Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism

<p>Syncretism - the synthesis of different religious - is a contentious word. Some regard it as a pejorative term referring to local versions of notionally standard `world religions' which are deemed `inauthentic' because saturated with indigenous content. Syncretic versions of Christianity do not conform to `official' (read `European') models. In other contexts however the syncretic amalgamation of religions may be validated as a mode of resistance to colonial hegemony a sign of cultural survival or as a means of authorising political dominance in a multicultural state. <br> In <em>Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism</em> the contributors explore the issues of agency and power which are integral to the very process of syncretism and to the competing discourses surrounding the term.</p>