Religion and Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects Anthropology Gender & Sexuality Misc. Religious Studies Religious studies

Edited by Stephen Ellingson and M. Christian Green

Routledge

Due/Published September 2002, 272 pages, paper

ISBN 0415941288

Issues of sexuality and gender are hotly contested in both religious communities and national cultures around the world. In the social sciences, religious traditions are often depicted as inherently conservative or even reactionary in their commitments to powerful patriarchal and pronatalist sexual norms and gender categories. In illuminating the practices of religious traditions in various cultures, these essays expose the diversity of religious rituals and mythologies pertaining to sexuality. In the process the contributors challenge conventional notions of what is normative in our sexual lives. The scope of the collection is truly global, with essays covering Nigeria, Japan, India, Mexico, Sudan, South Africa, and Newark, New Jersey. Contributors examine an array of sexual practices in a wide range of traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and indigenous religions in Mesoamerica, Australia, and other locales. Taken together, the essays illuminate the function of religions as systems of meaning and ethics for individuals and communities struggling to make sense of human embodiment and sexual difference.

Contents

Editors' Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Cultural Production and Reproductive Issues:The Significance of the Charismatic Movement in Nigeria Tola Olu Pearce, University of Columbia, MO
2. Sex, Rhetoric and Ontology:Fecundism as an Ethical Problem William R. LaFleur
3. TheMythology of Masquerading post-Menopausal Women Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago, IL
4. Beyond Binary Categories:Mesoamerican Religious Sexuality Sylvia Marcos
5. The Hijras:An Alternative Gender in Indian Culture Serena Nanda
6. Mimesis in the Face of Fear:Femme Queens, ButchQueens, and Gender Play in the Houses of Greater Newark Karen McCarthy Brown
7. Tacit Containment:Social Value, Embodiment and Gender Practice in Northern Sudan Janice Boddy, University of Toronto
8. Millenial Capitalism, Occult Economics and the Crisis of Reproduction in South AfricaJean and John Comaroff, University of Chicago, IL
9. Sex Rites, Civil Rights Elizabeth A. Povinelli, University of Chicago, IL

List of Contributors
Permission Acknowledgements
About the Contributors
Index