November 2002, Volume 40, Number 3
Social and Behavioral Sciences -Anthropology

Lozada Jr., Eriberto P. God Aboveground: Catholic Church, Postsocialist State, and Transnational Processes in a Chinese Village. Stanford, 2001. 250p bibl index afp ISBN 0-8047-4097-6, $45.00 .

One of the problems with many anthropological studies of religion in complex societies is that the ethnography is rarely sensitive enough to the larger field in which it is set. This outstanding study of the Catholic Church in a Chinese village is an exception. In an excellent analysis of the larger historical and social context, Lozada (Butler Univ.) traces transnational Catholicism as it becomes anchored in the particularity of a rural community in postsocialist southern China. The volume begins with an outstanding chapter on transnational anthropology and the globalization process. Of great interest is a discussion of "unbounded communities," which require different methods for study; the discussion particularly uses the "diagnostic event approach," which situates ethnographic observations in the larger global context. Lozada examines the complex religious history that characterizes southern China, discusses charisma in the village, and includes fascinating chapters on life cycle rituals such as celebrations, weddings, and funerals. The author employs comparative religion wherever possible. Many of these chapters are brilliantly written and researched. This volume would be an excellent choice for academic library collections on religion, anthropology, and East Asia, and is very accessible to the general educated reader. Highly recommended. -- J. J. Preston, SUNY College at Oneonta