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Article: Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion.
- Article from:
- Journal of the History of Sexuality
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 University of Texas at Austin (University of Texas Press). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion. By HUGH B. URBAN. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Pp. 388. $60.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).
Of the many books on tantra flooding booksellers, this is the one that should be read first. Urban's study is superbly written and well researched, and it represents a sophisticated understanding of the political and religious dynamics of cultural encounter. It goes well beyond the often facile Saidian and postcolonial narratives of the encounter of India with the "West" to present a nuanced exploration of the cultural and religious dialectics that produced "Tantrism." The book takes us from ...