Australian Journal of Anthropology最新文献

{"title":"From modernity to memes: Reexamining visual culture as a Christian vehicle","authors":"Jonathan W. Johnson","doi":"10.1111/taja.70025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70025","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article examines the expanding field of research on religious memes. Alongside a brief overview of current scholarly directions, it proposes new methodological avenues for studying memes that converge at the intersection of religion and internet humour. Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives—from Walter Benjamin's reflections on modernity to H. Richard Niebuhr's typologies of religious engagement—it introduces fresh conceptual frameworks for analysis. Historical analogues of visual mass media from other periods of convergence are also explored, including the work of early 20th century Chinese Christian artists and contemporary Hong Kong activist artists, highlighting how visual culture has long served as a site for negotiating religious meaning in times of social transformation.</p>","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"305-317"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/taja.70025","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"EPILOGUE: Currents of convergence—Religious change in Asian contexts","authors":"J. Derrick Lemons","doi":"10.1111/taja.70026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70026","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The framework emphasised in this special issue is <i>convergence</i>, a theoretical lens that challenges the dichotomous thinking embedded in the paradigms of rupture and repair. Across the case studies presented, from tantric Śaivism in medieval Kashmir to religious meme culture in the age of digital media, convergence emerges as a helpful framework for considering religious change. As mentioned in Kendall Marchman's introduction to this special issue, the convergence framework recognises that religious change is ‘rarely unilateral but is the result of many different actors and processes colliding and aligning in ways that produce marked differences’. The articles in this issue, each in its own way, powerfully illustrate this process. Taken together, they show portraits of how religions change, not by rupture alone, nor by repair alone, but through crosscurrents of influence and adaptation. This experience adds a new framework to our analytical repertoire and affirms the value of convergence as a generative approach to studying religious change.</p><p>To set the intellectual stage, Kendall Marchman's introduction challenges the dominance of rupture–repair models in the study of religious change, particularly within anthropological studies of Christianity. While acknowledging their utility, especially in cases where religious change appears traumatic or dramatic, Marchman critiques their limitations, including an overemphasis on singular events or specific actors. In contrast, convergence foregrounds the multiplicity of agents, temporal layers, and processes that shape transformation. Drawing on Henry Jenkins' notion of convergence culture, also used by Jonathan Johnson in his article, Marchman shows how religious change, like media change, emerges from the interplay of producers and consumers, texts and practices, doctrines and experiences. Religion is not simply shaped from above; instead, individuals co-create it in spaces of interaction and reception.</p><p>Gavin Flood's article on tantric religion and social change in medieval Kashmir provides a compelling case study of convergence at work. Flood resists characterisations of tantra as either radical rupture or esoteric outlier, instead presenting it as a product of layered innovation. Drawing on Alexis Sanderson's idea of the ‘Śaiva Age’ and world-systems theory, Flood shows how tantric texts and rituals emerged from socially marginal groups but were rapidly adopted by political elites seeking new forms of sacred authority.</p><p>Kendall Marchman's article extends the convergence framework into medieval Chinese Buddhism, where he explores how changes in eschatology, practice, and belief coalesced in the development of Pure Land Buddhism. Marchman identifies four key areas of convergence: belief in Sukhāvatī as a rebirth destination, the sense of decline in the Dharma, the practice of <i>nianfo</i>, and the anxiety surrounding death. These currents meet to generate an ‘ambient anxiety’ tha","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"318-320"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/taja.70026","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The changing Buddhist landscape: Anxiety and the development of Pure Land Buddhism in medieval China","authors":"Kendall R. Marchman","doi":"10.1111/taja.70023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70023","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The introduction of Pure Land practice and belief into medieval China changed the Buddhist landscape. Pure Land Buddhism offered a new pathway and new methods for achieving enlightenment. However, these changes were also a significant source of anxiety among the early community of Pure Land practitioners. This article uses the concept of convergence to critically analyse medieval Chinese Pure Land texts, demonstrating how four key changes—the introduction of Sukhāvatī as a rebirth destination, the belief that the Dharma may be in its final stages, the popularisation of Pure Land practice, and the preparations for and moment of death—converged to create a pervasive sense of anxiety among early Pure Land practitioners in medieval China.</p>","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"280-291"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/taja.70023","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Buddhism and sociocultural changes in Thailand: From Buddhist chant to rap","authors":"Wai-Chung Ho","doi":"10.1111/taja.70024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70024","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study explores the intersection of Buddhism and sociocultural changes in Thailand, focusing on the transition from traditional Buddhist chant to contemporary rap. Employing Pierre Bourdieu's theories of cultural capital and the sociology of music, this article aims to show how this shift in Buddhist music mirrors broader transformations within the religious and cultural landscape. Employing the concept of convergence helps us to highlight that Thailand's sociocultural changes have emerged from the dynamic interplay of multiple factors and actors over time. This approach also facilitates a nuanced exploration of the evolution of Buddhist music as a manifestation of the cultural flows and power dynamics within Buddhism that have shaped modern musical expressions. This study then highlights the implications of these findings for understanding cultural identity and community engagement within contemporary Buddhist practices, particularly in an increasingly globalised context.</p>","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"292-304"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/taja.70024","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Silent But Deadly: The Underlying Cultural Patterns of Everyday Behaviour By Kirsten Bell. London: Caw Press. 2022. pp. x + 208 notes, £11.99. figures, bibliography. ISBN: 9781399936323","authors":"Paul H. Mason","doi":"10.1111/taja.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"427-429"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Animal activism on and off screen By Claire Parkinson and Lara Herring (eds.), Gadigal Country, NSW: Sydney University Press, 2024. pp. vii + 362, appendix, contributors, index. ISBN: 9781743329757","authors":"Joshua Bulleid","doi":"10.1111/taja.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"433-435"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144909985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The presence of elephants: Sharing lives and landscapes in Assam By Paul G. Keil, London: Routledge. 2024. pp. viii + 173. ISBN: 978-1-003-40298-5","authors":"Katherine Fletcher","doi":"10.1111/taja.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"430-432"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144909984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The antisemitism to come? Gaza and the colonial management of necropolitical pollution","authors":"Ghassan Hage","doi":"10.1111/taja.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p>What is the relation between Israel and the colonial West today? There are abundant folk, journalistic and academic views on that matter. They oscillate between seeing Israel as acting out the West's interests in the Middle East and seeing it as a more autonomous national actor influencing Western nations through 'Zionist lobbies.' In this piece I argue that there is much to be gained by viewing the Western-Israeli colonial assemblage as an instance in the West's struggle to shield itself from the social and ethical pollution that is generated by colonial war and violence. I explore the ways in which this pollution has been historically dealt with, whether by purification rituals, something that anthropology has much to say about, or by the assignment of the function of warriors to specific categories of people deemed 'pollutable.' I examine the ways such an approach helps us shed new light on the violence we are witnessing today in Gaza.</p>","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"407-426"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/taja.70019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144909983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does the state usher in a special stage in history? Probing the Dawn of Everything: A new history of humanity","authors":"Elias L. Khalil","doi":"10.1111/taja.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70012","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In <i>The Dawn of Everything</i>, David Graeber and David Wengrow suggest that almost all modern features of social structures— cities, religious rituals, kingships, accounting practices, rational arguments, private property, and so on—date to epochs prior to the neolithic revolution. They question the characterisation of the introduction of agriculture as a ‘revolution’. This paper distils Graeber and Wengrow's contribution into two core theses. The first is that all social structures are underpinned by a common and universal consciousness based on the quest for both freedom and identity, which explains the continuity of the same basic consciousness throughout history. This undermines stadial evolutionary theories. The second thesis is that the state, starting with the Pharaoh's civilisation, ushers in a special stage in history, as it suppresses various cherished freedoms. While this paper welcomes Graeber and Wengrow's first thesis, it finds the second thesis to be problematic. The suppression of freedom occurs also in pre-Pharaoh social structures. Of more importance, their second thesis advances a stadial theory, which is inconsistent with the first thesis. This paper puts forward an alternative account of the origin of the state based on Franz Steiner's theory of slavery. While Graeber and Wengrow highly commend Steiner's theory, they appear not cognisant of the fact that it challenges their second thesis.</p>","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"321-339"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/taja.70012","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond the law: Living blasphemy in Pakistan By Muhammad Bilal. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2024. pp. xv + 205, notes, bibliography, index, appendix, €139,99, ISBN 9783031710285 (hardcover)","authors":"Tasmia Jahangir","doi":"10.1111/taja.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.70015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45452,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Anthropology","volume":"36 2","pages":"436-438"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}