The study of indigenous religions has become an important academic field, particularly since the religious practices of indigenous peoples are being transformed by forces of globalization and transcontinental migration. This book will further our understanding of indigenous religions by first considering key methodological issues related to defining and contextualizing the religious practices of indigenous societies, both historically and in socio-cultural situations. Two further sections of the book analyse cases derived from European contexts, which are often overlooked in discussion of indigenous religions, and in two traditional areas of study: South America and Africa.
'From its inception, the discipline of religious studies adhered to a two-tier framework in which local, oral and ancestral religious traditions were subordinated in intellectual status and moral value to universal, textual and doctrinal ones. This wide-ranging and provocative volume marks a further decisive stage in the demolition of that framework. It will not conclude the debate about the definition of indigenous religions - for the contributors themselves engage with each other in that debate - but it will inform and sustain it for years to come.' Brian Stanley, University of Edinburgh, UK
