Skip to navigation Skip to content
HFS Books
  • About HFS
    • Contact HFS
  • How to Order
    • Exam/Desk Copy Information
    • Ebook Information
    • Wholesale Information
    • Sales Representation
  • Privacy
  • View Cart
  • Our Publishers
    • Catholic University of America Press
    • Central European University Press
    • Family Development Press
    • Georgetown University Press
    • Johns Hopkins University Press
    • The Maryland Center for History and Culture
    • Modern Language Association
    • Mount Sinai Health System
    • Northeastern University Press
    • University of Alberta Press
    • University of New Orleans Press
    • University of South Carolina Press
    • University of Washington Press
    • University Press of Kentucky
    • Wesleyan University Press
  • Our Catalog
    • Browse Titles
    • Browse Contributors
    • Browse Publishers
    • Browse Series
    • Browse Subjects
  • Special Collections
    • Dance
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • History
    • Languages
    • Literary Criticism
    • Poetry
    • Political Science
    • Regional Titles
    • Religion
    • Women
  • Recent Titles
  • Forthcoming Titles
  • Our Publishers
  • Our Catalog
  • Special Collections
  • Bestsellers
  • Recent Titles
  • Forthcoming Titles
  • Contact HFS
  • Privacy
  • View Cart

9780295990682 : religious-revival-in-the-tibetan-borderlands-wellens
Hardback
288 Pages
$99.00 USD
Add to Cart
9780295990699 : religious-revival-in-the-tibetan-borderlands-wellens
Paperback / softback
288 Pages
$30.00 USD
Add to Cart
Paperback / softback
November 16, 2010
9780295990699
English
288
14 illus.
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
1.1 Pounds (US)
$30.00 USD
v2.1 Reference
Hardback
November 19, 2010
9780295990682
English
288
14 illus.
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
1.35 Pounds (US)
$99.00 USD, £72.00 GBP
v2.1 Reference

Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands

The Premi of Southwest China

By Koen Wellens
University of Washington Press
Revival of religious practices of all sorts in China, after decades of systematic government suppression, is a topic of considerable interest to scholars in disciplines ranging from religious studies to anthropology to political science. This book examines contemporary religious practices among the Premi people of the Sichuan-Yunnan-Tibet area, a group of about 60,000 who speak a language belonging to the Qiang branch of Tibeto-Burman. Koen Wellens's ethnographic research in two Premi communities on opposite sides of the border, and his analysis of available historical documents, find multiple advocates and rationales for the revival of both formal Tibetan Buddhism and the indigenous Premi practices centered on ritual specialists called anji.

Wellens argues that the variety in the shape the revitalization process takes-as it affects Premi on the Sichuan side of the border and their counterparts on the Yunnan side-can only be understood in a local cultural context. This full-length study of the Premi, the first in a language other than Chinese, makes a valuable contribution to our ethnographic knowledge of Southwest China, as well as to our understanding of contemporary Chinese religious and cultural politics.

About the Author

Koen Wellens is a researcher in the China Program of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo.

Reviews

"Koen Wellens' deeply serious book on the Premi clearly is a marvelous contribution to the study of precisely these wider issues of how people on the margins of civilizations negotiate their forced incorporation into imposing state machineries . . ."—Magnus Fiskesjo, Anthropos, Vol. 107 2012

"This is the work that anthropologists of southwest China have been looking forward to. . . . [It] fills in the ethnogaphic gap of English -speaking anthropology on the Tibetan-Yi corridor . . . is full of insightful observations that only intensive fieldwork can render."—Liang Yongjia, Asian Ethnology

"Wellens is to be commended for the detailed and grounded manner in which he reveals the complexities of the historical, linguistic, and ethnic makeup of the Tibetan borderlands and the care with which he documents Premi culture."—Gerald Roche, China Review International, Vol. 17(3), 2010

"The author . . . convincingly reminds readers that Muli's ordinary people have successfully adapted external religious doctrines to their own syncretic practices and rituals, despite the state's hegemonic classifications in an invincible worldly system."—Shao-Hua Liu, Pacific Affairs, March 2012

". . . a fine ethnographic example of 'thick description' . . . [T]his balanced and thoughtful piece of scholarship . . . gives fascinating insights into the role of certain social actors in several Premi villages and of the social complexities in play between ritual, religion, ethnicity and the power of China's nationality politics."—Mona Schrempf, Journal of Asian Studies, November 2011

Endorsements

"A much—welcomed book on the topic of religious revival in reform—era China and on the Premi people, as well as on the broader themes of identity politics and the politics of incorporation."—Adam Yuet Chau, University of Cambridge
University of Washington Press
Studies on Ethnic Groups in China
  • SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social (291 Titles)
  • Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies (507 Titles)

Paperback / softback
November 16, 2010
9780295990699
English
288
14 illus.
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
1.1 Pounds (US)
$30.00 USD
v2.1 Reference
Hardback
November 19, 2010
9780295990682
English
288
14 illus.
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
1.35 Pounds (US)
$99.00 USD, £72.00 GBP
v2.1 Reference
9780295990682 : religious-revival-in-the-tibetan-borderlands-wellens
Hardback
288 Pages
$99.00 USD
Add to Cart
9780295990699 : religious-revival-in-the-tibetan-borderlands-wellens
Paperback / softback
288 Pages
$30.00 USD
Add to Cart

Other Titles from Studies on Ethnic Groups in China

9780295749822 : pure-and-true-stroup-harrell

Pure and True

The Everyday Politics of Ethnicity for China's Hui Muslims
David R. Stroup, series edited by Stevan Harrell
Mar 2022 - University of Washington Press
$99.00 USD - Hardback
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback
9780295748184 : exile-from-the-grasslands-pta-kova-harrell

Exile from the Grasslands

Tibetan Herders and Chinese Development Projects
Jarmila Ptáčková, series edited byStevan Harrell
Dec 2020 - University of Washington Press
$99.00 USD - Hardback
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback
9780295745688 : the-nuosu-book-of-origins-bender-luo-zopqu

The Nuosu Book of Origins

A Creation Epic from Southwest China
translated by Mark Bender, Qingchun Luo, with Jjivot Zopqu, series edited byStevan Harrell
Jun 2019 - University of Washington Press
$99.00 USD - Hardback
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback
See All 26 Titles from Studies on Ethnic Groups in China

Other Titles in SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social

9780813182919 : so-wise-were-our-elders-mcdowell

"So Wise Were Our Elders"

Mythic Narratives from the Kamsá
John Holmes McDowell
Mar 2025 - University Press of Kentucky
$30.00 USD - Paperback / softback
$12.95 USD - Electronic book text
9780819500090 : musical-resilience-ayyagari

Musical Resilience

Performing Patronage in the Indian Thar Desert
Shalini R. Ayyagari
Nov 2022 - Wesleyan University Press
$95.00 USD - Hardback
$26.95 USD - Paperback / softback
9786162151866 : community-movements-in-southeast-asia-nishii-tanabe

Community Movements in Southeast Asia

An Anthropological Perspective of Assemblages
edited by Ryoko Nishii, Shigeharu Tanabe
Sep 2022 - Silkworm Books
$35.00 USD - Paperback / softback
See All 291 Titles in SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social

Other Titles in Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies

9780295751122 : picture-bride-uchida-creef

Picture Bride

A Novel
Yoshiko Uchida, foreword by Elena Tajima Creef
Sep 2022 - University of Washington Press
$19.95 USD - Paperback / softback
9780295749693 : signs-of-home-johns-sumida

Signs of Home

The Paintings and Wartime Diary of Kamekichi Tokita
Barbara Johns, foreword by Stephen H. Sumida
Aug 2021 - University of Washington Press
$34.95 USD - Paperback / softback
$49.95 USD - Hardback
9780295748542 : art-of-the-northwest-coast-2nd-edition-jonaitis

Art of the Northwest Coast, second edition

Aldona Jonaitis
Jun 2021 - University of Washington Press
$99.00 USD - Hardback
$29.95 USD - Paperback / softback
See All 507 Titles in Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies


Post navigation

Previous post: Understanding Colum Mccann
Next post: Modern Gestures
Popular Subjects
  • ARCHITECTURE
    • General
    • Design, Drafting & Presentation
    • History of Architecture
    • Landscape
    • Urban & Land Use Planning
    • more…
  • ART
    • American
    • Asian
    • Australian & Oceanian
    • Art History
    • Individual Artists
    • Native American
    • more…
  • BIOGRAPHY
    • Historical
    • Literary Figures
    • Memoirs
    • Performing Arts
    • Political
    • Women
    • more…
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
    • Corporate & Business History
    • Economic Development
    • Economic History
    • Government & Business
    • Labor
    • more…
  • EDUCATION
    • Higher
    • Education History
    • Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects
    • Policy & Reform
    • more…
  • FICTION
    • Historical
    • Literary
    • Science Fiction
    • Short Stories
    • Women
    • more…
  • FOREIGN LANGUAGES
    • Arabic
    • French
    • Spanish
    • more…
  • HEALTH & FITNESS
    • Alzheimer’s & Dementia
    • Cancer
    • Children’s Health
    • Healthy Living
    • Women’s Health
    • more…
  • HISTORY
    • Africa
    • Ancient
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • Social History
    • United States
    • more…
  • LANGUAGE ARTS
    • Journalism
    • Linguistics
    • Rhetoric
    • Study & Teaching
    • more…
  • LAW
    • General
    • Criminal Law
    • Jurisprudence
    • Legal History
    • more…
  • LITERARY CRITICISM
    • American
    • Ancient & Classical
    • European
    • Poetry
    • Semiotics & Theory
    • Women Authors
    • more…
  • MEDICAL
    • Caregiving
    • Ethics
    • Genetics
    • Health Policy
    • Medical History
    • Public Health
    • more…
  • MUSIC
    • Classical
    • Country & Bluegrass
    • Ethnomusicology
    • Folk & Traditional
    • History & Criticism
    • Jazz
    • Opera
    • more…
  • PERFORMING ARTS
    • Dance
    • Film
    • History & Criticism
    • Individual Director
    • Theater
    • more…
  • PHILOSOPHY
    • Ancient & Classical
    • Ethics
    • Individual Philosophers
    • Medieval
    • Modern
    • Political
    • more…
  • POETRY
    • African American
    • American
    • Anthologies
    • Canadian
    • English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
    • European
    • more…
  • POLITICAL SCIENCE
    • American Government
    • Comparative Politics
    • History & Theory
    • International Relations
    • Public Policy
    • Security
    • more…
  • PSYCHOLOGY
    • General
    • Mental Health
    • Psychoanalysis
    • more…
  • RELIGION
    • Catholicism
    • Church History
    • Christian Theology
    • Islam
    • Religion, Politics & State
    • more…
  • SCIENCE
    • Biology
    • Ecology
    • History of Science
    • Natural History
    • Physics
    • more…
  • SOCIAL SCIENCE
    • African American Studies
    • Cultural & Social Anthropology
    • Asian American Studies
    • Native American Studies
    • Sociology
    • Women’s Studies
    • more…
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • Aeronautics
    • Agriculture
    • History of Technology
    • Military Science
    • more…

© HFS Books 2021

ONIX-enabled by BiblioMeta