This book is an interdisciplinary endeavour to deal with ritual practice and the notions of authenticity and locality to better understand concepts of cultural heritage, identity and nation in a globalised context.

List of Plates and Figures -- Glossary -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Ritual, Heritage and Identity in a Globalised World/Christiane Brosius and Karin M. Polit -- Part I: Framing Heritage -- 1. Heritage in Ritual and Identity/Gregory J. Ashworth -- 2. The 'Ritualisation of Ritual' in the Construction of Heritage/Richard Handler -- 3. Useable Pasts - Creative Futures: How Normative Recognition Opens New Horizons for Publicly Committed Scholars/Christine M. Merkel -- 4. Performativity and Dynamics of Intangible Cultural Heritage/Christoph Wulf -- Part II: Ethnography and Practice -- 5. The Cultural Politics of Transnational Heritage Rituals: Akshardham Cultural Complex in New Delhi/Christiane Brosius -- 6. Political Patronage and Ritual Competitions at Dussehra Festival in Northern India/Daniela Berti -- 7. Heritage, Art and Elections: Popular Culture, Ritual and Political Competition in Uttarakhand/Karin M. Polit -- 8. Randala Ritual: Women's Heritage and Identity in Gujarat, India/Purnima Shah -- 9. Synthesising Practice and Performance, Securing Recognition: Thangmi Cultural Heritage in Nepal and India/Sara Shneiderman -- 10. From 'Wasteful Superstition' to 'Beautiful Tradition': Changing Assessments of Popular Ritual in Late Socialist Vietnam/Kirsten W. Endres -- 11. Scripturalisation of Ritual in Eastern Nepal/Martin Gaenszle -- About the Editors -- Notes on Contributors -- Index.