Power and Intimacy in the Christian Philippines
Power and Intimacy in the Christian Philippines
£44.00
GBPWhat kind of reciprocity exists between unequal partners? How can a 'culture' which makes no attempt to defend unchanging traditions be understood as such? In the Christian Philippines, inequalities - global and local - are negotiated through idioms of persuasion, reluctance and pity. Fenella Cannell's study suggests that these are the idioms of a culture which does not need to represent itself as immutable. Her account of Philippine spirit-mediumship, Catholicism, transvestite beauty contests, and marriage in Bicol calls for a reassessment of our understanding of South-East Asian modernity. Combining a strong theoretical interest in the anthropology of religion with a broader comparative attention to recent developments in South-East Asian studies, she offers a powerful alternative to existing interpretations of the relationship between culture and tradition in the region and beyond. This book addresses not only South-East Asianists, but all those with an interest in the anthropology of religion and post-colonial cultures.
Power and Intimacy in the Christian Phillipines has won the Harry J. Benda prize for 2001.
- Original material which is considered innovatory, influential, and pioneering by other specialists in this field
- Draws on and synthesises approaches from British and American anthropology
- Has a much wider scope than most monographs and is elegantly written
Reviews & endorsements
'This ethnography by Fenella Cannell is a well-written, well-presented, finely crafted piece of work.' The Journal of Asian Studies
'Cannell's book is a most welcome contribution.' Anthropos
'… a meticulous, intricate and thought-provoking ethnographic study …' Aseasuk News
Product details
March 1999Paperback
9780521646222
344 pages
228 × 153 × 23 mm
0.55kg
10 b/w illus. 1 map
Available
Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Note on language and names
- Introduction: mountains and plains
- Part I. Marriage:
- 1. Marriage stories: speaking of reluctance and control
- 2. Kinship and the ritualisation of marriage
- Part II. Healing and the Spirits:
- 3. Introduction: healing and the 'people who have nothing'
- 4. Spirit mediums and spirit-companions
- 5. Spirit mediums and seance forms: changing relations to the spirit world
- 6. Coda: the birthday-parties of the spirits
- Part III. Saints and the Dead:
- 7. The living and the dead
- 8. The funeral of the 'dead Christ'
- 9. Kinship, reciprocity and devotions to the saints
- Part IV. Beauty Contests:
- 10. Beauty and the idea of 'America'
- 11. Conclusion: oppression, pity and transformation
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index.
