Homes, Histories, and Political Commitments in Ethnographies of Hinduism

This roundtable examines what it means to ethnographically study Hinduism as scholars situated both within and outside Religious Studies departments in North American universities. Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who engage in ethnography—whether directly or more circuitously— the roundtable asks what the ethnographic, as a mode of studying contemporary Hinduism, makes possible as well as limits. We engage with two distinct but related sets of questions: First, how do we reckon with our scholarly and political practice, given the historical ties of Hindu Studies with alliances between brahminism and whiteness, while also being embedded in the history of empire? How might ethnography—as method, stance, and writerly practice—inform the issue? Second, we discuss the meaning and implications of doing ethnographic research in contemporary India (and among Indian communities abroad) in light of the current political climate and nationalist articulations of Indian history and politics.