A Strathern
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 1141 |
|---|---|
| NOME | A Strathern |
| PRENOMES | A |
| SOBRENOME | Strathern |
| ASSINATURA | STRATHERN A |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2081-5448 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 32 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 73 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 31 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1971 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Conceptualizing Early Modernity beyond the West
The tendency to divide up the past by reference to an “Early Modern” period has spread from European history writing to the scholarship of many other societies and indeed to thinking about the history of the world as a whole. Yet the theoretical implications have rarely been explicitly addressed. If all periodization is a complex matter, defining “early modernity” is particularly slippery and paradoxical. The main purpose of the article is to elu…
India as the World
Converting Rulers
Why did so many rulers throughout history risk converting to a new religion brought by outsiders? In his award-winning Unearthly Powers (2019), Alan Strathern set out a theoretical framework for understanding the relation between religion and political authority based on a distinction between two kinds of religion - immanentism and transcendentalism - and the different ways they made monarchy sacred. This ambitious and innovative companion volume…
Religion and war
This chapter draws on the papers in this volume to help develop a global comparative perspective on religion and war. It proceeds by establishing two forms of religiosity: immanentism, versions of which may be found in every society; and transcendentalism, which captures what is distinctive about salvific, expansionary religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. This chapter does not suggest that either immanentism or transcendentalism e…
The emergence of MSP vs. the spread of transcendentalist religion
Sacred Kingship
Sacred Kingship in World History
Sacred Kingship in World History
Sacred kingship has been the core political form, in small-scale societies and in vast empires, for much of world history. This collaborative and interdisciplinary book recasts the relationship between religion and politics by exploring this institution in long-term and global comparative perspective
Thailand's First Revolution? The role of religious mobilization and 'the people' in the Ayutthaya rebellion of 1688
In the 1680s, King Narai, ruler of the cosmopolitan kingdom of Ayutthaya, was the subject of competing French and Persian attempts to convert him to monotheism. These attempts were not only embarrassing failures; they also helped to precipitate a coup in 1688, in which Phetracha forcefully intervened to place himself on the throne and eject French influence from the realm. But to what extent did the execution of the coup depend on popular involve…
The Many Meanings of Iconoclasm
The conversion of certain warlords in Kyushu, Japan, (1560-1580 CE ) represents one of the most important breakthroughs for Christianity in the early modern world, and it was accompanied by striking acts of destruction of the local sacred sites and objects. Yet shrine and temple destruction had already become a relatively commonplace feature of warfare in this period of internecine struggle, exemplified by the activities of Oda Nobunaga. How was …
Narratives of Kingship in Eurasian Empires, 1300–1800, by Richard van Leeuwen
Richard van Leeuwen’s book offers an intriguing contribution to the understanding of Asian and European forms of kingship across what might be called the very long early modern period (1300–1800). It does so essentially from a literary studies perspective, which means that this reviewer will not be able to offer a proper appraisal of many aspects of it. My purpose is rather to consider what the book might contribute to the comparative study of ki…
Unearthly Powers
Why was religion so important for rulers in the pre-modern world? And how did the world come to be dominated by just a handful of religious traditions, especially Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism? Drawing on sociology and anthropology, as well as a huge range of historical literature from all regions and periods of world history, Alan Strathern sets out a new way of thinking about transformations in the fundamental nature of religion and its int…
Global Early Modernity and the Problem of What Came Before
Global Patterns of Ruler Conversion to Islam and the Logic of Empirical Religiosity
The first great expansion of Islam owed little to the conversion of rulers but instead followed, albeit slowly, in the footsteps of strikingly rapid military conquest. Yet, in the second millennium, Islam expanded further and faster by means of ruler conversions than its proselytising rivals, Christianity and Buddhism. The principal regions where this held true were Sub-Saharan Africa and maritime Southeast Asia, though Central Asia also saw nume…
Catholic Missions and Local Rulers in Sub-Saharan Africa
The digestion of the foreign in Lankan history, c. 500–1818
Vijaya and Romulus
The story of Vijaya, has long been central to the Sinhalese idea of themselves as a distinct ethnic group of Aryan origin with ancient roots in the island of Lanka. The ‘national’ chronicle of the Sinhalese, the Mahāvaṃsa (circa fifth century ce ) presents Vijaya, an exiled prince from India descended from a lion, as the founder hero of Sinhala civilisation. In a companion article to this, I argued that the narrative of Vijaya and other founder-h…
Drawing the Veil of Sovereignty
This article considers A. Azfar Moin, The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam, in the light of theories of sacred kingship and religious change. Although Muslim kingship has tended to be presented as an essentially secular institution, Moin is able to show how deeply divine images and understandings shaped kingship in both the Safavid and Mughal empires, which were bound together by mutual influence and competition. The d…
Treachery and Ethnicity in Portuguese Representations of Sri Lanka
Writing from the imperial capital of Goa in the 1630s, the official chronicler of the Portuguese East, António Bocarro, turned his attention southwards to 'the enemy that we have in this island of Ceylon'. This bountiful island was the only place in Asia where the Portuguese had launched a successful project of extensive territorial conquest. They were now directly ruling the lowlands and engaged in a ceaseless attempt to defeat the island's last…
Strange parallels
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Karen Armstrong's Axial Age
Karen Armstrong must be one of the world's most popular exegetes. There are few other writers with such a healthy readership who are as comfortable in all the world religions. But her writings are never merely exegesis; they also bear the imprint of her personal spiritual and intellectual journey. Although her latest book, The Great Transformation: The World at the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, and Jeremiah, is not particularly scholarly, …
Sri Lanka in the Long Early Modern Period
This paper explores how Sri Lanka might fit into Victor Lieberman's theory of Eurasian history. Lieberman's work to date has focused on the ‘protected rimlands’ which he sees as sharing the same historical path from a milieu of warring little kingdoms to increasingly large, solid states. But what happens in a land, such as Sri Lanka, which can be considered ‘protected’ before 1500, and ‘unprotected’ thereafter? Political integration and boundarie…
Sickness and Frustration
The Vijaya Origin Myth of Sri Lanka and the Strangeness of Kingship
Transcendentalist Intransigence
Two rulers, one in Africa, one in Asia, are about to undergo the ceremony of baptism following first contact with the Portuguese maritime expansion-but they insist that the rite be conducted in secret. The African ruler is a regional governor (the Mani Soyo) of the Congo King Nzinga Nkuwu who has just converted in 1491. The high king's diplomatic exchanges with the sea captain Diogo Cão had not elicited any real sensation of vulnerability to Port…
Unearthly Powers
Why was religion so important for rulers in the pre-modern world? And how did the world come to be dominated by just a handful of religious traditions, especially Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism? Drawing on sociology and anthropology, as well as a huge range of historical literature from all regions and periods of world history, Alan Strathern sets out a new way of thinking about transformations in the fundamental nature of religion and its int…
The Vijaya Origin Myth of Sri Lanka and the Strangeness of Kingship
Transcendentalist Intransigence
Two rulers, one in Africa, one in Asia, are about to undergo the ceremony of baptism following first contact with the Portuguese maritime expansion-but they insist that the rite be conducted in secret. The African ruler is a regional governor (the Mani Soyo) of the Congo King Nzinga Nkuwu who has just converted in 1491. The high king's diplomatic exchanges with the sea captain Diogo Cão had not elicited any real sensation of vulnerability to Port…
Sri Lanka in the Long Early Modern Period
This paper explores how Sri Lanka might fit into Victor Lieberman's theory of Eurasian history. Lieberman's work to date has focused on the ‘protected rimlands’ which he sees as sharing the same historical path from a milieu of warring little kingdoms to increasingly large, solid states. But what happens in a land, such as Sri Lanka, which can be considered ‘protected’ before 1500, and ‘unprotected’ thereafter? Political integration and boundarie…
Indigenous Anthropology in Papua New Guinea [and Comments and Reply]
This paper describes the extent to which at this time anthropology in Papua New Guinea, defined as studies of traditional cultures and societies and of changing social structures, is beginning to be conducted by Papua New Guineans. From a growing literature the writer selects the work of 12 Papua New Guineans for detailed discussion. They are selected because their approach is more analytical than that of many other writers and because in various…
Theoretical Approaches to Sri Lankan History and the Early Portuguese Period
In the past twenty years or so the history of Sri Lanka has become a site of vibrant controversy, largely because the current ethnic conflict has loaded any kind of reflection on the historical boundaries of political, ethnic or religious identity with an immediate emotional charge. The intellectual reverberations of post-colonialism and the vigorous contributions of anthropologists have added rich strata of theoretical thinking. However, despite…
Sickness and Frustration
Thailand's First Revolution? The role of religious mobilization and 'the people' in the Ayutthaya rebellion of 1688
In the 1680s, King Narai, ruler of the cosmopolitan kingdom of Ayutthaya, was the subject of competing French and Persian attempts to convert him to monotheism. These attempts were not only embarrassing failures; they also helped to precipitate a coup in 1688, in which Phetracha forcefully intervened to place himself on the throne and eject French influence from the realm. But to what extent did the execution of the coup depend on popular involve…
The Many Meanings of Iconoclasm
The conversion of certain warlords in Kyushu, Japan, (1560-1580 CE ) represents one of the most important breakthroughs for Christianity in the early modern world, and it was accompanied by striking acts of destruction of the local sacred sites and objects. Yet shrine and temple destruction had already become a relatively commonplace feature of warfare in this period of internecine struggle, exemplified by the activities of Oda Nobunaga. How was …
Drawing the Veil of Sovereignty
This article considers A. Azfar Moin, The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam, in the light of theories of sacred kingship and religious change. Although Muslim kingship has tended to be presented as an essentially secular institution, Moin is able to show how deeply divine images and understandings shaped kingship in both the Safavid and Mughal empires, which were bound together by mutual influence and competition. The d…
Strange parallels
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Controversies in Sri Lankan History
This Viewpoint gives a brief introduction to the ongoing controversies of Sri Lankan historiography, which the current ethnic conflict has served to intensify and politicize. Scholars of many different disciplines, indeed all manner of commentators, have been arguing about how much continuity can be seen in the nature of the state, ethnic identity and religious identity as these have developed over the last 2000 years of history
The Mi-Culture of the Mount Hagen People
Cargo and Inflation in Mount Hagen
Indigenous Anthropology in Papua New Guinea [and Comments and Reply]
This paper describes the extent to which at this time anthropology in Papua New Guinea, defined as studies of traditional cultures and societies and of changing social structures, is beginning to be conducted by Papua New Guineans. From a growing literature the writer selects the work of 12 Papua New Guineans for detailed discussion. They are selected because their approach is more analytical than that of many other writers and because in various…
Social/Cultural Anthropology
The Mi-Culture of the Mount Hagen People
Empowering the Past, Confronting the Future
Controversies in Sri Lankan History
This Viewpoint gives a brief introduction to the ongoing controversies of Sri Lankan historiography, which the current ethnic conflict has served to intensify and politicize. Scholars of many different disciplines, indeed all manner of commentators, have been arguing about how much continuity can be seen in the nature of the state, ethnic identity and religious identity as these have developed over the last 2000 years of history
Theoretical Approaches to Sri Lankan History and the Early Portuguese Period
In the past twenty years or so the history of Sri Lanka has become a site of vibrant controversy, largely because the current ethnic conflict has loaded any kind of reflection on the historical boundaries of political, ethnic or religious identity with an immediate emotional charge. The intellectual reverberations of post-colonialism and the vigorous contributions of anthropologists have added rich strata of theoretical thinking. However, despite…
Transcendentalist Intransigence
Two rulers, one in Africa, one in Asia, are about to undergo the ceremony of baptism following first contact with the Portuguese maritime expansion-but they insist that the rite be conducted in secret. The African ruler is a regional governor (the Mani Soyo) of the Congo King Nzinga Nkuwu who has just converted in 1491. The high king's diplomatic exchanges with the sea captain Diogo Cão had not elicited any real sensation of vulnerability to Port…
Karen Armstrong's Axial Age
Karen Armstrong must be one of the world's most popular exegetes. There are few other writers with such a healthy readership who are as comfortable in all the world religions. But her writings are never merely exegesis; they also bear the imprint of her personal spiritual and intellectual journey. Although her latest book, The Great Transformation: The World at the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, and Jeremiah, is not particularly scholarly, …
Sri Lanka in the Long Early Modern Period
This paper explores how Sri Lanka might fit into Victor Lieberman's theory of Eurasian history. Lieberman's work to date has focused on the ‘protected rimlands’ which he sees as sharing the same historical path from a milieu of warring little kingdoms to increasingly large, solid states. But what happens in a land, such as Sri Lanka, which can be considered ‘protected’ before 1500, and ‘unprotected’ thereafter? Political integration and boundarie…
Sickness and Frustration
The Vijaya Origin Myth of Sri Lanka and the Strangeness of Kingship
Treachery and Ethnicity in Portuguese Representations of Sri Lanka
Writing from the imperial capital of Goa in the 1630s, the official chronicler of the Portuguese East, António Bocarro, turned his attention southwards to 'the enemy that we have in this island of Ceylon'. This bountiful island was the only place in Asia where the Portuguese had launched a successful project of extensive territorial conquest. They were now directly ruling the lowlands and engaged in a ceaseless attempt to defeat the island's last…
Strange parallels
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Vijaya and Romulus
The story of Vijaya, has long been central to the Sinhalese idea of themselves as a distinct ethnic group of Aryan origin with ancient roots in the island of Lanka. The ‘national’ chronicle of the Sinhalese, the Mahāvaṃsa (circa fifth century ce ) presents Vijaya, an exiled prince from India descended from a lion, as the founder hero of Sinhala civilisation. In a companion article to this, I argued that the narrative of Vijaya and other founder-h…
Drawing the Veil of Sovereignty
This article considers A. Azfar Moin, The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam, in the light of theories of sacred kingship and religious change. Although Muslim kingship has tended to be presented as an essentially secular institution, Moin is able to show how deeply divine images and understandings shaped kingship in both the Safavid and Mughal empires, which were bound together by mutual influence and competition. The d…
Global Patterns of Ruler Conversion to Islam and the Logic of Empirical Religiosity
The first great expansion of Islam owed little to the conversion of rulers but instead followed, albeit slowly, in the footsteps of strikingly rapid military conquest. Yet, in the second millennium, Islam expanded further and faster by means of ruler conversions than its proselytising rivals, Christianity and Buddhism. The principal regions where this held true were Sub-Saharan Africa and maritime Southeast Asia, though Central Asia also saw nume…
Catholic Missions and Local Rulers in Sub-Saharan Africa
The digestion of the foreign in Lankan history, c. 500–1818
Global Early Modernity and the Problem of What Came Before
Narratives of Kingship in Eurasian Empires, 1300–1800, by Richard van Leeuwen
Richard van Leeuwen’s book offers an intriguing contribution to the understanding of Asian and European forms of kingship across what might be called the very long early modern period (1300–1800). It does so essentially from a literary studies perspective, which means that this reviewer will not be able to offer a proper appraisal of many aspects of it. My purpose is rather to consider what the book might contribute to the comparative study of ki…
Unearthly Powers
Why was religion so important for rulers in the pre-modern world? And how did the world come to be dominated by just a handful of religious traditions, especially Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism? Drawing on sociology and anthropology, as well as a huge range of historical literature from all regions and periods of world history, Alan Strathern sets out a new way of thinking about transformations in the fundamental nature of religion and its int…
The Many Meanings of Iconoclasm
The conversion of certain warlords in Kyushu, Japan, (1560-1580 CE ) represents one of the most important breakthroughs for Christianity in the early modern world, and it was accompanied by striking acts of destruction of the local sacred sites and objects. Yet shrine and temple destruction had already become a relatively commonplace feature of warfare in this period of internecine struggle, exemplified by the activities of Oda Nobunaga. How was …
Sacred Kingship
Sacred Kingship in World History
History (18 obras) · Law (16 obras) · Political science (16 obras) · Philosophy (14 obras) · Politics (11 obras) · Ancient history (9 obras) · Sociology (9 obras) · Asian Studies and History (8 obras) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (8 obras) · Monarchy (8 obras)