John Woodroffe a etablování akademického studia tantry v kontextu koloniálního diskurzu o magii a pověře : k politice akademického studia náboženství

Roč.23,č.1(2025)

Abstrakt
The article investigates the establishment of Tantra in academia during the 20th century through the selected works of John Woodroffe – Arthur Avalon. Firstly, it examines Orientalist discourses about the study of Indian religion and shows the issue of Tantra being marginalized by the association with the notion of magic. Secondly, it shows the cultural-historical contexts that existed around the notion of magic and superstition in the colonial imagination, and on what basis the usage of these terms could lead to the systematic exclusion of some phenomena from the field of serious research. On the other hand, magic rehabilitated through occultism could have played a crucial role in the establishment of Tantra. By combining discourse analysis and thick description, I aim to discover hints of the establishment of Tantra in the discourses prior to it, and answer what this case tells about the politics of the modern study of religion, and about the politics of studying foreign culture in general.

Klíčová slova:
John Woodroffe; Arthur Avalon; tantra; marginalizace; kolonialismus; orientalistika; okultismus; magie; pověra; osvícenství

Stránky:
24–44
Reference

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