| (also see ISLAM) | John Bowen’s Religions in Practice is appearing in its 4th edition; alongside his work on Islam he teaches “Religion and Society” and courses on religious and legal pluralism. | Pascal Boyer studies the psychology of religion. His Religion Explained (2001, Random Hse and Basic Books) has as a main that we now have a better understanding of religious representations, their causes and their role in human cognition, simply because we have a better and more precise understanding of the mind-brain, its evolution, its structure and its specific dispositions. | Rebecca Lester’s recent book Jesus in Our Wombs is an ethnography of a Catholic nunnery in Mexico. | Priscilla Song has conducted research on popular religion in Taiwan and Fujian (southern China), exploring the cultural politics, nationalist ideologies, and social structure of competing temples devoted to Mazu (Goddess of the Sea and Empress of Heaven). A forthcoming article in Medical Anthropology develops the concept of biotech pilgrimage to challenge popular media notions of medical tourism and foreground how faith intertwines with technology and travel in the pursuit of therapeutic miracles. |