'Globalization'

Chapter summary

1 - Translocal religious dynamics, linked for instance to trade and missionary networks, are not new and originated before the consolidation of the modern international system. 2- Some of the ‘command centers’ in the contemporary global religious field—such as New Delhi and Mumbai in India and Beijing and Shanghai in China—have already been central in the spread of age-old World Religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. However, new command centers are emerging in the ‘Global South,’ in countries such as Brazil, Nigeria, and Ghana. 3 - The interplay of globalization, migration, and religion has been dramatically intensified by rapid innovations in transportation and computer-mediated communications. 4 - Migrants, minorities, and diasporas are key actors of the globalization of religion and are integral to the contemporary expansion of globe-spanning religious networks associated with Islam, Hinduism, and Charismatic Christianities. 5 - While the economic dimensions of religion are central, the dynamics of global religious fields cannot be reduced to those of the world-capitalist system, with a clear center and periphery. Religious flows and networks are multi-directional, going not only from ‘North’ to ‘South’ but also in the opposite direction, and frequently from South to South and North to North. There is thus a need to develop interdisciplinary and multi-sited approaches to these flows and networks.