Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
1.3
0.7
Journals
Religions
Special Issues
Transformative and Emancipatory Potentials of Indigenous, Folk, and Other Religions...
share announcement

Transformative and Emancipatory Potentials of Indigenous, Folk, and Other Religions at the Margins

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 2731

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Uttaran Dutta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Interests: intercultural communication; social change communication; international development and health; visual communication; Indigenous and folk culture; environmental communication; information and communications technologies for development
Prof. Dr. Lara Martin Lengel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Media and Communication, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA
Interests: spiritual communication; international communication; intercultural communication; communication and conflict; communication technology in transnational contexts; environmental communication; qualitative and humanistic research methods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

While a large majority of the world’s population follows and practices dominant religions, Indigenous, folk, and other (including, near extinct) religions at the margins continue to exist and survive over generations (if not centuries). There are numerous instances of such religious groups (about 6% of the global population), of which the presence can be felt across the globe. However, representations of such non-major religions in extant scholarship on religions/religious studies are almost non-existent.

This Special Issue attempts to bridge the gap of knowledge and praxis of Indigenous, folk and other marginalized religions and spiritualities. Apart from discussing and foregrounding the core values and worldviews of these faith practices, authors can potentially analyze languages (and its nuanced usages), rituals (and their social and religious significance), survival strategies (as many of religions operate with limited resources) and communication processes (within and among religious groups), among other foci. In addition, the Special Issue will pay attention to the structural causes of marginality of non-dominant religions (particularly in the Global South), such as neoliberalism, extinction of languages, geographical isolation, dominant oppressions and strategic ignorance of alternative religious discourses. Hopefully, this stimulating academic exercise will help us legitimize the decolonial voices and teachings of the religions at the margins, as well as engage with the emancipatory and transformative potentials of such religious praxis and their embodied wisdom.

Dr. Uttaran Dutta
Prof. Dr. Lara Martin Lengel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • indigenous religions
  • folk religions
  • non-dominant religions
  • near-extinct religions
  • religions at the margins
  • emancipatory religious praxis
  • alternative religious discourses

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 11507 KiB  
Article
The Practices of the She Organization Contribute to Social Cohesion and Separate Identity in Contemporary Rural Communities: A Case Study in Songyang County of China
by Rong Zhou and Tingxin Wang
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1034; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091034 - 26 Aug 2024
Viewed by 741
Abstract
The She (社) organization is an ancient Chinese folk religious group that was formed to worship the god of the soil through various activities. In contemporary society, the She organization plays a non-mainstream but important role in increasing social cohesion in China’s rural [...] Read more.
The She (社) organization is an ancient Chinese folk religious group that was formed to worship the god of the soil through various activities. In contemporary society, the She organization plays a non-mainstream but important role in increasing social cohesion in China’s rural communities. This case study concentrates on the She organization in Songyang County to examine how its practices contribute to the Han and Non-Han peoples’ continued social cohesion and separate identities through observations, in-depth interviews, and the reviewing of local documentation materials. The findings are as follows: Firstly, as forms of social capital, the normative rituals, values, and informal situational networks of the She organization constitute the mechanisms for building trust, which ultimately promotes social cohesion between the Han and Non-Han peoples. Secondly, the coexistence between She and other belief systems is conducive to establishing the extended social capital of the She organization and maintaining the Han and Non-Han peoples’ separate identities according to their ethnic features. Finally, from the perspective of state-society relations, the social cohesion and continuation of the She organization in contemporary civil society are further interpreted as the results of state systems and policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transformative and Emancipatory Potentials of Indigenous, Folk, and Other Religions at the Margins)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

12 pages, 235 KiB  
Review
Neo-Colonialism and the Emancipation of Indigenous Religions of Africa: Reconnoitring Reformist Possibilities
by Joel Mokhoathi
Religions 2024, 15(7), 872; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070872 - 21 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1518
Abstract
Africa is considered to be the second largest continent of the world—only subsequent to Asia. However, its intellectual and cultural contributions to the world remain among the least influential, if not the most undermined, particularly when one considers the written records about the [...] Read more.
Africa is considered to be the second largest continent of the world—only subsequent to Asia. However, its intellectual and cultural contributions to the world remain among the least influential, if not the most undermined, particularly when one considers the written records about the continent and its people as sources and generators of knowledge. Much of what is known of Africa is anchored in the perceptions and attitudes of missionaries, merchants, and historians who occupied the continent due to foreign religious persuasions, commerce, or some biographical accounts of the continent and its people that aided and advanced the undertakings of colonisers in subduing the Africans. In such a context, the African narrative was told from an otherly view, with the main objects of reconnoitring being treated as spectators. For this reason, the essence of the indigenous religions of Africa was destabilised. Using document analysis as a methodological approach, this study critically reflects on neo-colonialism as a system that thwarted the development of indigenous religions of Africa; shows how such a system eroded indigenous religions, such as the San, Ibibio, and Basotho religions; and offers a reformist approach in which the emancipation of indigenous religions of Africa may be based. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transformative and Emancipatory Potentials of Indigenous, Folk, and Other Religions at the Margins)
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop