Swift, Philip;
(2021)
Bodies in place: the transformative atmospherics of lightscapes in Mahikari.
Asian Anthropology
, 20
(3)
pp. 173-189.
10.1080/1683478x.2021.1903134.
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Abstract
Practice centers (dojos) in the Japanese new religion Mahikari are perceived to be spaces suffused with divine light. This article examines this understanding in terms of the enactment of a particular kind of atmosphere – a lightscape – which is deemed to be capable of automatically producing transformative effects. As a key ethnographic example of this idea of atmospheric effects, I consider the case of the primary training course, participation in which is the means of entry into Mahikari. Although the course itself appears to be didactic in design, I suggest that, as an event, a different dynamic is at work, in which the major aim is less about the transmission of information than it is about the elicitation of transformation, a change which is understood to be largely a consequence of the atmospheric conditions in the dojo.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Bodies in place: the transformative atmospherics of lightscapes in Mahikari |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1080/1683478x.2021.1903134 |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1683478x.2021.1903134 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | Mahikari, atmosphere, transformation, religion, conversion |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198821 |
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