Irene Stengs - Böcker

Contemporary Thailand has seen the rise of an immense cult focused on King Chulalongkorn the Great (r. 1868-1910). In Worshipping the Great Moderniser, Irene Stengs explores the continuing appeal of King Chulalongkorn and considers what this ruler's unprecedented popularity says about modern Thai society.Arguing that the exalted expectations of kingship are a product of the ambitions and anxieties of Thailand's expanding middle class, she compares the popular image of King Chulalongkorn with that of the present king, the highly venerated King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Stengs demonstrates how ideas and imaginings of Thainess, modernity, and kingship have culminated in what she terms "modern Buddhist kingship," a concept that draws on traditional idioms but is highly modern. Her search for the social imaginary surrounding Thai kingship and Thainess during the past century and a half yields an intriguing amalgam of popular religion, Buddhist kingship, nationalism, and material culture.

What happens when religious sites, objects and practices become cultural heritage? What are —religious or secular—sources of expertise and authority that validate and regulate heritage sites, objects and practices? As cultural heritage becomes an increasingly popular and influential frame, these questions arise in diverse and challenging manners. The question who controls, manages, and frames religious heritage, and how, arises with particular urgency. Case studies from Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom present an analysis of the paradoxes and challenges that arise when religious sites are transformed into heritage.

What happens when religious sites, objects and practices become cultural heritage? What are —religious or secular—sources of expertise and authority that validate and regulate heritage sites, objects and practices? As cultural heritage becomes an increasingly popular and influential frame, these questions arise in diverse and challenging manners. The question who controls, manages, and frames religious heritage, and how, arises with particular urgency. Case studies from Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom present an analysis of the paradoxes and challenges that arise when religious sites are transformed into heritage.

In exploring this theme, The Secular Sacred focuses on diverse topics such as the dynamic roles of Carnival in Brazil, the public contestation of ritual in Northern Nigeria, and the culturalization of secular tolerance in the Netherlands.