Praxis, Folks’ Beliefs, and Rituals: Explorations in the Anthropology of Religion

The contributions assembled in this volume are the result of the “writing Anthropology” graduate and doctoral seminar of the department of anthropology and ethnology of Xiamen university. An original methodology and organization that has empowered young researchers to explore anthropological themes they are interested in through collective decision-making process. Each participant was asked to suggest a research theme for the semester seminar. The selected themes were listed by decreasing frequency and returned to the participants for a second tour. Anthropology of religion ended up being selected as the research theme for the 2020-2021 academic year. The crafting and production of the essays assembled here was articulated on a systematic combination of oral presentations and written assignments. The collected essays focus on the cultural dimensions of religion through contextualized and renewed anthropological analyses of the socio-cultural embodiments of its ideas and principles. The assembled contributions are organized into three parts: 1) Religion as Praxis; 2) Folks Beliefs and Rituals; and finally, 3) Sanctified Places, Objects, and syncretic.