Vernacular Knowledge: Contesting Authority, Expressing Beliefs

Vernacular knowledge is a realm of discourses and beliefs that challenge institutional authorities and official truths, transmitted through multiple communication strategies and covering various realms of the supernatural. It operates in creative tension with institutional forms of religion, secularism, state-sponsored atheism, and scientific rationalism, challenging the homogeneity of dominant discourses and the hegemony of institutionalised authorities.

Format: Hardback
Length: 434 pages
Publication date: 03 October 2022
Publisher: Equinox Publishing Ltd

Vernacular knowledge encompasses a rich tapestry of discourses and beliefs that boldly challenge the established authorities and official truths, defying regulations and evading monolithic expressions of the status quo. In stark contrast to the monolithic "truths" of religious or secular traditions, vernacular knowledge is characterized by its dynamic, fluid, ambivalent, and often controversial nature. It manifests in diverse forms and embraces alternatives, emerging across culturally, religiously, geographically, politically, and socially varied contexts. Vernacular Knowledge delves into the heteroglot expressions of knowledge revealed through various genres, including traditional tales, personal experience narratives, rumors, jokes, alternative histories, material culture, placelore, and ritual. This knowledge is transmitted through various communication strategies, including face-to-face interactions, social media platforms, online forums, publications, and more. While it is shared and shaped communally, each individual articulates and actualizes vernacular knowledge in their unique way. Vernacular knowledge extends to realms of the supernatural, encompassing concepts such as ghosts, saints, spirits, magic, energy lines, and divination. It underpins beliefs and assertions that challenge prevailing wisdom, including conspiracy theories, critiques of politically and ideologically determined creeds, and other socially compelling ideas that undermine established narratives. Vernacular religion operates in a creative tension with not only institutional forms of religion but also secularism, state-sponsored atheism, and scientific rationalism. Both vernacular knowledge and vernacular religion consistently challenge the homogeneity of dominant discourses and the hegemony of institutionalized authorities in a multitude of contexts. This volume is dedicated to Leonard Norman Primiano (1957–2021), a visionary scholar who made significant contributions to the study of vernacular knowledge and religion.

Dimension: 234 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781781792360