Religion after Critique: Decolonial Strategies for the Study of Religion(s (original) (raw)
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Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion
Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion, 2009
The present collection of writings on postcolonial philosophy of religion takes its origins from a Philosophy of Religion session during the 1996 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion held in New Orleans. Three presentations, by Purushottama Bilimoria, Andrew B. Irvine, and Bhibuti Yadav, were to be offered at the session, with Thomas Dean presiding and Kenneth Surin responding. (Yadav, unfortunately could not be present because of illness.) This was the first AAR session ever to examine issues in the study of religion under the rubric of the postcolonial turn in academia. Interest at the session was intense. For instance, Richard King, then at work on the manuscript of the landmark Orientalism and Religion, was present; so, too, was Paul J. Griffiths, whose subsequent work on interreligious engagement has been so noteworthy. In response to numerous audience appeals, revised versions of the presentations eventually were published, as a "Dedicated Symposium on 'Subalternity'," in volume 39 no. 1 (2000) of Sophia, the international journal for philosophy of religion, metaphysical theology and ethics. Since that time, the importance of the nexus of religion and the postcolonial has become increasingly patent not only to philosophers of religion but to students of religion across the range of disciplines and methodologies. The increased internationalization of the program of the American Academy of Religion, especially in more recent years, is a significant outgrowth of this transformation in consciousness among students of religion. Several other of the contributions to this volume grow out of work presented at the AAR in the past decade, including those of
This paper examines one aspect of post-colonial criticism-the relationship between culture and its representation-and considers the relevance of this for understanding children's spirituality in contemporary, global context. The paper provides particular focus on the now widely held premise in post-colonial criticism that domination within political and social systems is dependent upon the control and manipulation of cultural representation, with particular focus on the cultural representation of religion in British education. The crucial idea here is that such domination (including the disempowerment and subjugation of minorities) is dependent upon the creation of a culturally imagined 'other'. It is argued that this alienating socio-political and economic dimension of spirituality-and essentially colonial notion of 'otherness'-has largely been ignored in discussions of contemporary spirituality. The paper thus introduces into current debate the language of post-colonial criticism in order to demonstrate the inherent, if underplayed, politicization of spirituality. It concludes with a call to reexamine the representation of culture within a global, post-colonial framework through the characterization of a 'spirituality of dissent'.
Post/decolonialism and Theology – A Short Survey and Critical Engagement
This paper critically surveys the similar yet independently-developed Postcolonial and Decolonial studies that have emerged in the last fifty years. I will begin by providing a short historical overview of the emergence of each school of thought. I will then compare and contrast highlighting primarily their differences. I will then survey their intersection with theology as Christianity played a crucial role in the colonial project. I will argue that building on the foundation of a critique of colonization of knowledge, Decolonial and Postcolonial theory must move beyond binary conceptions of power to take into account multiple relations of dependence and antagonism within postcolonial societies. This is especially true in their interaction with theology that continues to be tied to reductionist notions that Christianity is synonymous with colonialism. While this critique is still necessary as colonial tendencies persist in globalized capitalism; the emergence of a multi-polar world demands a greater understanding not only of the Western colonial legacy but also the inter-relationships between and within postcolonial nations. Only by doing so, can post/decolonial thinking transcend its deconstructive nature to truly become a constructive theory for alternative futures.
Studying Religion in the Pluriversity: Decolonial Perspectives
Religion, 2019
Taking up the concept of the pluriversity as developed by mostly South American thinkers, this essay shares some thoughts about what the study of religion/s might look like if we seriously engage with questions of decolonisation. Building on the critique of the dominant Western, Eurocentric, colonialist and racialised models of thought that have historically shaped the field, I make a constructive proposal for an approach to the study of religion/s that centres around three Ps: a commitment to Pluriversality, an acknowledgment of Partiality, and a commitment to Participatory work. I illustrate this with some specific examples from studying religion in contemporary African contexts.
Fashioning a Post-Colonial Sociology of Religion
This article describes two alternatives to standard approaches to the sociology of religion, both based on non-Western ideas. The first stems from Confucian approaches to the sacred, which emphasize the maintenance of holy relationships instead of beliefs or church organizations. The second is based on the writings of Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century Arab scholar who used the same concepts to understand ethic and religious solidarities. Standard sociologies of religion, in contrast, grow directly out of the core concerns of Western Christianity. In a post-colonial era, every intellectual discipline needs to expand its concepts beyond the West. This article begins a practical conversation about how to do so.