Secularism, unicity and diversity
The case of Haracandi's grove
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3864533 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frederique Apffel-Marglin (Smith College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 217-235 |
| Publication date | 1998-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contributions to Indian Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0069-9659 • E-ISSN: 0069-9667 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/006996679803200204 |
| OpenAlex | W2044056882 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
This paper argues that secularism as a concept and practice arose from the need in 16th and 17th century Europe to create a neutral space making possible intra- as well as inter-State discourse. This neutral space was from the beginning part of the emerging scientific revolution; it transposed in a different key the dogmatic unicity of the two warring religious denominations. Secular science created the 'sacred/spiritual' as an other-worldly domain totally separate from this-worldly realms of nature and society. By looking at an important festival in coastal Orissa taking place in a so-called 'sacred grove', the paper argues that the category of sacred thus wielded does violence to a different reality where unicity and the sacred/secular dichotomy, among others, are not found. Rather than essentialist categories, local practice conjures a dynamic, shifting, alternating reality, in which no single principle or reality dominates. The paper argues that unicity is lethal to diversity and that secular nation-states have everywhere adopted science as both a strengthening and legitimising tool, thus endangering diversity. Newly emergent religious 'fundamentalisms' negatively mirror the unicity of the secular nation-state, whereas much of local practice retains its diversity-generating ways of life
Diversity (politics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Essentialism · Islam · Secularism · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · State (computer science · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Mathematics · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Religious studies · Religious Studies
The poison in the gift
Ecology and Equity
Gender and the Unitary Self
The Embodied Mind
Is there an Indian Way of Thinking? An Informal Essay
Wives of the God-King. The Rituals of the Devadasis of Puri
Seeing Like a State
The Original Caste
The Ritual Process
Wives of the Godking
Seeing Like a StateHow Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
Leviathan and the Air-Pump
Colonialism and Forestry in India
| Citations per year | 0.05 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2007 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |