Table of Contents

Introduction: Asia's Commodified Sacred Canopies Pattana Kitiarsa Part 1: A Commodity Approach to the Study of Asian Religions 1. Asia and the Global Economies of Charisma Robert P. Weller 2. New Spiritualities, the Media, and the Global Religion Bryan S. Turner Part 2: Modes and Techniques of the Symbolic Economies 3. Commodifying Blessings: Celebrating the Double-Yang Festivals in Penang, Malaysia and Wudang, China Jean DeBernardi 4. Kuan To: The Vegetarian Festival in a Peripheral Southern Thai Shrine Erik Cohen 5. Materializing Merit: Reflections on the Symbolic Economy of Religious Monuments and Tourist-Pilgrimage in Contemporary Thailand Marc Askew 6. Buddha Phanit: Thailand's Prosperity Religion and Its Commodifying Tactics Pattana Kitiarsa Part 3: The Multiple Effects of Religious Commodifications 7. Spirits of Consumption and the Capitalist Ethic in Vietnam Oscar Salemink 8. 'Merchandizing' Hinduism: Commodities, Market and Possibilities of Enchantment Vineeta Sinha 9. McDonaldization of the Megachurches: A Case Study of Singapore's City Harvest Church Joy Tong Kooi Chin 10. Islam as a Symbolic Commodity: Transmitting and Consuming Islam through Public Sermon in Indonesia Akh Muzzaki 11. Commodification of Religion and the 'Religification' of Commodities: Youth Culture and Religious Identity Ronald Lukens-Bull

About the Author

Pattana Kitiarsa is currently Visiting Fellow in the Southeast Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore. He has published both in Thai and English in the fields of Thai popular Buddhism and cultures, politics of development, transnational labor migration, Thai boxing, and films. His forthcoming books include Never Offend the Spirits: Thai Popular Buddhism and Its Occult Economy, and Transnational Intimacies: The Private Life of Thai Workmen in Singapore.