Repositioning Syncretism: In and Through Folk Religion in Sikkim, India

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Other Title
  • シンクレティズム再定位―インド・シッキム州における民俗宗教の事例から―

Description

<p>This paper is an attempt to reposition syncretism as a working hypothesis in the context of folk religion. The concept of syncretism has long been criticized for its ambiguity and inconsistency about what it is, as well as unexplained assumptions it involves. In the discussion below, the author proposes to convert this criticism-prone idea of syncretism into a fresh working hypothesis by exploiting the argument that “hybridity precedes purity” and considering the hybrid foundation of folk religion. By reexamining the available reported cases of folk religion in the Tinchim district of Sikkim, India, and by taking them as examples of syncretism, the author shows how the coexistence of different religious beliefs is reached, and what sustains its relative stability. Finally, syncretism is reconsidered assumptively as a status or an attitude accompanied by primordial hybridity within seeming singularity.</p>

Journal

  • Religion and Society

    Religion and Society 26 (0), 17-31, 2020-06-30

    The Japanese Association for the Study of Religion and Society

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