War magic: religion, sorcery, and performance

This compelling volume explores how war magic and warrior religion unleash the power of the gods, demons, ghosts, and the dead. Documenting war magic and warrior religion as they are performed in diverse cultures and across historical time periods, this volume foregrounds embodiment, practice, and performance in anthropological approaches to magic, sorcery, shamanism, and religion. The authors go beyond what magic 'represents' to consider what magic does. From Chinese exorcists, Javanese spirit siblings, and black magic in Sumatra to Tamil Tiger suicide bombers, Chamorro spiritual re-enchantment, tantric Buddhist war magic, and Yanomami dark shamans, religion and magic are re-evaluated not just from the practitioner's perspective but through the victim's lived experience. These original investigations reveal a nuanced approach to understanding social action, innovation, and the revitalization of tradition in colonial and post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social transformation

Cross-cultural articulations of war magic and warrior religion / D.S. Farrer -- Tangki war magic : the virtuality of spirit warfare and the actuality of peace / Margaret Chan -- Javanese Kanuragan ritual initiation : a means to socialize by acquiring invulnerability, authority, and spiritual improvement / Jean-Marc de Grave -- Discourse of decline : local perspectives on magic in highland Jambi, Indonesia / J. David Neidel -- Encompassing empowerment in ritual, war, and assassination : tantric principles in Tamil Tiger instrumentalities / Michael Roberts -- Shamanic battleground : magic, sorcery, and warrior shamanism in Venezuela / Zeljko Jokić -- Chants of re-enchantment : Chamorro spiritual resistance to colonial domination / D.S. Farrer and James D. Sellmann -- War magic and just war in Indian tantric Buddhism / Iain Sinclair.

This compelling volume explores how war magic and warrior religion unleash the power of the gods, demons, ghosts, and the dead. Documenting war magic and warrior religion as they are performed in diverse cultures and across historical time periods, this volume foregrounds embodiment, practice, and performance in anthropological approaches to magic, sorcery, shamanism, and religion. The authors go beyond what magic 'represents' to consider what magic does. From Chinese exorcists, Javanese spirit siblings, and black magic in Sumatra to Tamil Tiger suicide bombers, Chamorro spiritual re-enchantment, tantric Buddhist war magic, and Yanomami dark shamans, religion and magic are re-evaluated not just from the practitioner's perspective but through the victim's lived experience. These original investigations reveal a nuanced approach to understanding social action, innovation, and the revitalization of tradition in colonial and post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social transformation