We Have Moved to "The Jugaad Project"!

After nearly five years of service to open-access scholarship (2014-19), we have moved to a new and exciting phase with the publication of "The Jugaad Project". For further information on how to submit to The Jugaad Project please contact our editorial team. Follow us on Instagram. The Material Religion blog remains open as an archive and a resource that we will continue to draw upon to promote diversity and innovation in the field of material...

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Book Review: Bielo, James. Ark Encounter: The Making of a Creationist Theme Park.

Lillia McEnaney reviews James Bielo's most recent book, an ethnography of a creationist theme park in Kentucky. MLA citation format:  McEnaney, Lillia Book Review: Bielo, James. Ark Encounter: The Making of a Creationist Theme Park.  New York: New York University Press, 2018. Web blog post. Material Religions. 12 October 2018. Web. [date of access] James Bielo’s most recent book, Ark Encounter: The Making of a Creationist...

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Dressing Rooms: Spaces of Magical Reality

Alyssa Velazquez writes about dressing rooms as transitional spaces, questioning how, and to whom, these secret and privileged spaces generate imagined realities. MLA citation format: Velazquez, Alyssa, "Dressing Rooms: Spaces of Magical Reality" Web blog post. Material Religions. 4 December 2017. Web. [date of access]  You are now going “behind the scenes.” As you cross over the threshold you may expect to experience the intimate...

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Tracing the Many Lives of Religious Structures

Uthara Suvrathan emphasizes the importance of alternative traces in exploring the complex life-histories of Buddhist and Hindu religious structures in Banavasi, South India. By paying attention to ephemeral as well as more long-lasting religious material culture she offers a way of studying changing patterns of religious practice and cultural memory formation. MLA citation format: Suvrathan, Uthara "Tracing the Many Lives of Religious Structures" Web...

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