Research

11 pages, 274 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Glocal Zen in Italy: A Preliminary Exploration of the Underlying Dynamics

by Ugo Dessì

Religions 2022, 13(10), 997; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13100997 - 20 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1127

This article focuses on three Zen meditation groups operating in Italy from the perspective of glocalization. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and practitioners’ narratives, it explores the dynamics underlying the making of glocal Zen with reference to the internal structure of individual religious worlds [...] Read more.

This article focuses on three Zen meditation groups operating in Italy from the perspective of glocalization. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and practitioners’ narratives, it explores the dynamics underlying the making of glocal Zen with reference to the internal structure of individual religious worlds and its reshaping through the creative incorporation of zazen or zazen-like meditation. My analysis also indicates that there are at least three main factors constraining these processes of glocalization: Availability, or the way in which Zen meditational techniques become accessible (or not) to individual practitioners through global religious exchanges; global consciousness, which relates to the way in which changes in collective consciousness encourage individuals to see themselves as global actors and their Zen practice as globally relevant; and resonance, which speaks of the way in which Zen meditation is selected by individual practitioners for their glocal practices based both on its perceived congruence with their preexisting religious worlds and its usefulness for the solution of specific problems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

20 pages, 2889 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Locality from Hybridization to Integration: Cultural Politics and Space Production of Taiwan Mazu Temples in Mainland China

by Yong Zhou

Religions 2022, 13(9), 836; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13090836 - 08 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2599

Abstract

An upsurge in Taiwan-based Mazu temple buildings has been observed in China (Tianjin, Kunshan, and Xiamen, etc.) recently. This paper applies qualitative research methods, including participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, to explore the development of Mazu temples in Tianjin, Kunshan, and Xiamen, China [...] Read more.

An upsurge in Taiwan-based Mazu temple buildings has been observed in China (Tianjin, Kunshan, and Xiamen, etc.) recently. This paper applies qualitative research methods, including participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, to explore the development of Mazu temples in Tianjin, Kunshan, and Xiamen, China in terms of cross-regional connectivity, materiality, and cross-regional locality, to explore the process of transplantation and construction in the mainland. This paper finds that Mazu culture is a reproduction of the vision of “one race one culture” in the cultural space, and this spatial reproduction is realized through cross-strait religious and cultural exchanges. Informed by the perspective of the political and cultural context, three interconnected dimensions—cross-regional connectivity, materiality, and cross-regional locality—have influenced why, where, and how Taiwan Mazu temples have been transplanted and constructed. This kind of hybrid locality is an integration of urban space and religion, as well as an organic, complex process that integrates religious functions, local politics, and the cultural economy. With the ingenious localization efforts of Taiwanese businessmen, these new Mazu temples promote homogenization in the sacred space and create a unique mixed locality—a more-than-state. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

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13 pages, 395 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Gion Festival in Kyoto and Glocalization

by Elisabetta Porcu

Religions 2022, 13(8), 689; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13080689 - 27 Jul 2022

Viewed by 2478

Abstract

The Gion Festival is a world-famous festival that takes place in Kyoto in July. It dates back to the Heian period (794–1185) and originated as a goryō-e ritual to placate departed spirits and disease-divinities. It is linked to the Yasaka Shrine, and it [...] Read more.

The Gion Festival is a world-famous festival that takes place in Kyoto in July. It dates back to the Heian period (794–1185) and originated as a goryō-e ritual to placate departed spirits and disease-divinities. It is linked to the Yasaka Shrine, and it represents a great variety of religious and cultural influences. It is a complex and multidimensional event where issues of globalization can be seen at play at the local level. Against this background, this paper analyzes the Gion Festival as a religious and cultural phenomenon in relation to glocalization and the production of locality. In particular, it explores how the City of Kyoto represented the festival in connection with the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the local–global interactions that relate to international tourism and global bureaucracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

11 pages, 252 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Multiple Role of Korean Missionaries in the Making of Transnational Belonging

by Hui-yeon Kim

Religions 2022, 13(6), 511; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13060511 - 05 Jun 2022

Viewed by 2097

Abstract

For decades, Korean denominations have sent missionaries around the world. While trying to convert people, notably in Southeast Asia, they are currently involved in humanitarian works but also in organizing labor migration and helping migrants during their stay in South Korea. A close [...] Read more.

For decades, Korean denominations have sent missionaries around the world. While trying to convert people, notably in Southeast Asia, they are currently involved in humanitarian works but also in organizing labor migration and helping migrants during their stay in South Korea. A close study of missionaries’ work reveals the logic underlying the construction of religious transnational networks. Korean missionaries interlace different kinds of ties with various populations of Southeast Asia and adapt their spiritual and material offerings to different situations. This analysis based on multiple fieldwork assessments in Southeast Asia and in South Korea places emphasis on their specific role as transnational actors and on how they use and promote transnational belonging among marginalized populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

34 pages, 533 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘Genderism vs. Humanism’: The Generational Shift and Push for Implementing Gender Equality within Soka Gakkai-Japan

by Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen

Religions 2022, 13(5), 468; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13050468 - 23 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3604

Abstract

This paper investigates how young Japanese women in contemporary Soka Gakkai (SG) navigate Japan’s continuous gender stratified society that remains culturally rooted in the ‘salaryman-housewife’ ideology. How are young SG members reproducing or contesting these hegemonic gender norms that few seek to emulate? [...] Read more.

This paper investigates how young Japanese women in contemporary Soka Gakkai (SG) navigate Japan’s continuous gender stratified society that remains culturally rooted in the ‘salaryman-housewife’ ideology. How are young SG members reproducing or contesting these hegemonic gender norms that few seek to emulate? While SG has long proclaimed that it stands for gender equality, its employment structure and organization in Japan until recently reflected the typical male breadwinner ideology that came to underpin the post-war Japanese nation-state and systemic gender division of labor. As shown here, this did not mean that SG women were without power; in fact, in many ways they drove organizational developments in the Japanese context. The recent imposition of the global framework for Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 has enabled SG to more substantially challenge its own patriarchal public front. Based on long-term fieldwork, in-depth interviews and multiple group discussions with SG members in their 20s, this article explores how SG-Japan is being challenged to follow its own discourse of ‘globalism’ and ‘Buddhist humanism’, promoted by Daisaku Ikeda since the 1990s. Using Bourdieu’s analysis of symbolic power, the research shows how Japan’s powerful doxa of ‘genderism’ that held sway over earlier generations is currently being challenged by a glocalized Buddhist discourse that identifies Nichiren Buddhism as ‘humanism’ rather than Japanese ‘genderism’. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

14 pages, 995 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Kingdom-Building” through Global Diplomatic and Interfaith Agency: The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and Unificationist Millenarianism

by Lukas K. Pokorny and Dominic S. Zoehrer

Religions 2022, 13(5), 448; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13050448 - 16 May 2022

Viewed by 2101

Abstract

The Universal Peace Federation or UPF is a United Nations-affiliated NGO launched in 2005 by the late Mun Sŏn-myŏng, self-proclaimed Messiah and founder of the South Korean Unification Movement. Mun considered the UPF as the pinnacle of Unificationist political and interfaith engagement. Envisioned [...] Read more.

The Universal Peace Federation or UPF is a United Nations-affiliated NGO launched in 2005 by the late Mun Sŏn-myŏng, self-proclaimed Messiah and founder of the South Korean Unification Movement. Mun considered the UPF as the pinnacle of Unificationist political and interfaith engagement. Envisioned as a complement to and, eventually, a future replacement of the United Nations, the globally operating UPF spearheads Unificationist millenarianism. This paper first traces the formation history and genesis of the UPF as a merger of decades-long international political and interfaith activities under the banner of multiple Unificationist organisations and initiatives. Subsequently, it examines the Korea-centric millenarian purpose assigned to the UPF by Mun. It is ultimately argued that embracing globalism is not only doctrinally crucial to Unificationist millenarianism, but systemically relevant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

18 pages, 501 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Nodes and Hubs: An Exploration of Yiguandao Temples as ‘Portals of Globalization’

by Nikolas Broy

Religions 2022, 13(4), 366; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13040366 - 15 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3015

Abstract

This paper takes a fresh look at the global spread of the Chinese–Taiwanese new religious movement Yiguandao (一貫道; the emic transcription is “I-Kuan Tao”) by directing attention to the concrete places where transnational connections and interactions actually transpire, i.e., temples, shrines, and other [...] Read more.

This paper takes a fresh look at the global spread of the Chinese–Taiwanese new religious movement Yiguandao (一貫道; the emic transcription is “I-Kuan Tao”) by directing attention to the concrete places where transnational connections and interactions actually transpire, i.e., temples, shrines, and other sites of worship. Emically known as “Buddha halls” (fotang 佛堂), these places range from large-scale temple complexes, to small niches of worship in people’s private residences. Yet, they all share the potential of becoming venues of transregional interactions through processes of migration, the circulation of personnel, and local outreach. I argued that we need to take the distinct character of these localities more seriously, in order to fully understand the global networks of Yiguandao groups. Through their specific embeddedness in both local affairs and transnational projects, these temples are not simply local chapters of the (mostly) Taiwanese headquarters, but instead they are “translocalities” or even “portals of globalization”—two concepts developed in migration and global studies to help understand the significance of place in the recent phase of so-called globalization. By exploring Yiguandao temples across the globe, this paper critically evaluated these approaches, and their usefulness for the study of global religions. Empirically, it drew on both print and online material, as well as ethnographic fieldwork conducted by the author in Taiwan, Vienna (Austria), California, South Africa, and Japan from 2016 to 2018. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

15 pages, 753 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Kentucky Kami Drink Bourbon? Exploring Parallel Glocalization in Global Shinto Offerings

by Kaitlyn Ugoretz

Religions 2022, 13(3), 257; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13030257 - 17 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3755

Abstract

Scholars of Japanese religion have recently drawn attention to the global repositioning, “greening”, and international popularization of Shinto. However, research on Shinto ritual practice and material religion continues to focus predominantly on cases located within the borders of the Japanese state. This article [...] Read more.

Scholars of Japanese religion have recently drawn attention to the global repositioning, “greening”, and international popularization of Shinto. However, research on Shinto ritual practice and material religion continues to focus predominantly on cases located within the borders of the Japanese state. This article explores the globalization of Shinto through transnational practitioners’ strategic glocalization of everyday ritual practices outside of Japan. Drawing upon digital ethnographic fieldwork conducted in online Shinto communities, I examine three case studies centering on traditional ritual offerings made at the domestic altar (kamidana): rice, sake, and sakaki branches. I investigate how transnational Shinto communities hold in tension a multiplicity of particularistic understandings of Shinto locality and authenticity when it comes to domestic ritual practice. While relativistic approaches to glocalization locate the sacred and authentic in an archetypical or idealized form of Japanese tradition rooted in its environment, creolization and transformation valorize the particularities of one’s personal surroundings and circumstances. Examining these strategies alongside recent and historical cases in Shinto ritual at shrines within Japan, I propose that attending to processes of “parallel glocalization” helps to illuminate the quasi-fictive notion of the religious “homeland” and close the perceived gap in authenticity between ritual practices at home and abroad. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Globalization and East Asian Religions)

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