Identity Turn: Managing Decolonialization and Identity Politics in the Study of Religion

The academic study of religion, with its concepts and theories that originate in a Western, Protestant context, has justly been criticized in postmodern and identity-focused discourses, in recent years under the umbrella of decolonization and social justice activism. It has been suggested that alleg...

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Auteur principal: Borup, Jørn 1966- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill 2022
Dans: Method & theory in the study of religion
Année: 2022, Volume: 34, Numéro: 1/2, Pages: 162-181
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Science des religions / Politique identitaire / Méthodologie / Postcolonialisme / Justice sociale / Éthique de la science
RelBib Classification:AA Sciences des religions
NCJ Science et éthique
Sujets non-standardisés:B social activism
B Race
B Identity Politics
B Decolonization
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Résumé:The academic study of religion, with its concepts and theories that originate in a Western, Protestant context, has justly been criticized in postmodern and identity-focused discourses, in recent years under the umbrella of decolonization and social justice activism. It has been suggested that allegedly universally-applicable theories and methodologies are relativized and revealed as particularized Eurocentrism in the hegemonic representations of “white” or “Western” power regimes. While acknowledging such reorientations in the philosophy, sociology, psychology, and history of religion, this article also critically investigates and discusses the “critical study of religion.” It is suggested that the revisionist deconstruction emphasized by contemporary identity perspectives, with their discourses of difference and re-essentialized understandings of religion and culture, are not only problematic as theoretical orientations. Radical identity politics also imply methodological constraints on the academic study of religion, where comparison, analytical categories, and reflexive emic–etic distinctions must remain key factors.
ISSN:1570-0682
Contient:Enthalten in: Method & theory in the study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700682-bja10069