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 Age—that there is one universal Truth in many guises—supports this type of legitimation. I a...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Sadovina, Irina (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Carfax Publ. [2017]
Dans: Journal of contemporary religion
Année: 2017, Volume: 32, Numéro: 1, Pages: 83-103
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Russie / New Age / Spiritualité / Consumérisme
Sujets non-standardisés:B vernacular belief
B Vedism
B Consumerism
B New Age
B Anastasians
B ISKCON
B Paganism
B transcultural ethnography
B Russia
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Résumé: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 Age—that there is one universal Truth in many guises—supports 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'.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2016.1256653