Overview
An Alta Mira Press Book Located at the intersection of the sociology of popular religion and the dynamics of social transformation, this study examines the processes of conversion, continuity and change in a Goan Catholic community. The analysis shifts from a focus on the historical encounter and engagement between missionary and indigenous people in Goa to a consideration, through ethnographic material, of present-day patterns and modes of persistence and change in a rural Catholic community.
The author examines individual and collective ritual modes and issues of caste conflict as manifested in church celebration. The issues discussed include kinship and the implication of Catholicism for rules of marriage, ideas about inheritance and gender, reasons for conversion, and the clash of traditions.
Overall, this book provides a rich analysis of the interplay between Christianity and colonialism as well as the emerging disharmony of tradition in a new social context. It also explores issues relating to the sociological study of convert communities in India in a comparative perspective.
Synopsis
An AltaMira Press Book Located at the intersection of the sociology of popular religion and the dynamics of social transformation, this study examines the processes of conversion, continuity and change in a Goan Catholic community. The analysis shifts from a focus on the historical encounter and engagement between missionary and indigenous people in Goa to a consideration, through ethnographic material, of present-day patterns and modes of persistence and change in a rural Catholic community. The author examines individual and collective ritual modes and issues of caste conflict as manifested in church celebration. The issues discussed include kinship and the implication of Catholicism for rules of marriage, ideas about inheritance and gender, reasons for conversion, and the clash of traditions. Overall, this book provides a rich analysis of the interplay between Christianity and colonialism as well as the emerging disharmony of tradition in a new social context. It also explores issues relating to the sociological study of convert communities in India in a comparative perspective.
Booknews
Examines the processes of conversion, continuity, and change in a Goan Catholic community. Analyzes the patterns of persistence and transformation that can be discerned in the socio-religious practices of Catholics in relation to the wider Hindu society with which they live. Topics include the socio-political context of conversion; the annual ritual cycle; and life-cycle rituals such as birth, marriage, and death. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.