The Aesthetics of In/Authenticity: Buddhism, Commodification, and Ethnoreligious Belonging in a Sino-Tibetan Contact Zone
Abstract This article investigates how the cultural politics of ethnoreligious belonging play out through everyday aesthetic practices at a market for Tibetan Buddhist objects in Chengdu, China – a multiethnic place that is perceived and experienced as “Tibetan” by the Tibetans and Chinese who work,...
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| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Brill
2021
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| In: |
Numen
Jahr: 2021, Band: 68, Heft: 5/6, Seiten: 540-566 |
| normierte Schlagwort(-folgen): | B
Chengdu
/ Religiöser Pluralismus
/ Tibetischer Buddhismus
/ Religiöse Identität
/ Ethnische Identität
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Religionssoziologie; Religionspolitik AG Religiöses Leben; materielle Religion AX Interreligiöse Beziehungen BL Buddhismus KBM Asien |
| weitere Schlagwörter: | B
Authenticity
B aesthetic habitus B Buddhism B Tibet B ethnoreligious belonging B cultural survival |
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| Zusammenfassung: | Abstract This article investigates how the cultural politics of ethnoreligious belonging play out through everyday aesthetic practices at a market for Tibetan Buddhist objects in Chengdu, China – a multiethnic place that is perceived and experienced as “Tibetan” by the Tibetans and Chinese who work, live, and shop there. Based upon ethnographic research in Chengdu, I explore how Tibetan urbanites navigate the sensorially intense market, sorting its sights, sounds, and smells to determine who and what belongs as authentically Tibetan Buddhist. In the process, I argue, they are laying claim to an ability to feel the in/authentic acquired through being born and raised as a Tibetan. This practical ability is what I call an aesthetic habitus. Yet, many Tibetans fear this ability is being eroded; it is no longer clear who and what belongs, contributing to anxieties that Tibetans as a distinct ethnoreligious community will be extinguished. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
| Enthält: | Enthalten in: Numen
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341639 |