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Author:   Selva J. Raj ,  Corinne G. Dempsey
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9781438429793

ISBN 10:   1438429797
Pages:   236
Publication Date:   12 January 2010
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Ritual Levity in South Asian Traditions Selva J. Raj and Corinne Dempsey PART 1. Laughing Inside Out: Playful Breaks with Convention 2. Serious Levity at the Shrine of St. Anne in South India Selva J. Raj 3. Don't Take It Badly, It's Holi: Ritual Levity, Society, and Agriculture A. Whitney Sanford 4. Playing the Married Lady: Primary Marriage among the Newars of Nepal Liz Wilson PART 2. Gods and Humans at Play: Religious Humor and Divine Intimacy 5. The ""Artful Trick"": Challenging Convention through Play in Upstate New York Corinne Dempsey and Sudharshan Durayappah 6. Friendship, Humor, Levity, and Love in a Hindu Women's Ritual Tradition Tracy Pintchman 7. Laughing until It Hurts ... Somebody Else: The Pain of a Ritual Joke William P. Harman 8. Gods' Play and the Buddha's Way: Varieties of Levity in Contemporary Sinhala Practice Jonathan Walters PART 3. Playing to Win: Edging Out the Competition 9. Playing with Durga in Bengal Rachel Fell McDermott 10. Turning Karbala Inside Out: Humor and Ritual Critique in South Asian Muharram Rites Amy C. Bard 11. A Catholic Charismatic Healer at Play in North India Mathew N. Schmalz 12 Response Jonathan Z. Smith List of Contributors Index

Reviews

Selva J. Raj (1952-2008) was Chair and Stanley S. Kresge Professor of Religious Studies at Albion College. His books include Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia, also published by SUNY Press, and South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America. Corinne G. Dempsey is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She is author of Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India and The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York: Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple. Together they coedited Popular Christianity in India: Riting between the Lines and Miracle as Modern Conundrum in South Asian Religious Traditions, both also published by SUNY Press.

Sacred Play should ... be read by any scholar looking to consider religion and humour as a field of inquiry because it grounds humour in complex webs of social interaction that are both immediate and structurally supported and shows how humour is involved in domination by and resistance to, freedom from and captivity by, the social systems in which religious people and their traditions are embedded. - Studies in Religion

Author Information

Selva J. Raj (1952-2008) was Chair and Stanley S. Kresge Professor of Religious Studies at Albion College. His books include Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia, also published by SUNY Press, and South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America. Corinne G. Dempsey is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She is author of Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India and The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York: Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple. Together Raj and Dempsey coedited Popular Christianity in India: Riting between the Lines and Miracle as Modern Conundrum in South Asian Religious Traditions, both also published by SUNY Press.

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