Of Gods, gifts and ghosts : spiritual places in urban spaces / Terence Heng.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heng, Terence, 1978- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese--Singapore--Religion.

Chinese.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, New York : Routledge, [2021]

Summary:

How do individuals inscribe their spiritual identities and diasporic ethnicities in the city? Through a series of sociological and photographic essays, Terence Heng maps the various rituals, collectives, individuals and events that characterise Chinese religion practices in Singapore. From spirit mediums to the Hungry Ghost Festival, each chapter engages with the social, the spatial and the ephemeral, and in so doing it will explore the significance and relevance of Chinese religion in a secular nation-state; reveal the strategies and tactics used by diasporic individuals to perform and retain their identities; uncover the importance of flow and fluidity in the making of sacred space; and evidence the value and efficacy of the use of photographs in social research. Of Gods, Gifts and Ghosts is a ground-breaking exploration into the intersections between visual sociology, cultural geography and creative photographic practice. A visual monograph that gives equal importance to image and text, it interrogates the tensions between sacred and profane, official and unofficial, state and individual, physical and spiritual, peeling away the myriad layers of the spiritual imagination.

Contents:

Intro

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Figures

1. Introduction

Introduction

Chinese religion is not Chinese religion

Sacred space and/vs state space

Sacred space is imagination and materiality intertwined

Sacred space in Chinese religion is highly visual

The state and sacred space

The visual essay in the social sciences

Making a visual monograph - theory and practice

Contributions

Note

2. Visualising the (spiritual) city

3. The social dead, the agentic spirit

4. The Hungry Ghost Festival and aesthetic juxtaposition

5. Tang-ki as embodied spiritual capital and arbiters of sacred space

6. Intimate sacred spaces - the body and home

Body

Intimate spaces

7. The ebb and flow of sacred spaces

8. Movement and motion in sacred flowscapes

9. Conclusion

Sacred flowscapes and the spiritual imagination

Sacred flowscapes, diasporic identities and the state

Some exploratory questions on writing the visual monograph

Towards a lyrical-visual sociology?1

Epilogue

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-429-43704-8

0-429-79277-8

9780429437045

OCLC:

1224020486