Aesthetic Formations: Media, Religion, and the Senses [Hardcover]

This book examines the incorporation of newly accessible mass media into practices of religious mediation in a variety of settings including the Pentecostal Church and Islamic movements, as well as the use of religious forms and image in the sphere of radio and cinema.Introduction: From Imagined Communities to Aesthetic Formations: Religious Mediations, Sensational Forms and Styles of Binding; B.Meyer? PART I: BOUNDARY POLITICS 'Don't ask questions, just observe!': Boundary Politics in Bahian Candombl?; M.van de Port ? Purity and the Devil: Community, Media and the Body: Pentecostal Adherents in a Favela in Rio de Janeiro; M.Oosterbaan ? 'More Sexpression Please!' Screening the Female Voice and Body in the Bangladesh Film Industry; L .Hoek PART II: RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC REALM Tamil Mythological Cinema and the Politics of Secular Modernism; S.Putnam Hughes ? Modern Religions, Modern Media: Islamic Renewal in Northern Nigeria; B.Larkin? The Sonic Architects of a New Babel: The Politics of Belonging of DJ Shadow and Fernando Clarke; F.Guadeloupe? PART III: MEDIATING IMMEDIACY? Breath, Technology and the Making-Of Community Can??o Nova in Brazil; M.J.de Abreu ? Modes of Binding, Moments of Bonding: Mediating Divine Touch in?Ghanaian Pentecostalism and Traditionalism; M.de Witte ? Prophecy on Stage: Fame and Celebrities in the Context of the Raelian Movement; C.Machado Seized by the Spirit: The Mystical Foundation of Squatting among?Pentecostals in Caracas (Venezuela) Today; R.Sanchez

'Aesthetic Formations invites us into the most exciting research on religion and media today. More than a collection of essays, the book has the coherence of a campaign, with each chapter theoretically coordinated and animated by vivid ethnographic accounts, full of wonders. A model of collaborative research, this book is a landmark in cultural studies of religion, media, the senses, and the social dynamics of conflict and community.' - David Chidester, Professor of Religious StudilĂB