Sacred Forests of Asia

Chris Coggins is Professor of Geography and Asian Studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, USA. He is editor and author of Mapping Shangrila: Contested Landscapes in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands (2014, with Emily Ting Yeh); The Tiger and the Pangolin: Nature, Culture, and Conservation in China (2003); and The Primates of China: Biogeography and Conservation Status—Past, Present, and Future (2002). Bixia Chen is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of the Ryukyus, Japan. She is co-editor of Traditional Rural Landscapes in Island Topography in East Asia (2012, with Yuei Nakama).

Introduction: Forests, Rivers, and Civilizations—The Oikos, Polis, and Cosmos of Asia’s Sacred Groves, Part 1 South Asia - Sacred Forests and Human-Environment Relations, 1. The Politics and Poetics of Forested Sacred Natural Sites in East-Central India, 2. "Come Let Us All Play": Sacred Groves, Sarna, and "Green" Politics in Jharkhand, India, 3. Forest Gods and Forest Conservation: Local Perceptions of Village Sacred Forests in the Bhimashankar Region, Western India, 4. Daikhos—Sacred Groves, Clan Rituals, and Gender Exclusion Among the Dimasas of Assam, 5. Muslim Graveyard Groves: Plant Diversity, Ecosystem Services, and Species Conservation in Northwest Pakistan, 6. Sacred Forests as Sites of Bio-Cultural Resistance and Resilience in Bhutan Can Tamil Sacred Groves Survive Neoliberalism?, Part 2 East Asia - Sacred Forests and Human-Environment Relations, 7. China’s Fengshui Forests: The Fate of Lineage Wind-Water Polities Under Ecological Civilization, 8. Korea’s Sacred Groves—The Maeulsoop: Forest Types, Ecosystem Services, and Current Distribution, 9. Utaki and Ashagi Sacred Forests in the Ryukyu Islands: Vegetation Structure and Conservation Management Challenges, 10. Nostalgia, Restoration, and Reinventions of Sacred Groves in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China Shrine Forests in Honshu, Japan, Part 3 Southeast Asia - Sacred Forests and Human-Environment Relations, 11. Stories of the Trees: Understanding Traditions and Transitions in the Katu Peoples’ Perceptions of Forests in Central Vietnam, 12. The Katu Spirit Landscape: Forests, Ecology, and Cosmology in the Central Annamites, 13. Roles and Importance of Sacred Forests for Biodiversity Conservation in Thailand, 14. The Role of Spirits in Indigenous Ontologies and Their Implications for Forest Conservation in Karen State, Myanmar, 15. Sacred Forests, Sacred Natural Sites, Territorial Ownership, and Indigenous Community Conservation in Indonesia, 16. Governance Must Evolve to Meet New Needs of Indonesian Forest Communities The Sacred Forest of the Orang Rimba Hunter-Gatherers of Sumatra, Part 4 Asian Sacred Forests in Global Perspective - Conclusions and Preludes: The Many Lives of Sacred Forests, Afterword