interconnectedness. Scholars and public intellectuals disagree as to how far back to trace this process. Thomas Friedman (1999, 2005) focuses primarily on the end of the Cold War, and the technological and managerial developments of the 1990s. Benjamin Barber (1992) looks to the postWorld War II rise of multinational corporations and international trade regimes (such as the Bretton Woods institutions and the various common markets). Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson (1996) liken this

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EXPERIENCING GLOBALIZATION

to earlier cycles of internationalization, such as the period between 1870–1914. William H. McNeill (1963) emphasizes the period of European industrialization and colonialism from 1750 to 1950. Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980, 1989) begins with the great age of European exploration and the intercontinental maritime empires established in its wake. Janet AbuLughod (1991) and Jack Weatherford (2004) hail the contributions of the thirteenthcenturypax Mongolica. Others nominate the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates (e.g., Stearns, Adas, Schwartz and Gilbert 2004), or earlier landbased Eurasian empires associated with the Silk Road. Andre Gunder Frank and Barry K. Gills (1991, 1993) suggest a figure of “five thousand years” ago, referring to trade ties between the Sumerian and Harappan civilizations. Daniel Quinn (1992) and Jared Diamond (1997) point to the development of mass agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Finally, James Harrod (2006) refers to “periods of globalization” during the Lower Paleolithic, between 1.9 and 1.6 million years ago, in which Olduwan industries (and presumably also the hominins themselves) spread out from Africa across Asia via the Indian Ocean Rim. Of course there is some merit to each of these starting points, at least within specifically defined contexts, and there have been numerous attempts at periodization (some by the same authors). Here we may usefully resort to David Held’s distinction between “thick” globalization (characterized by high extensity, intensity, velocity and impact) and several earlier forms. For example, the ancient Silk Road (which combined high extensity with low intensity, velocity and impact) would be an example of “thin” globalization (Held, McGrew, Goldblatt and Perraton 1999; see also Nye 2002). At any rate, the present momentum—for better or worse, and regardless of the system’s ultimate success or failure—is clearly in the direction of thickness. Less amenable to reconciliation are the questions of whether our era is unique, or part of some larger economic or historical cycle; and whether neoliberal economic policies will, or should, prevail under the New World Order. However periodized or conceptualized, that globalization is a contested process is demonstrated through the spectrum of “antiglobalist” figures, which extend from the far left (the “Black Bloc”) to the far right (Marine Le Pen), and encompasses environmentalists, labor organizers, anarchists (David Graeber and John Zerzan fill several of these roles), indigenous rights activists, conspiracy theorists (Theodore Kaczinsky, David Icke), dissident economists (Joseph Stiglitz, Susan Strange), postmodern cultural critics and miscellaneous others. Noam Chomsky himself protests the nomenclature:

The dominant propaganda systems have appropriated the term “globalization” to refer to the specific version of international economic integration that they favor, which privileges the rights of investors and