In her fascinating book, Material Acts in Everyday Hindu Worlds (SUNY Press, 2020), Joyce Flueckiger analyzes the agency of materiality, that is, the ability of materials to have effect beyond what was intended.
This ethnographic journey across three Indian locales examines the agency of various materials – from ornaments, to female guising, to cement images.
This book not only delivers deep insight into the Hindu world, but broadens our understanding of the role of material agency within the study of religion.
This book is available open access here.
Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger is Professor of Religion at Emory University
For information about your host Raj Balkaran’s background, see https://www.rajbalkaran.com/scholarship
