Ann Gleig - Böcker

First brought to the United States in the nineteenth century by Chinese and Japanese immigrants, Buddhism has become a major feature of the North American religious, cultural, and social landscape. Nearly every form of Asian Buddhism has some presence in North America in addition to a variety of Buddhist “convert” communities, hybrid communities, and “secular” Buddhist networks. Buddhist-derived practices such as mindfulness meditation have been deployed in health care and educational settings, the military, and the business sector. The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism guides readers through the rich terrain of American Buddhism, illuminating the diversity of Buddhist communities and identities, exploring the innovations that have emerged from the cross-fertilization of Buddhism and American culture, and extending the theoretical and methodological boundaries that have shaped the study of American Buddhism. The Handbook is organized into four parts: Foundations, Traditions, Practices, and Frames. The essays in this volume both build upon and go beyond previous scholarship, reexamining foundational topics while recovering neglected histories, centering marginalized identities, and analyzing the intersections between Buddhist practice and scholarship.

This illuminating account of contemporary American Buddhism shows the remarkable ways the tradition has changed over the past generationThe past couple of decades have witnessed Buddhist communities both continuing the modernization of Buddhism and questioning some of its limitations. In this fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing religious landscape, Ann Gleig illuminates the aspirations and struggles of younger North American Buddhists during a period she identifies as a distinct stage in the assimilation of Buddhism to the West. She observes both the emergence of new innovative forms of deinstitutionalized Buddhism that blur the boundaries between the religious and secular, and a revalorization of traditional elements of Buddhism, such as ethics and community, that were discarded in the modernization process.  Based on extensive ethnographic and textual research, the book ranges from mindfulness debates in the Vipassana network to the sex scandals in American Zen, while exploring issues around racial diversity and social justice, the impact of new technologies, and generational differences between baby boomer, Gen X, and millennial teachers.

Talking About Cults explores a series of questions: Why have scholars of minority religion rejected the term cult and the wider field of cultic studies? How have they responded to allegations of abuse in minority religion? Why do so many survivors of abuse find cult discourse helpful? What new directions are emerging and should be encouraged in the study of abuse in NRMs that are more attuned to survivors’ experience?The academic subfield of new religious movements (NRMs) developed in reaction to cultic studies and the two fields became polarized in the “Cult Wars,” a charged intellectual and legal battle that has raged on since the 1970s. In this context, a disciplinary consensus formed in the study of NRMs that minimized allegations of abuse within NRMs and discredited the reliability of ex-members who made them. While feminist scholars of religion attempted to draw attention to gendered forms of abuse in these groups, they were largely ignored in consensus NRM scholarship. Inspired by a feminist survivor-centered approach, Ann Gleig argues that rather than automatically rejecting cult discourse, scholars need to ask what its function and value is for survivors of abuse. Through interviews with survivors of abuse in Buddhist contexts, she discovered that they drew on cult discourse selectively and critically to identify, understand, and heal from the dynamics that had caused them harm in their former communities as well as to prevent future abuse in Buddhist communities.

Talking About Cults explores a series of questions: Why have scholars of minority religion rejected the term cult and the wider field of cultic studies? How have they responded to allegations of abuse in minority religion? Why do so many survivors of abuse find cult discourse helpful? What new directions are emerging and should be encouraged in the study of abuse in NRMs that are more attuned to survivors’ experience?The academic subfield of new religious movements (NRMs) developed in reaction to cultic studies and the two fields became polarized in the “Cult Wars,” a charged intellectual and legal battle that has raged on since the 1970s. In this context, a disciplinary consensus formed in the study of NRMs that minimized allegations of abuse within NRMs and discredited the reliability of ex-members who made them. While feminist scholars of religion attempted to draw attention to gendered forms of abuse in these groups, they were largely ignored in consensus NRM scholarship. Inspired by a feminist survivor-centered approach, Ann Gleig argues that rather than automatically rejecting cult discourse, scholars need to ask what its function and value is for survivors of abuse. Through interviews with survivors of abuse in Buddhist contexts, she discovered that they drew on cult discourse selectively and critically to identify, understand, and heal from the dynamics that had caused them harm in their former communities as well as to prevent future abuse in Buddhist communities.

Exploring homegrown movements and figures, proclaims "American Hinduism" as a distinct religious tradition.Today, a new stage in the development of Hinduism in America is taking shape. After a century of experimentation during which Americans welcomed Indian gurus who adjusted their teachings to accommodate the New World context, "American Hinduism" can now rightly be called its own tradition rather than an imported religion. Accordingly, this spiritual path is now headed by leaders born in North America. Homegrown Gurus explores this phenomenon in essays about these figures and their networks. A variety of teachers and movements are considered, including Ram Dass, Siddha Yoga, and Amrit Desai and Kripalu Yoga, among others. Two contradictory trends quickly become apparent: an increasing Westernization of Hindu practices and values alongside a renewed interest in traditional forms of Hinduism. These opposed sensibilities-innovation and preservation, radicalism and recovery-are characteristic of postmodernity and denote a new chapter in the American assimilation of Hinduism.