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beyond syncretism: hybridization of popular religion in contemporary thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2005

pattana kitiarsa
Affiliation:
asia research institute, national university of singapore. his e-mail contact is [email protected]

Abstract

this article challenges the dominant paradigm of ‘inclusive syncretism’ in the study of thai religion. by taking the worship of multi-original deities in the popular spirit-medium cults in contemporary thailand as a case study, it argues that practitioners and specialists working on thai religious studies need to refresh and update their analytical paradigm to incorporate the concept of ‘hybridization’.

Type
articles
Copyright
© 2005 the national university of singapore

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Footnotes

the original version of this article was presented at the international conference on transnational religions: intersections of the ‘local’ and ‘global’, organized by the asia research institute, national university of singapore, 19–20 july 2004. i would like to thank anthony reid and vineeta sinha for their warm invitation and valuable academic guidance. my most sincere gratitude goes to the anonymous readers for jseas who painstakingly went through the draft and gave me very constructive comments. any existing shortcomings in the article are solely my responsibility.