1st Edition
Living Folk Religions
Introduction: Three Little Words Aaron Michael Ullrey and Sravana Borkataky-Varma
PART I: What is Folk Religion?
1. Interrogating the Folk-Classical Divide in the Study of Indic Religions through a Local Bengali Ritual Performance Frank J. Korom
2. The Sādhū Who Came for Lunch: Revising Tropes of Disconnection in the Jain Diaspora Tine Vekemans
3. What Makes Folk Buddhism? Alyson Prude
4. Why a Folk Religion May Not Exist among Followers of an Abrahamic Faith: The Case of Sunni Egypt Hasan El-Shamy
PART II: Spirit Beings and Deities
5. Goddess Trees in the Forest of Bliss: Local Place and Translocal Space in a City of Pilgrims David Gordon White
6. Bhairava, Hanumān, and the Deified Dead: A Material Study of Vernacular, Official, and Folk Registers of Living Hinduism in Vārāṇasī, North India Seth Ligo
7. There Is Something in Me: Narratives of LGBTIQ+ Sangomas (Traditional Healers) in South Africa Rachel Schneider
PART III: Performance and/or Ritual Praxis
8. Sufi Festivals in Contemporary Morocco: Authorizing and Performing Folk Religiosities John C. Thibdeau
9. Mantras for "Every God and Goddess": Vernacular Religious Ritual in the Literature of Sabhapati Swami Keith Edward Cantú
10. Observing Buddhist Precepts by Divination: Practices According to Zhanchajing Xingyi Wang
11. Spellbinding Skalds: Music as Ritual in Nordic Neopaganism Padraic Fitzgerald and Mathias Nordvig
12. Cremating the Body Politic: Mapping the Materiality of the Indo-Caribbean Mortuary Ritual Corpus Keith E. McNeal
PART IV: Possession and Exorcism
13. Talking to the Other Side: Spiritualism as "Vernacular Religion" in Central Ohio Hugh B. Urban
14. Becoming a God: Spirit Possession Practices at a South Indian Temple Julie Edelstein
15. Post-Christianity and Esotericism: A Study of a Satanic Exorcist William Chavez
16. Controlling the Lore: A Survey of UFO Folklore in the United States Diana Walsh Pasulka
PART V: Health, Healing, and Lifestyle
17. Indigenous Revitalization, Rock Music, and the Holy Spirit: The Religious Logic of Healing at Lake Junaluska Jason E. Purvis
18. The Triple Goddess: Examining Maiden, Mother, Crone in Wiccan-Witchcraft Traditions Jason Mankey
19. Lifestyle Brands That Rock Your Soul: Wellness Culture as Folk Religion in North America Anya Foxen
Index
Biography
Sravana Borkataky-Varma is a scholar of Indian religions focusing on esoteric rituals and gender, particularly in Hindu Goddess Tantra. She is the Instructional Assistant Professor at the University of Houston. At present, she is a Center for the Study of World Religions fellow at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University.
Aaron Michael Ullrey is a Historian of Religions focusing on magic and the religions of South Asia, especially tantras associated with Śaivism and Jainism. He teaches Religious Studies at the University of Houston and is a Sanskrit language instructor at Naropa University.
