Mana : a history of a western category / by Nicolas Meylan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meylan, Nicolas, author.

Series:

Supplements to Method & theory in the study of religion ; v. 10.

Supplements to method & theory in the study of religion, 2214-3270 ; volume 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mana--History.

Mana.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (214 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2017]

Summary:

In Mana: A History of a Western Category Nicolas Meylan proposes a critical account of Western imaginations of mana, a word belonging originally to Oceanic languages but borrowed by European languages in which it acquired the meaning ‘supernatural power.’ While mana is best known for its tenure in the disciplines studying religion, Nicolas Meylan situates such academic uses in a wider context, analyzing the ways Westerners conceptualized mana in the earlier colonial context as well as its mobilizations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries by (video)game designers and Neo-Pagan witches. This focus on various Western uses of mana allows for the critical investigation of the ways power has been mystified in conjunction with religion.

Contents:

The first century of mana

Bringing mana within theory: 1878-1904

The domestication of mana

Mana in the north

The physics of mana: from substance to unit

Energy for a new paganism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-34924-3

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004349247 DOI