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7. Cultural Transformations

Afro-Asian cultural traditions: persistence, change

African religious ideas and practices accompanied slaves to Americas

common African forms of religion revelation found place in Africanized versions of Christianity emerging in New World

divination

dream interpretation

visions

spirit possession

Europeans frequently suppressed them

perceived as sorcery, witchcraft, devil worship

syncretic (blended) religions persisted

examples

Vodou in Haiti

Santeria in Cuba

Candomblé and Macumba in Brazil

derived from various West African traditions

drumming

ritual dancing

animal sacrifice

spirit possession

over time: incorporated Christian beliefs and practices

church attendance

search for salvation

use of candles and crucifixes

often identified various spirits/deities with Catholic saints

Islamic world: expansion and renewal

continuation of “long march of Islam” across Afro-Asian World

expansion of Islamic frontier extended farther still

sub-Saharan Africa

eastern and western India

Central and Southeast Asia

conversion did not generally mean sudden abandonment of old religious practices

“assimilating Islamic rituals, cosmologies, and literatures into...local religious systems”

Expansion

not product of conquering armies, expanding empires

depended on wandering Muslim holy men or Sufis, Islamic scholars, itinerant traders

did not pose threats to local rulers

often useful to rulers and village communities

offered literacy in Arabic

established informal schools

provided protective charms with passages from the Quran

served as advisors to local authorities

were healers to the sick

often intermarried with local people

did not insist that new converts give up older practices

offered connection to wider, prestigious, prosperous world of Islam

extended modestly even to Americas

particularly Brazil: Muslims led number of slave revolts in early 19th

Southeast Asia

islands illustrate diversity of belief and practice that accompanied spread of Islam in early modern era

17th, Aceh (Muslim sultanate on northern tip of Sumatra)

authorities sought to enforce dietary codes and almsgiving practices of Islamic law

after four successive women ruled area in late 17th, women forbidden from having political power

Muslim Java: more power to women

numerous women served in royal courts

women throughout Indonesia continued longtime role as buyers and sellers in local markets

among ordinary Javanese: traditional animistic practices of spirit worship coexisted easily with a tolerant and accommodating Islam

merchants often embraced more orthodox version in line with Middle Eastern traditions

Religious tensions

religious syncretism became increasingly offensive, even heretical to orthodox Muslims

view was important role in movements of religious renewal and reform

sharply criticized practices that departed from earlier patterns established by Muhammad and authority of Quran

India (Muslim Mughal Empire): religious resistance to official policies that accommodated Hindus found concrete expressing during Aurangzeb’s reign (r. 1658-1707)

West Africa: series of religious wars in 18th and early 19th took aim at corrupt Islamic practices and rulers (both Muslim and non-Muslim) who permitted them

Southeast and Central Asia: tensions grew between practitioners of localized and blended Islam and those who sought to purify such practices for more authentic and universal faith

Wahhabi Islam

most well-known and widely visible Islamic renewal movement

mid-18th, Arabia

Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab

Islamic scholar (1703-1792)

growing difficulties of Islamic world (e.g. weakening of Ottoman Empire) directly related to deviations from pure faith of early Islam

particularly upset by common religious practices in central Asia that seemed like idolatry

widespread veneration of Sufi saints and their tombs

adoration of natural sites

respect paid to Muhammad’s tomb at Medina

dilution of absolute monotheism of authentic Islam

Muhammad Ibn Saud

new turn of Wahhabi movement (1740s)

local ruler who found al-Wahhab’s ideas compelling

religious movement became expansive state

offending tombs were razed

“idols” were eliminated

books on logic were destroyed

tobacco, hasish, musical instruments were forbidden

certain taxes not authorized by religious teachings were abolished

Women

long been identified with sharp restrictions on women

al-Wahhab generally emphasized rights of women within patriarchal Islamic framework

right to consent to and stipulate conditions for marriage

contry dowry

divorce

engage in commerce

such rights (long embedded in Islamic law) apparently forgotten or ignored in 18th-century Arabia

did not insist on head-to-toe covering of women in public

allowed for mixing of unrelated men and women for business or medical purposes

State

by early 19th: much of central Arabia

Mecca under Wahhabi control in 1803

Egyptian army broke power of Wahhabis in 1818

influence continued to spread across Islamic world

signaled continuing cultural vitality of Islamic world even as European presence assumed larger dimensions

China: new directions in an old tradition

China during Ming/Qing operated broadly within Confucian framework

now enriched by insights of Buddhism and Daoism

new system of thought: Neo-Confucianism

Ming, Qing rulers embraced and supported this tradition

Ming: aversion to foreign, despised Mongols; native Confucian tradition

Qing: foreign; woo Chinese intellectuals to support new dynasty

considerable amount of controversy, debate, new thinking emerged

Neo-Confucian ideas

Wang Yangming

thinker during late Ming times (1472-1529)

argued that “intuitive moral knowledge exists in people...even robbers know what they should not rob”

anyone could achieve virtuous life by introspection and contemplation

did not need extended education, study of classical texts, constant striving for improvement like traditional Confucianism

prominent idea among Confucian scholars in early 16th

Ming dynasty retained and expanded civil service system to include Neo-Confucian interpretations and orthodoxy

critics contended such thinking promoted excessive individualism

Wang Yangming’s ideas had undermined Ming dynasty, contributed to China’s conquest by foreign Manchus

some Chinese Buddhists sought to make their religion more accessible to ordinary people

suggested that laypeople at home could undertake practices similar to those performed by monks in monasteries

withdrawal from world not necessary for enlightenment

similar to Martin Luther (do not need priestly hierarchy)

Kaozheng movement

new movement in Chinese elite culture

“research based on evidence”; intended to “seek truth from facts”

critical of unfounded speculation of conventional Confucian philosophy

emphasized importance of verification, precision, accuracy, rigorous analysis

late Ming: generated works dealing with

agriculture

medicine

pharmacology

botany

craft techniques

Qing: associated with recovery and critical analysis of ancient historical documents

sometimes led to sharp criticism of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy

genuinely scientific approach to knowledge

applied more to study of the past

less on natural world of astronomy, physics, anatomy (focus in West)

Cities

lively popular culture among less educated

diversion and entertainment that were a step up from what could be found in teahouses and wineshops

plays

paintings

short stories

novels (especially)

“how-to” painting manuals allowed more people to learn to paint

vigorous printing industry

growing demand for exciting novels

despite Confucian scholars disdaining popular fiction

most famous: The Dream of the Red Chamber

Cao Xueqin, mid-18th

120 chapters, 400 characters (mostly women)

social life of 18th-century elite family with connections to Chinese court

India: bridging the Hindu/Muslim divide

largely Hindu India ruled by Muslim Mughal Empire

elite culture:

Mughal ruler Akbar formed state cult⁠

combining elements of Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism

Mughal court embraced Renaissance Christian art

murals with Jesus, Mary, Christian saints on walls of palaces, garden pavilions, etc.

court commissioned prominent Sufi spiritual master to compose illustrated book describing various Hindu yoga postures

Ocean of Life

intended to bring yoga into Islamic Sufi practices

portrayed some yogis in Christ-like fashion

Bhakti movement

devotional form of Hinduism

bridged gulf separating Hindu and Muslim

sought to achieve union with one or another of India’s many deities

song

prayer

dances

poetry

rituals

avenue for social criticism

appealed especially to women

set aside caste distinctions

disregarded detailed rituals of Brahmin priests

emphasis on personal religious experience

much in common with Sufi Islam

mythical, direct experience with Divine

helped blur distinction between Hinduism and Islam in India

both bhaktis and Sufis honored spiritual sages and all those seeking after God

Mirabai

among most beloved of bhakti poets

1498-1547

high-caste women from northern India

abandoned upper-class family and conventional Hindu practice

declined to perform sati (burning self on husband’s funeral pyre)

offended caste restrictions by taking an old untouchable shoemaker as her guru (religious teachers)

apparently tied saris together and climbed down castle walls at night to visit him

washed his aged feet, drink the water from it

her poetry deals with her yearning for union with Krishna (Hindu deity) whom she regarded as her husband, lover, and lord

Sikhism

new, distinctive religious tradition

Punjab region of northern India

founder: Guru Nanak (1469-1539)

involved in bhakti movement but came to believe that “there is no Hindu; there is no Muslim; only God”

generally ignored caste distinctions and untouchability

ended seclusion of women

“brotherhood of all mankind”

essential equality of men and women

drew converts from Punjabi peasants and merchants, Muslims and Hindus

gradually became separate religious community

developed own sacred book: Guru Granth (teacher book)

created central place of worship, pilgrimage in Golden Temple of Amritsar

prescribed certain dress requirements for men

keeping hair and beards uncut

wearing a turban

carrying a short sword

17th: encountered hostility from Mughal Empire and some of its Hindu neighbors

evolved from peaceful religious movement blending Hindu and Muslim elements

became militant community

military skills highly valued by British when they took over India in late 18th