Bibliography: leaves [384]-441. / This thesis provides the first narrative of a history of Buddhism in South Africa. In the absence of any coherent analysis, it thus seeks to expose an historical lacuna in the study of religions in the region and to redress an academic aphasia that appears preeminent in recent "authoritative" pronouncements. It suggests, in fact, that Buddhism was both present in the histories of religious pluralism and pervasive among the contours of a geography of religious diversity in South Africa since at least the 1680s. In so doing, the thesis further attempts to make the apparent "strangeness" of Buddhism in South Africa appear more familiar, and the familiar, quotidian history of religions in the region appear unconventional or exceptional. Consequently, the thesis also asks how the presence of Buddhism outside of a "normative" Asian origin can help to redefine the meaning of Buddhism and how the presence of Buddhism in South Africa, can help to refine the meaning of religion. However, in drawing on published materials, travelogues, archives, correspondence, interviews, and fieldwork, the primary assertion of the thesis is one that traces how, in that history, Buddhism was initially inscribed according to a textual imagination that was conditioned by articles and artifacts, and how that tradition was subsequently reinvented in the context of innovative, localized practice to create a living religion in the region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/13866 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Wratten, Darrel |
| Contributors | Chidester, David |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Religious Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | application/pdf |
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