Religion and Identity in the South Asian Diaspora

Religion and Identity in the South Asian Diaspora
Author: Rajesh Rai
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351551590

Religious identity constitutes a key element in the formation, development and sustenance of South Asian diasporic communities. Through studies of South Asian communities situated in multiple locales, this book explores the role of religious identity in the social and political organization of the diaspora. It accounts for the factors that underlie the modification of ritual practice in the process of resettlement, and considers how multicultural policies in the adopted state, trans-generational changes and the proliferation of transnational media has impacted the development of these identities in the diaspora. Also crucial is the gender dimension, in terms of how religion and caste affect women’s roles in the South Asian diaspora. What emerges then from the way separate communities in the diaspora negotiate religion are diverse patterns that are strategic and contingent. Yet, paradoxically, the dynamic and evolving relationship between religion and diaspora becomes necessary, even imperative, for sustaining a cohesive collective identity in these communities. This bookw as published as a special issue of South Asian Diaspora.

South Asians in the Diaspora

South Asians in the Diaspora
Author: Knut A. Jacobsen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2018-08-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047401409

This volume deals with a phenomenon of increasing global significance, the South Asian diaspora. In particular it deals with the role of religion. The diversity of religious life in South Asia is remarkable and much of this diversity is replicated in the diaspora communities around the world. The case studies in this book explore and analyse the social, religious and cultural reality of people in the diaspora belonging to Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism and originating from four of the South Asian nation states (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). The book highlights the religious diversity that exists in the diaspora communities both across the traditions and within the particular religions.

Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond

Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond
Author: Steven E. Lindquist
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2013-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1783080671

This volume brings together sixteen articles on the religions, literatures and histories of South and Central Asia in tribute to Patrick Olivelle, one of North America’s leading Sanskritists and historians of early India. Over the last four decades, the focus of his scholarship has been on the ascetic and legal traditions of India, but his work as both a researcher and a teacher extends beyond early Indian religion and literature. ‘Religion and Identity and South Asia and Beyond’ is a testament to that influence. The contributions in this volume, many by former students of Olivelle, are committed to linguistic and historical rigor, combined with sensitivity to how the study of Asia has been changing over the last several decades.

The South Asian Diaspora

The South Asian Diaspora
Author: Rajesh Rai
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2008-07-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134105959

This book uses the concept of transnational networks as a way to understand the South Asian diaspora. Offering a unique and original insight into the South Asian diaspora, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of South Asian studies, diaspora and cultural studies, anthropology, transnationalism and globalization.

Imagining Muslims in South Asia and the Diaspora

Imagining Muslims in South Asia and the Diaspora
Author: Claire Chambers
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2014-08-13
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1317654129

Literary, cinematic and media representations of the disputed category of the ‘South Asian Muslim’ have undergone substantial change in the last few decades and particularly since the events of September 11, 2001. Here we find the first book-length critical analysis of these representations of Muslims from South Asia and its diaspora in literature, the media, culture and cinema. Contributors contextualize these depictions against the burgeoning post-9/11 artistic interest in Islam, and also against cultural responses to earlier crises on the subcontinent such as Partition (1947), the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and secession of Bangladesh, the 1992 Ayodhya riots , the 2002 Gujarat genocide and the Kashmir conflict. Offering a comparative approach, the book explores connections between artists’ generic experimentalism and their interpretations of life as Muslims in South Asia and its diaspora, exploring literary and popular fiction, memoir, poetry, news media, and film. The collection highlights the diversity of representations of Muslims and the range of approaches to questions of Muslim religious and cultural identity, as well as secular discourse. Essays by leading scholars in the field highlight the significant role that literature, film, and other cultural products such as music can play in opening up space for complex reflections on Muslim identities and cultures, and how such imaginative cultural forms can enable us to rethink secularism and religion. Surveying a broad range of up-to-date writing and cultural production, this concise and pioneering critical analysis of representations of South Asian Muslims will be of interest to students and academics of a variety of subjects including Asian Studies, Literary Studies, Media Studies, Women’s Studies, Contemporary Politics, Migration History, Film studies, and Cultural Studies.

Diaspora and Identity

Diaspora and Identity
Author: Ajaya Kumar Sahoo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134919611

This book investigates the identity issues of South Asians in the diaspora. It engages the theoretical and methodological debates concerning processes of culture and identity in the contemporary context of globalisation and transnationalism. It analyses the South Asian diaspora - a perfect route to a deeper understanding of contemporary socio-cultural transformations and the way in which information and communication technology functions as both a catalyst and indicator of such transformations. The book will be of interest to scholars of diaspora studies, cultural studies, international migration studies, and ethnic and racial studies. This book is a collection of papers from the journal South Asian Diaspora.

South Asian Christian Diaspora

South Asian Christian Diaspora
Author: Selva J. Raj
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2016-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317052293

The South Asian Christian diaspora is largely invisible in the literature about religion and migration. This is the first comprehensive study of South Asian Christians living in Europe and North America, presenting the main features of these diasporas, their community histories and their religious practices. The South Asian Christian diaspora is pluralistic both in terms of religious adherence, cultural tradition and geographical areas of origin. This book gives justice to such pluralism and presents a multiplicity of cultures and traditions typical of the South Asian Christian diaspora. Issues such as the institutionalization of the religious traditions in new countries, identity, the paradox of belonging both to a minority immigrant group and a majority religion, the social functions of rituals, attitudes to language, generational transfer, and marriage and family life, are all discussed.

Diaspora Christianities

Diaspora Christianities
Author: Sam George
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-01-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1506447066

South Asians make up one of the largest diasporas in the world and Christians form a relatively large share of it. Christians from the Indian subcontinent have successfully transplanted themselves all over the globe, and many from different faith backgrounds have embraced Christianity at overseas locations. This volume includes biblical reflections on diasporic life, charts the historical and geographical spread of South Asian Christianity, and closes with a call to missional living in diaspora. It analyzes how migrants revive Christianity in adopted host nations and ancestral homelands. This book portrays the fascinating saga of Christians of South Asian origin who have pitched their tents in the furthest corners of the globe and showcases triumphs and challenges of scattered communities. It presents the contemporary religious experiences from a plethora of discrete perspectives. It deals with issues such as community history, struggles of identity and belonging, linkage of religious and cultural traditions, preservation and adaptation of faith practices, ties between ancestral homeland and host nation, and diasporic moral dilemmas in diaspora. This book argues that human scattering amplifies diversity within Christianity and for the need for hetrogeneous unity amidst great diversities.

A New Handbook of Living Religions

A New Handbook of Living Religions
Author: John R. Hinnells
Publisher: Puffin Books
Total Pages: 914
Release: 1998
Genre: Reference
ISBN:

"The sources and history of the world's religions, from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism, to regional studies in Africa, China and Japan; their teaching, practices and popular traditions; diaspora religions in the Western world, in the USA, Canada, Australia and Britain, including a new section on these religious migrations in a comparative international perspective; gender and spirituality and the Black African diaspora; developments that have taken place in the twentieth century; recent scholarship, including new material on China; and public festivals and private devotions." "With charts and diagrams to illustrate and clarify the text, The New Handbook of Living Religions is the definitive guide to understanding the belief systems of the world today."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Diaspora and Identity

Diaspora and Identity
Author: J. R. Clammer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2002
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

"This book shows how, through the application of the methods of cultural studies, fresh readings of Southeast Asian societies can be undertaken, readings that not only reveal fresh facets of the complexity and fascination of the region, but also place it back at the centre of current theoretical debates in the social sciences and Asian studies."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved