Papers by Michael Stausberg
Religions minorities: conceptual perspectives, 2023
This essay proposes definitions of key terms such as 'minoritization', 'majoritization', and 'rel... more This essay proposes definitions of key terms such as 'minoritization', 'majoritization', and 'religious minority', and problematizes standard criteria of identification of religious minorities while also advocating for an understanding of religious minorities as dynamic, processual, relational, contextual, situational, and intersectional. By doing this, it also warns against homogenizing representations of religious minorities and addresses minorities within minorities. It presents several important distinctions among and within religious minorities in terms of size, location, origin, legitimacy, recognition, social position, and self-perceptions. The essay discusses the mechanisms that turn assemblages of people into minorities and di erent criteria and strategies that establish such social formations as 'religious minorities.' This includes processes of recognition and nonrecognition by societies and di erent forms of minorities ('wild' and 'tame' ones). The essay historicizes the emergence of the category and the problem of 'religious minorities' in the context of colonialism, modern conceptions of the nation-state, democracy, and international politics. Last but not least, it reflects on the importance of religious minorities as a theme for research, and as a lens for understanding the dynamics of religion in society.
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So far, the expanding research landscape on the terrorist attacks of July 22nd has ignored the cr... more So far, the expanding research landscape on the terrorist attacks of July 22nd has ignored the crucial question that this project squarely addresses, namely how different groups of Norwegians have dealt with the traumatic events in terms of religious/spiritual and/or secular reappraisals and meaning-focused coping. The events shattered beliefs and values of many Norwegians and induced the exigency to make sense of the unfathomable mass killings. Commentators said: Norway will never be the same; it has changed forever. But in what way? From a psychology of religion perspective, our project makes a contribution to answering this question. We explore how Norwegians made sense of July 22nd during the years after the attacks. Major research questions are: How do Norwegians reappraise the meaning of the events? What role do subsequent events (e. g., Breivik’s trial), media discourses, and religious/spiritual or anti-religious/atheist beliefs and values play in these reappraisals? Which re...
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Culture and Religion, 2013
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Religion, 2011
This article introduces the themes and articles of a special symposium on new directions in the o... more This article introduces the themes and articles of a special symposium on new directions in the organizational structures and pedagogical emphases of religious studies programs around the world. The thematic focus of this symposium is the range of ways that specific ...
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Religion, 2011
This article introduces the themes and articles of a special symposium on new directions in the o... more This article introduces the themes and articles of a special symposium on new directions in the organizational structures and pedagogical emphases of religious studies programs around the world. The thematic focus of this symposium is the range of ways that specific ...
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This introductory essay explores some of the commonalities and differences that emerge from this ... more This introductory essay explores some of the commonalities and differences that emerge from this thematic issue on religion and tourism in China and India. Economic growth has led to an explosion in domestic tourism activity in both countries, and the respective states are deeply involved in this development. The Indian state sees tourism as a means to create jobs, revenue and regional development. While this is also true for the Chinese state, the latter further treats tourism as a means to control and manage religion. In both countries, official tourism development can lead to complete makeovers of particular sites as beautification projects and tight regulation drives out informal economies and change the religious dynamics on the ground. The local management, be it formal or informal, affects not only where the money flows, but also how temples are visited and gods worshiped.
Buddhism related tourism plays a peculiar role in India, where the government employs it as a vehicle for articulating pan-Asian and even global aspirations. Asian Buddhists visit Indian Buddhist destinations in growing numbers. At the same time, Buddhist sites attract a steady stream of Western tourists who are most comfortable labelling themselves as spiritual travellers. For these travellers, the notion of ‘tourism’ threatens sources of authentic spirituality.
In China, tourism is contributing to a revival of religion, sometimes providing means for temple institutions to legitimate their religious activities. Self-professed secular domestic tourists in China routinely engage in short acts of veneration at Buddhist places of pilgrimage. In this respect, Han Chinese tourists appear not so different from their Hindu counterpart in India. Increasingly, Hindu visitors at sites of pilgrimage opt for short acts of worship, rather than long rituals. Travel guidebooks, however, paint different pictures: Chinese tourists are given practical advice and encouragement on the performance of rituals, and their representation of religion recalls orientalist tropes of Western guidebooks. Indian guidebooks, on their part, retain elements of traditional Hindu pilgrimage literature assuming that the reader has the required know-how of religious practices. The tourist imaginaries of the Global North, as expressed in English language guidebooks, still rest on Orientalist underpinnings when it comes to both India and China.
Key Words: India and China, Asia, religion and tourism, heritage, guidebooks
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Culture and Religion, 2013
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Stausberg/The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism, 2015
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The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism, 2014
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International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2014
Book review
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The Invention of Sacred Tradition, 2007
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Numen
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On Manuel A. Vásquez: More Than Belief (2011)
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Reflections on Wouter Hanegraaff's masterful Esotericism and the Academy (2012)
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(The title of the chapter, From Power to Powerlessness, alludes to the title of the book project-... more (The title of the chapter, From Power to Powerlessness, alludes to the title of the book project--but then the title of the book was changed.) Published in 2012.
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Theorizing Rituals. Vol. 1: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts (eds Kreinath, Snoek, Stausberg), Brill, 2006
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Papers by Michael Stausberg
Buddhism related tourism plays a peculiar role in India, where the government employs it as a vehicle for articulating pan-Asian and even global aspirations. Asian Buddhists visit Indian Buddhist destinations in growing numbers. At the same time, Buddhist sites attract a steady stream of Western tourists who are most comfortable labelling themselves as spiritual travellers. For these travellers, the notion of ‘tourism’ threatens sources of authentic spirituality.
In China, tourism is contributing to a revival of religion, sometimes providing means for temple institutions to legitimate their religious activities. Self-professed secular domestic tourists in China routinely engage in short acts of veneration at Buddhist places of pilgrimage. In this respect, Han Chinese tourists appear not so different from their Hindu counterpart in India. Increasingly, Hindu visitors at sites of pilgrimage opt for short acts of worship, rather than long rituals. Travel guidebooks, however, paint different pictures: Chinese tourists are given practical advice and encouragement on the performance of rituals, and their representation of religion recalls orientalist tropes of Western guidebooks. Indian guidebooks, on their part, retain elements of traditional Hindu pilgrimage literature assuming that the reader has the required know-how of religious practices. The tourist imaginaries of the Global North, as expressed in English language guidebooks, still rest on Orientalist underpinnings when it comes to both India and China.
Key Words: India and China, Asia, religion and tourism, heritage, guidebooks
Buddhism related tourism plays a peculiar role in India, where the government employs it as a vehicle for articulating pan-Asian and even global aspirations. Asian Buddhists visit Indian Buddhist destinations in growing numbers. At the same time, Buddhist sites attract a steady stream of Western tourists who are most comfortable labelling themselves as spiritual travellers. For these travellers, the notion of ‘tourism’ threatens sources of authentic spirituality.
In China, tourism is contributing to a revival of religion, sometimes providing means for temple institutions to legitimate their religious activities. Self-professed secular domestic tourists in China routinely engage in short acts of veneration at Buddhist places of pilgrimage. In this respect, Han Chinese tourists appear not so different from their Hindu counterpart in India. Increasingly, Hindu visitors at sites of pilgrimage opt for short acts of worship, rather than long rituals. Travel guidebooks, however, paint different pictures: Chinese tourists are given practical advice and encouragement on the performance of rituals, and their representation of religion recalls orientalist tropes of Western guidebooks. Indian guidebooks, on their part, retain elements of traditional Hindu pilgrimage literature assuming that the reader has the required know-how of religious practices. The tourist imaginaries of the Global North, as expressed in English language guidebooks, still rest on Orientalist underpinnings when it comes to both India and China.
Key Words: India and China, Asia, religion and tourism, heritage, guidebooks
Langer, Robert 3 Photos printed: "Pir-e Herisht, one of the main desert-shrines in Iran", Fire-vase and incense sticks on the pillar (altar) inside a small shrine in Yazd", A field-shrine (The Shrine of the Forty Children) in Iran"
way? From a psychology of religion perspective, our project makes a contribution to answering this question. We explore how Norwegians made sense of July 22nd during the years after the attacks. Major research questions are: How do Norwegians reappraise the meaning of the events? What role do subsequent events (e. g., Breivik’s trial), media discourses, and religious/spiritual or anti-religious/atheist beliefs and values play in these reappraisals? Which religious/spiritual and secular meaning-making mechanisms are employed (if any)? Which of them proved successful in the recent past and which did not? Did the long-term meaning-making process lead to a change of (religious/spiritual) worldviews or to an adaptive consolidation of the (religious/spiritual) meaning systems? In theoretical terms, our Project is informed by transactional stress theory, its application to Religion and spirituality, salutogenesis, and by axioms of assumptive worlds and posttraumatic growth theory. To understand and assess the longterm meaning-making efforts, we make use of a mixed methods design. The qualitative approach comprises semi-structured interviews and focus groups with different sub-populations. The subsequent quantitative study comprises three phases: a) critical analysis and adjustment of existing measurement instruments, b) development and validation
of self-constructed measuring scales, c) a national telephone Survey and statistical analysis. The project will be completed by a follow-up interview study with participants selected on the basis of the survey
The study of religion addresses religion as a historical phenomenon and part six looks at seven historical processes. Religion is studied in various ways by many disciplines, and this Handbook shows that the study of religion is an academic discipline in its own right. The disciplinary profile of this volume is reflected in part seven, which considers the history of the discipline and its relevance. Each chapter in the Handbook references at least two different religions to provide fresh and innovative perspectives on key issues in the field. This authoritative collection will advance the state of the discipline and is an invaluable reference for students and scholars.