Power and religiosity in a post-colonial setting : Sinhala Catholics in contemporary Sri Lanka
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Power and religiosity in a post-colonial setting : Sinhala Catholics in contemporary Sri Lanka
(Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology, 87)
Cambridge University Press, 2006, c1992
- : pbk
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"This digitally printed first paperback version 2006" -- T.p. verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-220) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Over the past few decades a series of Catholic shrines have sprung up in Sri Lanka which draw hundreds of pilgrims. Although best known as centres for the exorcism of the demonically possessed, their miraculous efficacy also extends to helping people find jobs and preferment, and to alleviating suffering. Dr Stirrat, who has worked in Sri Lanka over a long period, is interested both in how people behave at the shrines, and in the historical and social contexts in which the shrines have appeared. He argues that an understanding of their religious importance is intricately connected with power, religious and political. This view challenges the conventional distinction between 'religion' and 'politics', and accordingly, religious suffering is seen as a complex metaphor linking together various social domains and a means through which conflicts over power and authority can be expressed.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The colonial Church
- 3. The Church in crisis
- 4. The rise of Kudagama
- 5. Demonic possession and the battle against evil
- 6. Suffering and sacrifice
- 7. Holy men and power
- 8. Patronage and religion
- 9. On the borders
- 10. Conclusion
- Notes
- List of references
- Index.
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