Adam Possamai | |
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Born | 1970 (age 52–53) Belgium |
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Institutions | Western Sydney University School of Social Sciences and Psychology |
Adam Possamai FASSA is a sociologist and novelist born in Belgium and living in Australia. Possamai is professor in sociology and the Deputy Dean (research and international) in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia. [1] He is the former Director of the Religion and Society Research Centre (RSRC) [2] He is married to Alphia Possamai-Inesedy, [3] and lives in the south-western suburbs of Sydney with his family.
Possamai is the former President of the Australian Association for the Study of Religions. [4] He was the 2002-2007 co-editor of the Australian Religion Studies Review [5] and is the former President of the sociology of religion section (RC22) of the International Sociological Association (2010-2014). [6]
At present[ when? ] Possamai is researching the interrelation between migrants and New Religious Movements, the implications of consumer and popular culture on religion, law and religion, popular religion in late modernity, Muslim indigenous populations and Sydney as a post-secular city.
Possamai's undergraduate studies in sociology were undertaken at the University of Leuven, Belgium, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons). The topic of his undergraduate thesis was the Theosophical Society. He also obtained a Graduate Diploma of Education from the University of Leuven. He obtained his PhD from La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia, with a dissertation on New Age spirituality. His dissertation won the Jean Martin Award for the best PhD. in sociology in Australia (1998–1999). [7]
Possamai began his teaching career as a tutor at La Trobe University (1995–1998), and then in 1999 received an appointment as lecturer in sociology at the University of Western Sydney. In addition to teaching introductory courses in Sociology, he has also taught courses in the sociology of religion, sociology of migration, sociological theory, sociology of power and deviance, and the philosophy of social sciences. Perles Noires, his first book of fiction, was listed as one of the favourite books by the public libraries in Paris in 2006. [8] He has also recently published the science fiction novel Le XXIe siècle de Dickerson et Ferra. [9]
He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2023. [10]
Year | Non-fiction |
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2005 | In Search of New Age Spiritualities. (Ashgate). [11] |
2005 | Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament, (Peter Lang). [12] |
2009 | Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y. (London: Equinox). [13] |
2010 | Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach with James M. Henslin and Alphia Possamai-Inesedy. [14] (Pearson Education) [15] |
2011 | Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology with Jack Barbalet and Bryan S. Turner. (Anthem Press) [16] |
2012 | Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions. (Brill Publishers) [17] |
2013 | Religious Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Making of Religious Identities with Helena Onnudottir and Bryan S. Turner. (Ashgate Publishing) [18] |
2013 | Legal pluralism and Shari'a law, with Jim T. Richardson and Bryan S. Turner. (Oxford, Routledge). [19] |
2015 | The Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from around the World with James T. Richardson and Bryan S. Turner. (Springer Publishing) [20] |
2016 | Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples with James L. Cox. (Routledge) [21] |
2017 | Religions, Nations and Transnationalism in Multiple Modernities with Patrick Michel and Bryan S. Turner. (Palgrave McMillan) [22] |
2018 | Sociology of Exorcism in Late Modernity with Giuseppe Giordan. (Palgrave McMillan) [23] |
2018 | The I-zation of Society, Religion, and Neoliberal Post-Secularism. (Palgrave McMillan) [24] |
2020 | The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion with Anthony J. Blasi. (SAGE) [25] |
2020 | The Social Scientific Study of Exorcism in Christianity with Giuseppe Giordan. (Springer International Publishing) [26] |
Professor Possamai is also the author and co-author of many chapters in edited books, and articles in referenced journals. [27] |
Year | Fiction |
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2006 | Perles Noires. (France: Nuit d'Avril). [28] |
2012 | Le XXIe siècle de Dickerson et Ferra. (Asgard éditions) [29] |
2015 | Le Crépuscule de Torquemada. (Riviere Blanche Publisher) [30] |
2017 | L’histoire extraordinaire de Baudelaire. (Riviere Blanche Publisher) [31] |
2018 | La réflexion de Borgia (Tome 2 de la série, Les possédés de la Renaissance). (Riviere Blanche Publisher) [32] |
A large portion of Possamai's published work is premised on a neo-Weberian approach to the sociology of religion and popular culture. His contributions to the study of religion and popular culture are being acclaimed as significant works. [33] In exploring the manner in which the internet has become a source of religious inspiration (as well as a forum for religious expression), Possamai has discussed the emergence of what he dubs "hyper-real religions". This is an entirely new theoretical framework for conceptualising consumerism in religion in the context of globalization. [34] He detects a synergy between various stories and icons of popular culture and the role of the individual to create a new religious message. Possamai explores the intersection between late modernity and spirituality, noting the emphasis on the authority of the self replacing external forms of conventional religious authority (such as authority vested in imams, priests and rabbis, or in communally interpreted sacred texts). Hyper-real religions constitute new forms of spirituality where traditional and modern religious ideas are consumed and projected into completely reconstructed forms. Examples cited by Possamai include the Church of All Worlds, the Church of Satan, and Jedi religion (Jediism, see also Jedi census phenomenon). Carole Cusack in her book Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith stated that "Adam Possamai,... to date is the only sociologist of religion (indeed the only scholar) to examine it [Jediism] in any detail prior to this study" (p 124). [35] His work also considers the complex interplay between fundamentalist Christian groups that resist the synergy between popular culture and religion (as in the phenomenon of Harry Potter, fantasy-role playing games), and yet reappropriate aspects of pop culture to promote fundamentalism. [36]
The second area of scholarly innovation is found in Possamai's work on New Age spirituality. On the basis of both field research in alternative spirituality festivals and new theoretical approaches, Possamai has contested the scholarly status quo in the interpretation and classification of New Age spirituality. His field research demonstrates that very few practitioners of what scholars call New Age, actually accept the term. He argues that the term New Age is imprecise and the previous scholarly conceptualisations of New Age are either limited or misleading. In his new schema, New Age spirituality is but one facet of a much wider cultural phenomenon that he has dubbed a perennist spirituality. It follows that by culturally consuming selected practices, myths, and teachings from pre-modern times, and then reframing them for the contemporary scene, seekers aspire to personal transformation and perhaps resolving global woes.
At the heart of this conceptualisation of reality lies a commitment to what Possamai has dubbed "perennism", the notion that a holistic understanding of truth is accessible in esoteric wisdom or gnosis that is unfettered by the dogmas of the world's religions. According to Possamai, the key features of perennism are that in this syncretic spirituality the cosmos is interpreted as a monistic reality, which partakes of a single unifying being, or principle, and all parts of the cosmos are inter-related to this ultimate reality. Those who participate in this spirituality are engaged in self-development to attain their potential, and they pursue spiritual knowledge of both self and ultimate reality. [37]
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or they can be part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges which the modernizing world poses to them by embracing individualism, while other NRMs deal with them by embracing tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs number in the tens of thousands worldwide. Most NRMs only have a few members, some of them have thousands of members, and a few of them have more than a million members.
Joseph Gelfer is a British author and academic. He is noted for his academic analysis of spiritual and religious topics and masculinity. His book 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse attracted considerable media attention.
In some national population censuses which include a question on religious identity, media report numerous respondents giving their religion as Jedi after the quasi-religious order in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. While a few individuals claim to practise Jediism sincerely, the answer can be also a joke or a protest against the religion question. While giving false information on a census form is often illegal, any religion question is sometimes an exception; in any case, prosecutions are rare. The Jedi census phenomenon sprang from a 2001 urban legend spread by chain email prior to the separate censuses that year in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The email asserted that any religion passing a minimum threshold would be entitled to some form of official recognition. Other reasons proffered include "do it because you love Star Wars" or "just to annoy people". The 2001 censuses recorded Jedi as 1.5% of New Zealanders, 0.37% of Australians, and 0.8% of Britons. Later censuses there and elsewhere have recorded smaller proportions. In some cases any "Jedi" responses are collected under "other" rather than reported separately.
Thomas Luckmann was an American-Austrian sociologist of German and Slovene origin who taught mainly in Germany. Born in Jesenice, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Luckmann studied philosophy and linguistics at the University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck. He married Benita Petkevic in 1950. His contributions were central to studies in sociology of communication, sociology of knowledge, sociology of religion, and the philosophy of science. His best-known titles are the 1966 book, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, The Invisible Religion (1967), and The Structures of the Life-World (1973)
Religions are represented on the Internet in many ways. There are sites which attempt to cover all religions, traditions, and faiths, such as Patheos, Religious Tolerance, and Beliefnet. There are also sites that are specific to a religious tradition. Many sites are discussion groups, others host theological debates, and some provide advice concerning religious doctrine. Some sites aim to provide a religious experience facilitating prayer, meditation, or virtual pilgrimages. People also leverage search engines to investigate aspects of religion. Some religious websites are translated into several languages. For example, JW.ORG features content in over 1,000 languages.
Paul Lauchlan Faux Heelas is a British sociologist and anthropologist. He is noted for work in the field of spirituality, religion and modernity, with special reference to 'New Age' spiritualities of life. Recent publications and current research explore 'the sacred' and 'the secular'; transgressions of the secular ; 'life force', CAM, and 'spiritual humanism'.
The academic study of new religious movements is known as new religions studies (NRS). The study draws from the disciplines of anthropology, psychiatry, history, psychology, sociology, religious studies, and theology. Eileen Barker noted that there are five sources of information on new religious movements (NRMs): the information provided by such groups themselves, that provided by ex-members as well as the friends and relatives of members, organizations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena.
Matrixism, or The Path of the One, is a purported religion inspired by Lana & Lilly Wachowski's The Matrix film series. Conceived by an anonymous group in the summer of 2004, it claimed to have attracted 300 members by May 2005, and the religion's Geocities website claimed "over sixteen hundred members". There was some debate about whether followers of Matrixism are indeed serious about their practice; however, the religion received some attention in the media.
Christopher Hugh Partridge is an author, editor, professor at Lancaster University, and founding Co-director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Popular Culture. According to Gordon Lynch, Partridge is a leading scholar of topics in popular culture.
Jediism is a philosophy, and, in some cases, a tongue-in-cheek joke religion, mainly based on the depiction of the Jedi characters in Star Wars media. Jediism attracted public attention in 2001 when a number of people recorded their religion as "Jedi" on national censuses.
Religious values reflect the beliefs and practices which a religious adherent partakes in. Most values originate from sacred texts of each respective religion. They can also originate from members of the religion.
Rachael Kohn is a Canadian-born Australian author and broadcaster who from July 1992 to December 2018 produced and presented programs on religion and spirituality for ABC Radio National, including The Religion Report, Religion Today, The Ark and, principally, The Spirit of Things from 1997 to December 2018. Kohn retired from the ABC in December 2018.
Postmodern religion is any type of religion that is influenced by postmodernism and postmodern philosophies. Examples of religions that may be interpreted using postmodern philosophy include Postmodern Christianity, Postmodern Neopaganism, and Postmodern Buddhism. Postmodern religion is not an attempt to banish religion from the public sphere; rather, it is a philosophical approach to religion that critically considers orthodox assumptions. Postmodern religious systems of thought view realities as plural, subjective, and dependent on the individual's worldview. Postmodern interpretations of religion acknowledge and value a multiplicity of diverse interpretations of truth, being, and ways of seeing. There is a rejection of sharp distinctions and global or dominant metanarratives in postmodern religion, and this reflects one of the core principles of postmodern philosophy. A postmodern interpretation of religion emphasises the key point that religious truth is highly individualistic, subjective, and resides within the individual.
Bryan Stanley Turner is a British and Australian sociologist. He was born in January 1945 in Birmingham, England. Turner has held university appointments in England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Holland, Singapore and the United States. He was a Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge (1998–2005) and Research Team Leader for the Religion Cluster at the Asian Research Institute, National University of Singapore (2005–2008).
Eternal Now is a concept of time perception suggested by numerous proponents of New Age spirituality. Its characteristics vary from increased awareness of the present moment to a broader, more open and holistic perception of one's subjective past and potential variants of future. The concept is consonant with and constitutes an integration and development of a number of approaches to spiritual alertness and totality of perception advocated by various forms of Buddhist philosophy, Shamanic practices, and other philosophical and spiritual directions, both ancient and contemporary.
Hyper-real Religion is a sociological term to describe a new consumer trend in acquiring and enacting religion. The term was first described in the book Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament by Adam Possamai. The term is used to explore the intersection between postmodernity and religion. The idea has been expanded and critiqued by a number of academics since its creation.
Alphia Possamai-Inesedy is an Australian sociologist who is Director of the Sydney City Campus at the University of Western Sydney. She is the Vice President of the Australian Sociological Association.
Angela Coco is an Australian sociologist and academic whose primary research interests have been in the area of the sociology of religion, new religious movements, Catholicism, and Paganism.
A Field Guide to Otherkin is a 2007 book by the neopagan writer and psychologist Lupa. It discusses the otherkin community, a group of people who believe they are, in some sense, not entirely human. Lupa, who considered herself otherkin at the time of the book's publication, conducted a qualitative study of online otherkin communities between 2005 and 2006; she wrote A Field Guide to Otherkin based around its findings, synthesizing its conclusions about otherkin belief and its origins, common otherkin identities, and the religious and spiritual beliefs of otherkin.
The Wiccan Web: Surfing the Magic on the Internet is a 2001 book by Patricia Telesco and Sirona Knight published by Citadel Press, an imprint of Kensington Publishing. The book focuses on online Wiccan culture in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and is structured as a how-to guide for users new to technology. It discusses topics such as finding Wicca-related websites, interacting with online neopagan communities, and integrating Wiccan spells and rituals with technology.