Many scholars have touched on the relationships between religion and nature since the work of late nineteenth-century anthropologists such as Edward B. Tylor. This is almost inevitable in studying some religions, especially indigenous ones. Nevertheless, only since the 1950s has anthropological research gradually been developing that is intentionally focused on the influence of religion on human ecology and adaptation, part of a recent multidisciplinary field that some call spiritual ecology (Merchant 2005; Sponsel 2001, 2005a, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c; S. Taylor 2006). At last this ecological approach is beginning to receive some attention in textbooks on the anthropology of religion, ecological anthropology, human ecology, and environmental conservation, though it is still uncommon in the anthropological periodicals (Bowie 2006; Marten 2001; Merchant 2005; Russell and Harshbarger 2003; Townsend 2009). This article summarizes a sample of the growing literature and cites other sources to help facilitate the eff orts of those who may find this new subject to be of sufficient interest for further inquiry.
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Religion and Environment
Exploring Spiritual Ecology
Leslie E. Sponsel
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2010
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 131–145 (15 total)
Introduction
The Digital Age Opens Up New Terrains for Peace and Conflict Research
Josepha Ivanka Wessels
selected because they reflect on the role of the Digital Age in peace and conflict studies, and specifically focus on the intersection between online (virtual) and offline (physical) realities and how cyberspace forms an enabling environment for digital
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2017
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 125–129 (5 total)
Liberation Autochthony
Namibian Veteran Politics and African Citizenship Claims
Lalli Metsola
expectations and reaffirming their links with the party and the state, particularly when their jobs placed them in regimented living environments together with many of their wartime peers (for a more detailed description, see Metsola 2015: 149–187 ). Monetary
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2019
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 186–201 (16 total)
Christianity and the City
Simmel, Space, and Urban Subjectivities
Anna Strhan
This article examines the growing scholarly interest in urban religion, situating the topic in relation to the contemporary analytical significance of cities as sites where processes of social change, such as globalization, transnationalism, and the influence of new media technologies, materialize in interrelated ways. I argue that Georg Simmel's writing on cities offers resources to draw out further the significance of “the urban” in this emerging field. I bring together Simmel's urban analysis with his approach to religion, focusing on Christianities and individuals' relations with sacred figures, and suggest this perspective opens up how forms of religious practice respond to experiences of cultural fragmentation in complex urban environments. Drawing on his analysis of individuals' engagement with the coherence of God, I explore conservative evangelicals' systems of religious intersubjectivity to show how attention to the social effects of relations with sacred figures can deepen understanding of the formation of urban religious subjectivities.
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2013
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 125–149 (25 total)
Administrating Violence through Coal Ash Policies and Practices
Erin R. Eldridge
previously referred to as “socioecological violence” which considers the forms of violence described previously in relation to the environment ( Eldridge 2015 ). Understanding socioecological violence requires investigation into local histories, resource
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jan 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 99–115 (17 total)
Beyond Economy and Religion
Resources and Socio-cosmic Fields in Odisha, India
Roland Hardenberg
given to it by Louis Dumont. To Dumont ([1980] 2013) , values provide an order, or ‘hierarchy’, to relations within a cultural system of non-normative representations, or ‘ideas and values’. These values differ depending on the “social environment
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2016
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 83–96 (14 total)
Introduction
The Dialectics of Displacement and Emplacement
Henrik Vigh and Jesper Bjarnesen
related to concerns outside or beyond the warring order. The movement from peace to conflict may thus reconfigure social environments, change social positions, and create settings that people live in rather than merely through ( Vigh 2008 ). The social
When the Outrage Becomes Personal, and the Urge to Act Unbearable
Therese Sandrup
(2009) , I perceive moral outrage as a political emotion and in doing so relate it to our sense of power over ourselves and our environment. In addition to my written notes from the trial, I have talked to several people who knew the accused men before
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jan 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 74–84 (11 total)
Introduction
Ethnographic Engagement with Bureaucratic Violence
Erin R. Eldridge and Amanda J. Reinke
transnational legal mechanisms, safe housing and environments, and other basic rights and needs. As bureaucratic infrastructures socially control a populace and regulate life itself, states and their bureaucrats seed symbolic violence—an internalization of
In Conflict and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jan 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 94–98 (5 total)
Rethinking the Anthropology of Violence for the Twenty-First Century
From Practice to Mediation
Antonius C. G. M. Robben
Senses . Toronto : University of Toronto Press . Ingold , Tim . 2000 . The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill . London : Routledge . Porcello , Thomas et al. 2010 . “ The Reorganization of the Sensory World