Peter A. Jackson and Benjamin Baumann, "Deities and Divas: Queer Ritual Specialists in Myanmar, Thailand and Beyond" (NIAS Press, 2021)
How does queer life fit into Buddhism and ritual? What role do gay men and trans women play in the practice of spirit mediumship and how do queer spirit mediums mediate between Thailand\u2019s religious fields? How can we understand the increasing numbers of queer spirit mediums across mainland Southeast Asia?\nPeter A. Jackson and Benjamin Baumann provide important insights into their new book\xa0Deities and Divas, Queer Ritual Specialists in Myanmar, Thailand and Beyond\xa0(NIAS Press 2021).\xa0Deities and Divas\xa0is the first book to trace commonalities between queer and religious cultures in Southeast Asia and the West. The book details the very prominent roles that gay men and trans women are playing in the spirit medium cults rapidly growing in Myanmar, Thailand and beyond.\nVisit the\xa0NIAS Press Webshop\xa0to find the book.\nPeter A. Jackson is Emeritus Professor in Thai cultural history at the Australian National University. Over the past four decades, he has written extensively on religion, gender and sexuality in modern Thailand as well as critical approaches to Asian area studies. His ongoing research includes studying media and masculinity in Thai gay cultures and religion and ritual in Thai communities affected by HIV.\nBenjamin Baumann is an assistant professor at the University of Heidelberg. His ethnographic work examines rural lifeworlds, socio-cultural identities and local language games in Thailand's lower Northeast, focusing on how the ghostly structures the imagination, reproduction of social collectives and communal sentiments of belonging.\nThe Nordic Asia Podcast is a collaboration sharing expertise on Asia across the Nordic region, brought to you by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) based at the University of Copenhagen, along with our academic partners: the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku, and Asianettverket at the University of Oslo.\nWe aim to produce timely, topical and well-edited discussions of new research and developments about Asia.\nAbout NIAS:\xa0www.nias.ku.dk\nTranscripts of the Nordic Asia Podcasts:\xa0http://www.nias.ku.dk/nordic-asia-podcast\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies