Abstract
The construction of the concept “religion,” as well as the application of the terms associated with it, developed largely within the study of Indigenous peoples in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The academic use of what Anthony Giddens refers to as “disembedded” features of modernity to derive the theoretical structures of the Religious Studies paradigm early in our disciplinary history leaves behind legacy biases, the interrogation of which would clarify contexts throughout the global study of religion. This is, I argue, what Indigenous Religious Studies provides in return: an analytical lens through which to view and critique the academic study of religion as a discourse, as well as potential insights into our individual projects through the application of indigenous theoretical models. This paper explores indigeneity as a way describe the interaction of a set of modalities within which Indigenous communities express their embedded identities. I refer to these modalities as Place, Power, and Protocol, suggesting ways in which both the study of indigenous traditions and the academic study of religion in general benefit from understanding these key concepts and their critical application to the contemporary world.
Presenters
Dennis KelleyAssociate Professor, Department of Classics, Archaeology, and Religion, University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Commonalities and Differences
KEYWORDS
Indigenous, Modernity, American Indians, Place
