"Democracy's Dhamma"

New from Cambridge University Press: Democracy's Dhamma: Buddhism in the Making of Modern India, c. 1890–1956 by Gitanjali Surendran.

About the book, from the publisher:

In 1956, B. R. Ambedkar publicly converted to Buddhism raising questions about his turn from constitutionalism to religion. The answer lies in Buddhism itself. In the late colonial era, the struggle to produce an appropriate Buddhism for a nation-in-the-making reveals a secret history foundational to modern India. Thinkers, activists, reformers, pilgrims, and monks from around South, Southeast and East Asia discussed universalism, nationalism, modernity, democracy, and caste radicalism and advocated an Indian return to Buddhism and the Buddha. This book traces this genealogy through the Buddhist itineraries and political projects of figures like Anagarika Dharmapala, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vinayak D. Savarkar, Rahul Sankrityayan and Ambedkar, to reveal how Buddhism emerged as democracy's dhamma, the religion of democracy.

Gitanjali Surendran is Professor of History at Jindal Global Law School. Her research interests are modern South Asian cultural and intellectual history, environmental and gender history. She is also interested in public history and is exploring ways to bring academic history into public discourse. She is the author of Anand Bhawan: An Intimate History (2018).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Animal People"

New from Cornell University Press: Animal People: Moral Subjects in the Work of Animal Protection by Adam Reed.

About the book, from the publisher:

Animal People introduces readers to the professionalized world of animal protection from the perspective of those who consider themselves to be "moderate" activists. Adam Reed explores the interrelationships between moral cause and organizational culture, including the ways in which expert roles such as investigator and lobbyist inform the practice and outlook of animal protection. This book examines not only connections between forms of professionalism and everyday advocacy but also how those working to improve the welfare of animals can come to possess an expertise in public or mainstream ethics.

Reed explores these issues through the example of a Scottish-based animal protection organization. Animal People makes a distinctive contribution to anthropological debate and discussion relating to human and nonhuman animal interactions, activism, and the attributions and imperatives of moral action.

Adam Reed is a Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. His research explores the intersections between moral and literary imagination and institutional life. He is the author of Literature and Agency in English Fiction Reading and Papua New Guinea's Last Place.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Church of Stop Shopping and Religious Activism"

New from NYU Press: The Church of Stop Shopping and Religious Activism: Combatting Consumerism and Climate Change through Performance by George González.

About the book, from the publisher:

Explores the religious activism of the Stop Shopping Church performance group

Since the dawn of the new millennium, the grassroots performance activist group the Stop Shopping Church has advanced a sophisticated anti-capitalist critique in what they call “Earth Justice.” Led by co-founders, Reverend Billy and Savitri D, the Church of Stop Shopping have sung with Joan Baez and toured with Pussy Riot and Neil Young. They performed at festivals around the world, and been the subject of the nationally released documentary, What Would Jesus Buy? They opposed the forces of consumerism on the global stage, and taken on the corporate practices of Disney, Starbucks, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Walmart, Amazon, and many others.

While the Church maintains an anti-consumerism stance at its core–through performances, street actions, and social activism–the community also prioritizes work for racial justice, queer liberation, justice and sanctuary for immigrants, First Amendment issues, the reclaiming of public space, and in an increasingly central way, environmental justice. In The Church of Stop Shopping and Religious Activism, George González draws on interviews, participant observation, and digital ethnography to offer insight into the Church, its make up, its activities, and in particular, how it has shifted over time from parody to a deep and serious engagement with religion. Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping maintain that corporations and their celebrity spokespeople operate in much the same way churches do. González uses the group’s performance activism to showcase the links between religion, the culture of capitalist consumerism, and climate catastrophe and to analyze the ways in which consumers are ritualized into accepting capitalism and its consequences. He argues that the members and organizers of the Church of Stop Shopping are serious theorizers and users of religion in their own right, and that they offer keen insights into our understanding of ritualistic consumerism and its indelible link to the rising sea levels that threaten to engulf us all.

Visit George González's website.

--Marshal Zeringue