Gods of Food and Design: Thai Restaurant Art, Hindu Deities, and the Material Culture of Contemporary American Orientalism

My presentation examines the religious lives of Thai-American restaurateurs in Elmhurst, New York, site of the East Coast’s first officially recognized “Little Thailand.” By considering why paintings and icons of Hindu figures like Ganesha, Brahma, and Kubera frequently appear in restaurant décor alongside images of Southeast Asian and Chinese deities, I explore how emerging trends in Thai religion—notably the growing popularity of Hindu deities in Buddhist-majority Thailand—shape Thai immigrants' beliefs and business practices. In the process, my ethnographic fieldwork and visual analyses raise two key questions: (1) By incorporating Indian deities into their religious practices, how do Thai Americans express their cultural identities? (2) How are conventional understandings of Orientalism reshaped when Asian Americans themselves curate and participate in syncretic devotional movements with roots in modern Asia? Through these inquiries, my talk highlights the intersections of migration, religious materiality, and transnational cultural flows in shaping contemporary Thai-American identity.