{"product_id":"sacred-groves-and-local-gods-religion-and-environmentalism-in-south-india-9780199895489","title":"Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South India","description":"In recent years, India's sacred groves, small forests or stands of trees set aside for a deity's exclusive use, have attracted the attention of NGOs, botanists, specialists in traditional medicine, and anthropologists. Environmentalists disillusioned by the failures of massive\u003cbr\u003estate-sponsored solutions to ecological problems have hailed them as an exemplary form of traditional community resource management. For in spite of pressures to utilize their trees for fodder, housing, and firewood, the religious taboos surrounding sacred groves have led to the conservation of\u003cbr\u003epockets of abundant flora in areas otherwise denuded by deforestation. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu over seven years, Eliza F. Kent offers a compelling examination of the religious and social context in which sacred groves take on meaning for the\u003cbr\u003evillagers who maintain them, and shows how they have become objects of fascination and hope for Indian environmentalists. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eSacred Groves and Local Gods\u003c\/em\u003e traces a journey through Tamil Nadu, exploring how the localized meanings attached to forested shrines are changing under the impact of globalization and economic liberalization. Confounding simplistic representations of sacred groves as sites of a primitive form of\u003cbr\u003enature worship, the book shows how local practices and beliefs regarding sacred groves are at once more imaginative, dynamic, and pragmatic than previously thought. Kent argues that rather than being ancient in origin, as has been asserted by other scholars, the religious beliefs, practices, and\u003cbr\u003eiconography found in sacred groves suggest origins in the politically de-centered eighteenth century, when the Tamil country was effectively ruled by local chieftains. She analyzes two projects undertaken by environmentalists that seek to harness the traditions surrounding sacred groves in the\u003cbr\u003eservice of forest restoration and environmental education.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Eliza F. Kent\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/23\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780199895489\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEliza F. Kent\u003c\/strong\u003e is Associate Professor of Religion at Colgate University and the author of \u003cem\u003eConverting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India \u003c\/em\u003e(2004).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40455050788979,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":91.42,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_cb600484-df4e-4631-9059-4a46ad08e86d.jpg?v=1663679594","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/sacred-groves-and-local-gods-religion-and-environmentalism-in-south-india-9780199895489","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}