Diaspora and Belief: Globalisation, Religion and Identity in Postcolonial Asia

In the burgeoning study of globalization the study of religion has been sorely neglected. Yet despite the inroads of modernization, the societies of south, southeast and East Asia remain deeply permeated by religion. Issues of identity, cultural politics and citizenship are all fundamentally influenced by religious affiliation. This volume explores the relationship between globalization and religion in contemporary post-colonial Asia a situation in which new found political and cultural autonomy, far from leading to the widespread secularization predicted by many a generation ago, has stimulated the flourishing of both traditional and new forms of religious expression. This study examines the interplay between history, the contemporary consumer capitalism and its attendant forms of popular culture that are making inroads all over Asia, and the deeply held religious beliefs and institutional memberships on which many national, regional and local identities still fundamentally depend and which set up the complex social, cultural and personal negotiations and revisionings that arise when tradition meets globalization. In a world of increasing religious polarization signaled by the putative "clash of civilizations", the exploration of these dynamics is empirically and politically important and also holds many implications for the field of cultural studies as a whole, east and west.