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Hindu Diaspora
Global Perspectives
By T.S. Rukmani
December 2001
Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
ISBN: 81-215-1039-2
473 pages
$47.50 hardcover
Diaspora Studies have emerged as a major academic discipline in the past few decades as large groups of people have moved away from their places of birth to settle in foreign lands. This book deals with the 'Diaspora' phenomenon and in particular with the 'Hindu Diaspora phenomenon' as we know that Hindus are now settled in more than one hundred and fifty countries around the globe. In this book the contributors reflect and examine the myriad ways in which Hindu migrants negotiate their identity in the midst of alien cultures. Some scholars deal with historical perspectives, while others use their personal experiences in foreign lands, within a broad theoretical framework. Some others reflect on the kind of temples that Hindus have built in their adopted countries, while still others ponder on questions like the impact of 'food' on being 'Hindu' and also on the role of 'women' in maintaining one's religious identity.
Contents:
Preface. Introduction. I. Diaspora: historical perspectives : 1. The making of the Hindu in Australia: a Diasporic narrative/Purushottama Bilimoria. 2. The Hindu Diaspora in western Canada/Harold Coward and Heather Botting. 3. The Hindu Diasporas in Europe and an analysis of key Diasporic patterns/Martin Baumann. 4. The Hindu Diaspora in Malaysia/K. Ramanathan. 5. The institutionalization of Hinduism in Suriname and Guyana/Hans Ramsoedh and Lucie Bloemberg. 6. Diasporic Hindus of the Caribbean with special reference to Trinidad/R. Narayanan and Ashok Shrivastava. II. As others see us : 1. From decolonization to dialogue: constructing a new critical consciousness/Ashwani Kumar Peetush. 2. Stereotypes in schooling: negative pressures in the American education system on Hindu identity formation (part I)/Yvette C. Rosser. 3. Negative pressures in the American education system on Hindu identity formation (part II)/Rodney F. Moag. III. Temples across landscapes : 1. Natal’s traditional temples in the 19th and early 20th centuries/Surendra Bhana. 2. Authenticity by accident: organizing, decision making and the construction of Hindu identity/Radhika Sekhar. 3. Gopurams over Georgia: why here? why now?/Boyd H. Wilson & Jami Becksvoort. 4. Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam of flushing, New York/Richard Scott Hanson. 5. Behind closed doors: the practice of Hinduism in East Africa/Paul Younger. 6. Constructing identity: Hindu temple production in the United States/Mary Linda. IV. Negotiating identities : 1. ‘Being religious shows in your food’: young British Hindus and vegetarianism/Eleanor Nesbitt. 2. Mothers and daughters: the transmission of religious practice and the formation of Hindu identity among Hindu immigrant women in Ontario/Anne M. Pearson. 3. Ethnicity and symbolism among Hindu women in a small Diaspora community/Elizabeth A. Hole.
