Hindu College Students and Interreligious Engagement: Interrogating Clubs and Organizations as Sites of Belonging

This paper addresses the impact of Hindu college students’ interreligious engagement upon their overall sense of belonging in the context of student clubs/organizations. Data was gathered using interviews and photo-elicitation, and the research method was thematic analysis informed by descriptive phenomenology. Educational researchers have commonly focused on institutionally-sponsored clubs and events as sites of belonging for religiously minoritized students, but these sites were heavily problematized in this study. Because interfaith events typically have an educational focus, they center non-Hindu students while Hindu students assume the labor of religious literacy-building for their peers. Hindu students also experienced religious coercion related to non-Hindu student organizations. Positive experiences of interreligious engagement in group settings were significant but not institutionally-coordinated. Overall, this study provides insight into the role of Christian privilege in interfaith programming and its potential impact upon Hindu students.