This session consists of four ethnographic studies of local, often marginalized forms of lived Hinduism practiced in North America. Focused on peculiar, sometimes hidden varieties of Hindu devotion and practice, these projects represent various engagements between devotees and their traditions as they have been reinterpreted and recreated for new contexts, times, and cultures. The panel’s emphasis on ethnography not only de-centers Indian Hinduism, but also shifts the focus away from scholarly and other conventions and towards devotee perspectives and experiences, as well as material realities. Addressing cases ranging from deity devotion and contemporary events to Hindu communities and even inter-religious mixing, these papers depart from traditional narratives. Collectively they invite renewed reflection upon Hinduism and diaspora, and call our attention to the frequently ignored creativity and originality employed under the broader heading of Hinduism as it expands into, engages with, and enculturates itself into ever new times and places.
This paper studies the Brahma Kumari tradition in Canada and in global space. The focus is on the issue of globalized identity and female religious authority of the followers. I examine several aspects of the globalization of Brahma Kumari in Canada and its complex links with South Asian religions in India. It seems that the tradition is at crossroads, just as the devotees’ cultural identity is at crossroads – being simultaneously Western and at the same time South Asian. What happens when traditions and identities are at crossroads? Do globalized traditions produce globalized identities? Are there any other transformations that happen in this cultural mobility? By means of analysis of texts and data from interviews with Brahma Kumari followers, this paper seeks to reframe the Brahma Kumari tradition in a global context, a truly global movement, which has made home in Canada while maintaining links with the spiritual homeland in India.
This this paper will explore the presence, vitality, and active worship of two Hindu goddesses in the Tamil diaspora in the San Francisco Bay Area. While Lakshmi is very well known, representing wealth, health, and auspiciousness, the earth goddess Bhudevi is not as focused upon. Recent wildfires in California wrought havoc, raising questions connecting devotion and ecology. How does environmental catastrophe affect Hindu Americans’ worship of Bhudevi or Lakshmi? Are there caste distinctions or class differences to note, and how do these shape the perceptions of the Hindu diaspora? These questions will be investigated through the interlaced lenses of 1) economics and the varying notions of “value”; 2) the Hindu sacralization of the natural world and its relationship to environmental knowledge; and 3) transformative individual and community action about climate chaos. This research will be based on ethnographic fieldwork situated around two temples: Concord Siva-Murugan Temple and Livermore Siva-Vishnu Temple.
This paper addresses the creative expansions of the god Jagannath as he travels from his origins in the state of Odisha into the US Hindu diaspora. Despite the popularity of Jagannath’s Ratha Yatra festival, far less attention has been paid to his other travels and his continuous material re-creations. De-centering Puri and its more orthodox Hinduism, this paper confronts some lesser-known movements and dwellings of the god in the San Francisco Bay area. These more imaginative adaptations of the god address the concerns and very lives of the devotees who live there. As a result, the god has moved and transformed—including in his material forms—into American Hindu communities and the homes of everyday devotees. Relying on material culture studies and ethnography, this study delves into more marginal aspects of the god’s transformative reality that allow him to be present to devotees across time, place, and culture.
This paper presents testimonies from Thai-American restaurateurs whose businesses function not only as sites of commerce but also as spaces where distinctive modes of engagement with Hindu deities emerge. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among Thai communities in the northeastern US, the study examines the growing presence of Hindu deities such as Ganesha and Krishna in restaurant interiors. These visual arrangements reflect recent religious developments in Thailand, where Hindu gods have gained prominence as patrons of entrepreneurial success, and reveal how Thai migrants carry these practices into North America. By examining how restaurant art and décor mediate encounters with Hindu imagery, the paper argues that Thai Buddhist restaurateurs emerge as unexpected stewards of Hindu devotion in North America. In doing so, the study highlights how migration, religious materiality, and interreligious borrowing invite us to reconsider familiar narratives about Asian American religion while helping decenter India in the study of global Hinduism.
| George Pati | george.pati@valpo.edu | View |