In a world supposedly characterized by the production of new differences and cultural permutations resulting from the twin processes of globalization and cultural syncretisation, hardly anything has remained as obscure and theoretically under-theorized as the very notion of the "new" itself. An inherent relativity often accompanies any contemplation of what is new or old, as well as the question at which point the old turns into the new. Syncretism as both process and description hinges largely on the assumption and premise that what is observed has appropriately or inappropriately mixed...