Author: Asian Ethnology

folklore tricksters horror infanticide adaptation retelling violence The Assamese film Kothanodi (2015) radically demonstrates how film adapts to folklore, rather than the other way around. It actively contributes to the folkloric tradition, notably th…

precarity emotions secularization Fukushima Pure Land Buddhism Since the triple disaster of 2011, parents in Fukushima Prefecture have been raising their children under a cloud of uncertainty about possible radiation in their environment. This article …

Taiwan material religion Daoism ritual whip craft cultural improvisation Among the most ubiquitous ritual implements in modern Taiwan, the ritual whip functions to dispel demons and to summon spirit soldiers, the material embodiment of a fearsome serpe…

Urdu film Shamim Ara South Asia Southeast Asia This article examines the material culture of Urdu action heroine films released in the era of Pakistan’s Islamization (late 1970s through 1980s) by a woman-led company called Shamim Ara Productions, which…

Madhyadeśa Mlecchadeśa dharmaśāstra caste system marriage Dalit In the premodern world, many communities believed that they were located in the center of the world. The Hindu community, too, invented the idea of Madhyadeśa (Middle Country) in the first…

Indian circus itinerant communities migration cosmopolitanism Kerala Indian big top circuses carry an ensemble of people, animals, and infrastructures over long distances. Interviews with circus managers and owners about their itineraries suggest their…

Asian Ethnology

sacrificial text ritual performance ancestor worship keying device imperial metaphor Huizhou Through the lens of performance study, this article analyzes five sacrificial texts that are read or sung in ritual performances worshipping ancestors (and dei…

Templestay engaged Buddhism South Korea (un)happiness branding wellness tourism This article examines Templestay, a short-term retreat program held for laypersons at Buddhist monasteries, as a form of wellness tourism amid the prevailing social malaise…

Bhojpuri folksongs Hindi literature Anglo-Indian literature ethnography migration indentureship orality This article examines Bhojpuri folksongs that have migrated from north Indian villages to overseas locales, or that have migrated from oral traditio…

competition display Fire Festival myth-history social and cosmic renewal Southwest China Each year the Nuosu, a Tibeto-Burman group of Southwest China, celebrate their Fire Festival with vibrant displays that evoke the myth-historical blunder of a hero…

shamanism Korea spirit portrait American power politics of anti-superstition A notable feature of contemporary Hwanghae-do (now a region in North Korea) shamanism in Incheon, west of Seoul, is a body of material symbols of American power that are famil…

processions aesthetics display Balinese Hinduism religious pluralism Lombok In the Hindu Balinese imagination, demons (buta kala) are ambiguous figures of the crossroads. Across Indonesia, the display of giant demon puppets (ogoh-ogoh) has increasingly…