Godroads: Modalities of Conversion in India

Peter Berger · Sarbeswar Sahoo

oct 2020 · Cambridge University Press

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Dynamics of conversion and religious change more generally are extremely complex, yet it is crucial for contemporary societies to understand them. This volume contributes to this understanding by focussing on the processes and modalities of conversion within, between and across various religious traditions (Hinduism, Islamic Reformism, Christianity, indigenous religions) from a multi-disciplinary perspective, including anthropology, sociology, religious studies, history and theology. While the book deals with Indian case studies, the introduction, preface (by Piers Vitebsky) and afterword (by Aparecida Vilaça) also offer a comparative perspective linking the Indian situation to contexts of conversion in other parts of the world. The introduction not only provides an overview of important research on conversion in India, it also intends to advance the general theoretical reflection on conversion, considers analytical tools for further research and discusses the work of important theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu, Joel Robbins and Marshall Sahlins who are not generally referred to in debates on conversion in India.

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Peter Berger (Ph.D. 2004) has been conducting research among indigenous highland communities of Odisha since 1996, working on topics such as cosmology, ritual, social structure and food. The present book is the result of an increasing interest in understanding cultural and religious change that has developed over the last ten years. His books include Feeding, Sharing and Devouring: Ritual and Society in Highland Odisha, India (2015), and he coedited Ultimate Ambiguities: Investigating Death and Liminality (2016), The Modern Anthropology of India (2013) and The Anthropology of Values (2010).

Sarbeswar Sahoo (Ph.D. 2010) teaches sociology in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He was Charles Wallace Fellow at Queen's University Belfast and Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Max Weber Kolleg, Universität Erfurt, Germany, Germany. Sahoo received his Ph.D. from National University of Singapore. His books include Civil Society and Democratization in India: Institutions, Ideologies and Interests (2013) and Pentecostalism and Politics of Conversion in India (Cambridge, 2018).