Abstract

MEYER, Birgit. Frontier Zones and the Study of Religion. J. Study Relig. [online]. 2018, vol.31, n.2, pp.57-78. ISSN 2413-3027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2018/v31n2a3.

This article focuses on the concept of the frontier zone as a central critical term in Chidester's oeuvre. Understood as a site where difference is articulated, encountered, and governed, the frontier zone is a productive, insight-generating notion. Its usefulness pertains not only to the study of colonial settings in which scholarly knowledge about religion in Africa took shape via the introduction of religion as a category, but also to the study of religious plurality in contemporary European cities, which is here proposed to approach as new postcolonial frontier zones.

Keywords : David Chidester; frontier zone; anthropology and religious studies; plurality; translation; materiality; surrealism.

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