A vital collection of interdisciplinary essays that illuminates the significance of Marian shrines and promises to teach scholars how to “read” them for decades to come.American Patroness: Marian Shrines and the Making of US Catholicism is a collection of twelve essays that examine the historical and contemporary roles of Marian shrines in US Catholicism. The essays in this collection use historical, ethnographic, and comparative methods to explore how Cat...

Known in the Dominican Republic and Togo as Vodu, in Benin as Vodún, and in Haiti as Vodou, West African religion has, for hundreds of years, served as a repository of sacred knowledge while simultaneously evolving in response to human experience and globalization.Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World explores this dynamic religion, its mobility, and its place in the modern world. By examining the systems—ritual practices, community...

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s,significant numbers of Haitian immigrants began to arrive and settle in Miami.Overcoming some of the most foreboding obstacles ever to face immigrants inAmerica, they, their children, and now their grandchildren, as well as morerecently arriving immigrants from Haiti, have diversified socioeconomically.Together, they have made South Florida home to the largest population ofnative-born Haitians and diaspor...

By 1791, the French Revolution had spread to Haïti, where slaves and free blacks alike had begun demanding civil rights guaranteed in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man. Enter Romaine-la-Prophétesse, a free black Dominican coffee farmer who dressed in women's clothes and claimed that the Virgin Mary was his godmother. Inspired by mystical revelations from the Holy Mother, he amassed a large and volatile following of insurgents who would go on to sack countless plantations and conque...

Pierre Bourdieu was one of the most influential social theorists of our time. He developed a series of concepts to uncover the way society works and to challenge assumptions about what society is. His ideas illuminate how individuals and groups find value and meaning and so have rapidly come to be seen as hugely productive in analysing how religion works in society. 'Bourdieu on Religion' introduces students to Bourdieu's key concepts: cultural, social and symbolic capital; habitus and fie...

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a revelatory portrait of religion in China today—its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China’s future.The Souls of China tells the story of one of the world’s great spiritual revivals. Following a century of violent anti-religious campaigns, China is now filled with new temples, churches, and mosques—as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harne...

Vodou has often served as a scapegoat for Haiti’s problems, from political upheavals to natural disasters. This tradition of scapegoating stretches back to the nation’s founding and forms part of a contest over the legitimacy of the religion, both beyond and within Haiti’s borders. The Spirits and the Law examines that vexed history, asking why, from 1835 to 1987, Haiti banned many popular ritual practices.To find out, Kate Ramsey begins with the Haitian Revolution and its...

In Praise of Doubt explores how to survive the political, moral, and religious challenges raised by the extreme poles of relativism and fundamentalism.In this insightful and thought-provoking book, two world-renowned social scientists, Peter L. Berger and Anton C. Zijderveld, ask and answer Big Questions, offering invaluable guidance on how to have convictions without becoming a fanatic."A book of great practical wisdom by authors who have pr...

“A tour de force.”—Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book ReviewHow were human rights invented, and how does their tumultuous history influence their perception and our ability to protect them today? From Professor Lynn Hunt comes this extraordinary cultural and intellectual history, which traces the roots of human rights to the rejection of torture as a means for finding the truth. She demonstrates how ideas of human relationships portrayed in novels and art helped spread th...

Foucault - The Key Ideas is a concise introduction to the life, works and ideas of this ground-breaking modern philosopher. This book will not only guide you through the events of Foucault's life and help you to understand his most complex ideas with ease; it will also demonstrate the practical impact of those ideas on life today. Covering everything from Foucault's views on the philosophy and sociology of knowledge to his analysis of power and institutions in society, this book offers a f...

A New York Times Notable Book of the YearA passionate and insightful account by a leading historian of Haiti that traces the sources of the country's devastating present back to its turbulent and traumatic history.Even before the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti was known as a benighted place of poverty and corruption, blamed by many for its own wretchedness. But as acclaimed historian Laurent Dubois demonstrates, Haiti's trouble...

A highly original history, tracing the least understood and most intractable form of organized human aggression from Ancient Rome through the centuries to the present day.We think we know civil war when we see it. Yet ideas of what it is, and what it isn't, have a long and contested history, from its fraught origins in republican Rome to debates in early modern Europe to our present day. Defining the term is acutely political, for ideas about what makes a war "civi...