Durkheim in Dialogue: A Centenary Celebration of <i>The Elementary Forms of Religious Life</i>

Published by Berghahn Books 2013

Durkheim in Dialogue

A Centenary Celebration of The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Edited by: Sondra L. Hausner

Volume 27 in the series Methodology & History in Anthropology

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781782380221

Overview
Contents

About this book

One hundred years after the publication of the great sociological treatise, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, this new volume shows how aptly Durkheim¹s theories still resonate with the study of contemporary and historical religious societies. The volume applies the Durkheimian model to multiple cases, probing its resilience, wondering where it might be tweaked, and asking which aspects have best stood the test of time. A dialogue between theory and ethnography, this book shows how Durkheimian sociology has become a mainstay of social thought and theory, pointing to multiple ways in which Durkheim¹s work on religion remains relevant to our thinking about culture.

Author / Editor information

Sondra L. Hausner is Oxford¹s first University Lecturer in the Study of Religion. An anthropologist by training, she teaches social and cultural theories of religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. Her ethnographic work focuses on Himalayan and South Asian religions and the social dynamics of ritual. She won the Joseph W. Elder Prize in the Indian Social Sciences from the American Institute of Indian Studies for her Durkheim-inspired monograph, Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas (Indiana University Press, 2007).

Reviews

“This volume is a timely contribution in rethinking the socially immanent dimensions of religion in contemporary times and I would recommend it to any student or scholar studying religion and its various relationships with both classical and contemporary anthropology.” · Social Anthropology

“The volume conveys the potential of Elementary Forms to inspire new areas of research in the field of cognitive studies and of collective processes and rituals more specifically. As the contributors suggest, there is much to explore in contemporary phenomena by wary of Durkheim’s original approach to the study of religion.” · Durkheimian Studies/Etudes Durkheimiennes

“…the volume as a whole shows that dialogue is how knowledge advances and that Durkheim is still worth talking about and talking to.” · Anthropology Review Database

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ILLUSTRATIONS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction DURKHEIM IN DISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE Sondra L. Hausner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I Commencement
Chapter 1 THE NOTION OF SOUL AND SCIENCE POSITIVE: A RETRIEVAL OF DURKHEIM’S METHOD Karen E. Fields Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
PART II Social Forms
Chapter 2 RETURN TO DURKHEIM: CIVIL RELIGION AND THE MORAL RECONSTRUCTION OF CHINA Ji Zhe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Chapter 3 ELEMENTARY FORMS OF WAR: PERFORMATIVE ASPECTS OF YOUTH MILITIA IN SIERRA LEONE Paul Richards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Chapter 4 ELEMENTARY FORMS VERSUS PSYCHOLOGY IN CONTEMPORARY CINEMA Louise Child Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
PART III Collective Minds
Chapter 5 DURKHEIM’S SACRED/PROFANE OPPOSITION: WHAT SHOULD WE MAKE OF IT? N.J. Allen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Chapter 6 DURKHEIM AND THE PRIMITIVE MIND: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RETROSPECTIVE Clive Gamble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
Chapter 7 DURKHEIM, ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE QUESTION OF THE CATEGORIES IN LES FORMES ÉLÉMENTAIRES DE LA VIE RELIGIEUSE Susan Stedman Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
PART IV Effervescence
Chapter 8 IS INDIVIDUAL TO COLLECTIVE AS FREUD IS TO DURKHEIM? Sondra L. Hausner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Chapter 9 COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATIONS, DISCOURSES OF POWER AND PERSONAL AGENCY: THREE INCOMMENSURATE HISTORIES OF A COLLABORATOR’S REBELLION IN THE COLONIAL SUDAN Gerd Baumann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Chapter 10 ACTANTS AMASSING (AA) BEYOND COLLECTIVE EFFERVESCENCE AND THE SOCIAL Adam Yuet Chau Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
PART V Fin
Chapter 11 THE CREATION AND PROBLEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT OF LES FORMES ÉLÉMENTAIRES W. Watts Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Keywords: Sociology; Anthropology (General); Anthropology of Religion

eBook

Published: November 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781782380221