Overview
Offering a significant contribution to the emerging field of 'Non-Religion Studies', Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples draws on Australian 2011 Census statistics to ask whether the Indigenous Australian population, like the wider Australian society, is becoming increasingly secularised or whether there are other explanations for the surprisingly high percentage of Aboriginal people in Australia who state that they have 'no religion'. Contributors from a range of disciplines consider three central questions: How do Aboriginal Australians understand or interpret what Westerners have called 'religion'? Do Aboriginal Australians distinguish being 'religious' from being 'non-religious'? How have modernity and Christianity affected Indigenous understandings of 'religion'? These questions re-focus Western-dominated concerns with the decline or revival of religion, by incorporating how Indigenous Australians have responded to modernity, how modernity has affected Indigenous peoples' religious behaviours and perceptions, and how variations of response can be found in rural and urban contexts.
Full Product Details
Author: James L. Cox ,
Adam Possamai ,
Dr. Afe Adogame ,
Ms Ines Talamantez
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.453kg
ISBN: 9781472443830
ISBN 10: 1472443837
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 25 April 2016
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
'The book presents a rich ethnographic insight into the changing world of Aboriginal society in Australia. It shows that indigenous ways of life persist despite the blending of indigenous beliefs with other religions such as Christianity and even Islam. This book will be core text for everyone working on indigenous religions today.' Bettina Schmidt, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK 'In these highly original essays the authors describe how Australia is becoming a less Christian society, as a result of both the rise of non-Christian faiths and the less well known rise of non-religion , as individualism, self-autonomy and relativistic values strengthen among people to whom spirituality, of some kind, remains important. These trends are shaping twenty-first century Aboriginal culture and by making Aboriginal non-religion visible and comprehensible this volume makes a strikingly original contribution, not only to Australian studies, but to our understanding of Indigeneity as a global culture.' Tim Rowse, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Author Information
James L. Cox is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh and Adjunct Professor in the Religion and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University. Adam Possamai is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Religion and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University.
