Orthopraxy, Orthodoxy, and the Goddess(es) of Taishan

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6007958
AutoresKenneth Pomeranz (0000-0002-0711-5180, University of California, Irvine, autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Volumen33
Número1
Páginas22-46
Fecha de publicación2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaModern China (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0097-7004 • E-ISSN: 1552-6836
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0097700406294702
OpenAlexW2000126389
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas27

This article examines James Watson’s influential work on orthopraxy and cultural unification in late imperial China through a study of the cult of the goddess of Taishan. In this case the state (a crucial promoter of standardization for Watson) was internally divided, local elites took a hard line against popular practices, and ritual became increasingly disunified across classes, regions, and genders. Eventually, popular lore about the goddess changed to reflect an awareness of elite rejection and to celebrate the goddess’s ability to pursue her own goals despite often hostile male authorities. What “cultural unity” one can find here is paradoxical and based not on rituals but beliefs: a shared sense that Taishan was sacred territory worth contesting, popular awareness that elites did not welcome their claims on it, and other signs that groups marked their disagreements with each other, rather than either ignoring differences of ideas or disguising them behind shared ritual

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Charisma · China · Cult · Elite · Literature · Orthodoxy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Tantra · Watson · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies