Table of Contents

PREFACE
MAPS
1. INTRODUCTION
Southeast Asia and its religions
Religious content and religious identify
Popular and elite levels of religion
Practicality and other characteristic of popular religion
The chapters that follow
2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Religion and states and empires in Asia
The modern period
The reduction of religious diversity
3. THREE VERSIONS OF POPULAR HINDUISM
South Indian Hinduism
Hinduism in Indonesia
Hinduism in Southeast Asia
4. BUDDHISM AND POPULAR RELIGION
Buddhism and popular religion in Burma and Thailand
Buddhism in Indonesia
Buddhism and popular religion
5. POPULAR ISLAM IN MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA
The development of Islam in Southeast Asia
Popular Islam in Malaysia
Islam in Kelantan
Popular Islam in Indonesia
6. CONVERSION AND POPULAR CHRISTIANITY
The history of Christian conversion in Southeast Asia
The study of conversion
The reasons for conversion
Conversion in Borneo
The Karen of Thailand and Burma
The conversion of Refugees
The nature of conversion
7. THE MAGIC OF THE MARKET
The occult economy in Southeast Asia
The occult economy in Vietnam and Thailand
Lottery play and the logic of occult economic thought
Occult economic thought
8. RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AS POPULAR RELIGION
The nature of religious movements
Religious movements in the northern mainland
Three recent movements in Malaysia
The development of religious movements
The success of religious movements
9. POPULAR RELIGION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
BIBLIOGRAPHY

About the Author

Robert L. Winzeler is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his AM and PhD from the University of Chicago and has done extensive long-term fieldwork in both insular and mainland Southeast Asia. His numerous books include The Peoples of Southeast Asia Today (2011) and Anthropology and Religion, Second Edition (2012).

Reviews

Popular Religion in Southeast Asia gives a nice overview of religious life across a vast and incredibly diverse region of the world, providing solid historical information as well as several detailed case studies. Winzeler is the ideal author for such a work, as he is a prolific writer with decades of fieldwork experience in Sarawak, Borneo, in Malaysia as well as Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. His expertise informs every page yet despite his extensive knowledge (and the complexity of his subject), he writes in a way that accessible and quite engaging.... Almost any reader interested in religion as a social and economic phenomenon will find this book a rewarding read.
*Nova Religio: The Journal Of Alternative And Emergent Religions*

[T]he reader has a sure guide to some of the intricacies and complexities found in religion around the region…. [W]e find here quite a comprehensive survey of many different movements, providing in a single volume an accessible and useful guide and introduction to many major popular practices of Southeast Asia, as well as some colourful and idiosyncratic movements. The political and social contextualization is also well done…. In conclusion, I would encourage scholars of religion from many different traditions and regional specializations to engage this book to see what insights can be gained from the very particular and unusual context of Southeast Asia. Popular Religion in Southeast Asia will provide students with an excellent reference to popular religiosity in this part of the world, while also raising questions about the way we traditionally see orthodox/elite and unorthodox/non-elite practices in general.
*Reading Religion*

A well-constructed and accessible introduction to Southeast Asia’s multiple religions—both ‘major’ and ‘indigenous’—in their diverse settings. Winzeler offers solid historical foundation as well as contemporary social and cultural context. The result is an engaging book with much to offer regional specialists and comparative religious studies scholars.
*Kenneth R. Hall, Ball State University*