The New Age paradox: spiritual consumerism and traditional authority at the Child of Nature festival in Russia
This article addresses the paradox of contemporary New Age spirituality, which combines the individualist ideology of the capitalist market with traditional truth claims. The underlying assumption of the New Agethat there is one universal Truth in many guisessupports this type of legitimation. I a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Carfax Publ.
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 83-103 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Russia
/ New Age
/ Spirituality
/ Consumerism
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| Further subjects: | B
vernacular belief
B Vedism B Consumerism B New Age B Anastasians B ISKCON B Paganism B transcultural ethnography B Russia |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article addresses the paradox of contemporary New Age spirituality, which combines the individualist ideology of the capitalist market with traditional truth claims. The underlying assumption of the New Agethat there is one universal Truth in many guisessupports this type of legitimation. I argue that this paradox can be illuminated from a transcultural ethnographic perspective with the help of the concept of vernacular belief. The emphasis on lived experience reveals the New Age as a mutable and diverse set of practices from which we cannot expect ideological coherence. Analysing the plural ideological landscape of the Child of Nature festival in St Petersburg, this article investigates how its participants deal with competing narratives of universal truth, all of which pivot on one term: Vedic wisdom'. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2016.1256653 |