Communities of Memory and Interpretation

The five studies in this volume show unprecedented efforts by each individual contributor to engage in micro-historical research on categories and themes such as lineage, hagiography, and sacred texts in different historical contexts. (Jiang Wu, University of Arizona) Communities of Memory and Interpretation is a fascinating collection of wellresearched essays that all feature important methodological reflections in addition to detailed and insightful textual analysis or fieldwork scholarship. The volume consistently highlights the theme of how the respective traditions developed a sense of legitimacy and legacy based on canonicity and the various repetitions and reversals of at times disturbing or perplexing paradigms and exegetical strategies to establish and maintain lineal identity and authority. (Steven Heine, Florida International University)