Paper short abstract:

Ethnographically grounded, this presentation intends to reflect upon the process of Hinduism recognition in Portugal through two different lenses: one that analyses the recognition of Hinduism in this country; and another that presents the current Hindu religious and cultural practices as well as their transformations among Portuguese society.

Paper long abstract:

The increasing of migration flows and recent religious diversity in Portugal influenced the process of constructing symbolic universes and modes of being in the world. Ethnographically grounded, this presentation intends to reflect upon the process of Hinduism recognition in Portugal through two different lenses: one that analyses the recognition of Hinduism in this country; and another that presents the current Hindu religious and cultural practices as well as their transformations among Portuguese society. Though grounded on long term ethnography, we will focus on case studies of temple institutionalization in two different areas. This will give an account of the processes of Hindus' adaptation to the host society either those who traveled from India or Africa, or the generations born and raised in Portugal In conclusion it is important to understand the role of the Portuguese State in regard to the management of religious diversity, particularly concerning South Asian communities, and the manner in which these interact with national and European identities.

Paper short abstract:

“Not in My Back Yard” is a reality that South Asians have encountered throughout the diaspora. Looking at an American Gujarati community’s efforts to build a temple complex, this paper probes the tensions between ideas of neighbourliness and offering a publicly identifiable form of Hinduism.

Paper long abstract:

Being a good neighbour depends on a numerous factors, including local conceptions of belongingness and good citizen, both of which are supported by broader discourses on identity and national citizenship. This paper approaches the arena of neighbourliness from a specific ethnographic angle, one that looks at the encounter, real and discursive, between a transnational Gujarati devotional movement, known as the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, and the local New Jersey (U.S.A.) communities where BAPS is building a temple complex. The "NIMBY," or "not in my back yard," response of some local residents, is not unexpected. This paper argues that the negative and sometimes hostile views about the BAPS project point to deep anxieties that local residents have about their new neighbours. Though masked in concerns about quality of life, the residents' comments reveal assumptions about India and Hinduism that are themselves informed by their conceptions of religion. In order for BAPS to attain a more agreeable status of welcomed neighbour, the suspicion and worries that local residents share about BAPS and its organisation must be addressed and mitigated. More generally, Hindu Indians in the U.S. seeking to build a temple effectively problematise dominant notions of religion in the public sphere and thus are in the position to provoke a re-thinking of who and what kinds of religion and religious practices, edifices, and even aesthetic forms are publicly acceptable. Acting on this may be one path to becoming Gujarati neighbours who are more than settled strangers.

Paper short abstract:

What role does the Sikh Temple play in the formation of British Sikh Identity for the youth in London? Does it help, hinder or ignore the process of citizenship and communitarianism? This paper proposes that it does all three - with failed societal coalescence a result of this institutional agency.

Paper long abstract:

London's Sikh youth have developed a diverse relationship with the religion's place of congregation: the Gurdwaras. These spaces have traditionally been an important factor in the passing on of Sikh identity inter-generationally. This paper tries to understand the role of the Gurdwara in Hounslow (SGSS) in the transmission of British Sikh identity as viewed by Sikh youth and previous Sikh generations. Ethnographical interviews, secondary source literature and observational fieldwork will show that the youths' identity goes beyond the bifurcated concept of being "stuck between two worlds" that many commentators have posited.

This paper is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with youth aged 18-30 as well as management, staff and parents as the study's "transmitters". This field research is then analysed using a historiography centred on the sociology of religion, particularly Max Weber's "switchman" concept and Émile Durkheim's ideas of the "sacred" and "profane".

The conclusion advanced is; Sikh youth, whilst maintaining their nuanced approach to the Hounslow Gurdwara, consider it to predominantly assist in the transmission of an unambiguous part of British Sikh identity - that of religion (piri).

Even though Sikhism remains an important component of identity politics for contemporary Sikh youth; their approach is less doctrinaire than the "transmitters". It entails greater cogitation than previous Sikh generations or the SGSS. The youth therefore find Sikh identity in Britain challenged by secular concerns (miri) that distance them from the Gurdwara due to its focus on religiosity.

This disjuncture is considered here.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines free Indian migration to Natal between 1880-1930. It adopts a biographical analysis as a methodological tool to understand the complexity of the migratory process in terms of race, ethnicity, gender and citizenship.

Paper long abstract:

The history of indentured Indians has been well documented in terms of

migration and settlement in South African historiography. Shipping lists,

which meticulously recorded the biographical details of each labour, together

with Indian immigrant reports provide a wealth of information on the early

migratory and labour experiences of indentured Indians. Regrettably, this

aspect of Free Indian migration to Natal is absent in archival records. This paper seeks to examine the nature of Free Indian migration, in the context of travel documents, ways in which it facilitated and hindered both individual and family migration. Passage tickets, domicile certificates, affidavits, Certificates of Identity and passports, were key documents of travel and identity, which in most

instances, determined, not only the inward and outward journeys of

migrants, between Natal and India, but the ways in which citizenship was

defined and how migration controls w ere instituted and administered

towards free migration. This paper argues that free Indians, as "free British

Indian Subjects" were not really "free", often described as "aliens", but had

to constantly, defend and reclaim their civic rights, attest and verify their

identity, as the Natal Government sought new and creative ways to restrict

and prohibit their entry. This paper will provide insight into the travel and

migration experiences of free Indians in the context of gender and

citizenship in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Paper short abstract:

Based on primary research carried out in Johannesburg and Pretoria during the 150th Year ceremonies commemorating the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers to South Africa, the paper is concerned with the ways in which collective self-commemorations of belonging contributed to the articulation of a South African Indian identity torn between Pretoria’s efforts to accommodate difference and construct an inclusive, non-sectarian national identity and the desire to perform and institute difference.

Paper long abstract:

In post-apartheid South Africa the image of the rainbow nation where multiple but essentialised racial identities (white, black and Indian) mingle yet remain distinctive has become dominant. But has the acquisition of a full-fledged citizenship by all its ethnic and racial groups led inevitably to the strengthening of attachments to the nation-state at the expenses of the erosion of other subnational, ethnic, racial or cultural identities as the modernist adagio widely assumes [Young 1998:3]? Or has social change instead produced stronger communal identities?

The paper intends to capture the increasing efforts of South African Indians (the world's largest non-immigrant Indian population outside India with unusual little focus towards its homeland) to articulate their subjectivity as a key, but partially disadvantaged, minority group in post-Apartheid South Africa by analysing the significance of the commemorations organised by a wide range of South African Indian associations and local governments to celebrate the 150 years of the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers to South Africa. Building on the idea that identities are in a constant state of becoming [Kertzer 1988], and aiming to uncover possible relations of power and hierarchies between the over-arching vision of the rainbow nation and the Indian communal identity thus articulated, this work draws on the established notion of the constructedness of collective identities and on the ontological power of performance [Butler 1999] for the understanding of rituals of commemoration and articulations of notions of collective subjectivity.

Paper short abstract:

I examine the development of Britain’s chief South Asian communities concomitant with the transition from Imperial subject-hood to legal citizenship. Chance, and the unfinished transition to national citizenship, rather than cultural peculiarities, explains these communities’ enduring strangeness.

Paper long abstract:

It is only recently, since the 1950s, that there have been South Asian communities of any size or significance in Britain. Along with many another new Commonwealth arrival, the settlement of South Asians followed patterns that had been set by the dissolution of the British Empire. This wider historical underpinning to these migrations, and later to refugee flows from East Africa, also found expression in changes to migration and citizenship legislation.

In this paper, I trace the arrival and settlement of South Asians, distinguished in two periods: the first period, 1948 until 1981, when for the first time British citizenship was defined and entered legal statue; and then the second period, from 1981 until the present-day, a period which saw the status of British South Asian Muslims move to the political foreground and the debate over migration and citizenship reinvigorated. I argue that the fortunes of the chief South Asian communities since settling in Britain have been determined by chance, by historical contingency, has too have the perceptions of the wider British society toward them. Rather than identifying cultural incompatibilities that purportedly render South Asians as permanent strangers, I argue that the key problematic, that which imperils their acceptance or otherwise, is the unfinished legacy of Empire, the unfinished transition from subject-hood to citizenship, unfinished business affecting all Britishers and not just British South Asians. I end by noting that the opposite to 'stranger' is not a 'citizen', but a 'friend'.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores a recent initiative in the UK promoting the idea of Sewa as localised social action. It examines the role played by organisations involved in the initiative in representing Hindus as model ‘ethnic citizens’, framed by a State focus on ‘Big Society’ empowerment.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the role played by the South Asian concept of Sewa in the development of Hindu identities in the UK. In particular, it focuses on a recent initiative known as Sewa Day, an annual day dedicated to the provision of Sewa as small-scale social action in local communities. The organisations of the Sangh Parivar have been central to promoting and taking part in Sewa Day. The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, which for many years has focused its efforts on low-level work with Hindu youths, has been the most proactive, co-ordinating the contribution of many young Hindus to Sewa Day activities. The paper asks what purpose is served by the drive to promote social action in this way, and argues that it represents a significant attempt to project Hindus (especially young Hindus) as model 'ethnic citizens', contributors to what the current government has termed the 'Big Society'. In the spirit of this Big Society framing, the aspiration of Sewa Day is to embed Hindu identity in broader networks of community, seeking (at least rhetorically) to work outwards to encompass and include non-Hindus in the activities of the day. The paper explores the implications of this project, both in terms of its potential to increase the sense of citizenship identity amongst Hindus, and in terms of its ability to re-situate the politics of Hindu nationalism in social networks which chime strongly with currently dominant registers of civic virtue in the UK.

Paper short abstract:

The paper deals with two main problems of Indian Diaspora in Russia – religious and national matters. The content of the Indian Diaspora is multifold because Indians are not a homogeneous ethnos. The word “Indian” is like the word “Russian” but they are not comparable.

Paper long abstract:

The difficulties facing the Indian Diaspora have increased since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of a new state, the Russian Federation. Surprisingly, the Diaspora started facing ethnicity-based problems under the democratic rule. Consequently, the number of Indians has significantly reduced since many people have returned home moving away from nationalist sentiments in Russia. The content of the Indian Diaspora is multifold because Indians are not a homogeneous ethnos. The word "Indian" is like the word "Russian" but they are not comparable. According to the Association of Indians in Russia, there are about 30,000 Indians in the country, 15,000 living in Moscow. The Indian Diaspora largely consists of Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, and Marathi people. The Moscow Diaspora can be divided into two large groups, the elderly Indians and students. In Moscow, Indians are mainly doing business. The main problems facing the Indian Diaspora in Russia are rooted in ethnicity and religion. In view of this, it's worth mentioning the refusal by the authorities to build Hindu temples in Moscow. The government is under the pressure of the Union of Orthodox citizens who show persistence and intolerance. Moreover, there is almost no security for the Indian Diaspora in Moscow. The racist sentiment has spoiled Indo-Russian relations in the past years, and the situation is practically not improving. The Indian Diaspora is reducing year by year at an average of 200 people. This is a significant number even for the 15,000-Indian community in the Russian capital.

Paper short abstract:

Hindu Americans are one of the fastest growing communities in the United States. The rise in religious travel or pilgrimage (tirtha) back to India by the Hindu diaspora cannot be regarded merely as an immigrant attachment to their homeland. This stems from the feeling of being a racial minority in the United States and a need to obtain recognition of their ethnic and cultural heritage. Hindu Americans are not only trying to model their identity in an Abrahamic paradigm by interpreting Hinduism as a monotheistic religion, but also renewing their ties to their homeland through religious travel and pilgrimage. This paper explores the importance of religious travel in the lives of Hindu Americans, and illustrates ways and means through which the Hindus are using religion to negotiate an identity in an alien culture.

Paper long abstract:

Indian diaspora is estimated over 30 million, and it constitutes both NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and PIOs (Person of Indian origins). Of this number, Hindus living outside the littoral limits of the Indian subcontinent constitute around 70 million, and represent a very divergent diaspora, not because their beliefs, practices and social organizations develop differently from and may emerge to be quite unlike those in the Indian subcontinent, but Hindu socio-religious phenomenon and identities in different places outside India are often highly unlike each other, having traveled along diverse historical trajectories conditioned by a wide range of locally contextual factors. Migration and minority status in the host country engenders an imagined connection between the diasporic population and their homeland, and often stimulates a mode of religious change through heightened self-awareness. The sense of contrast - contrast with a past or contrast with the rest of the American society - is at the heart of a Hindu diasporic self-consciousness. With the increased pace of globalization, it has become possible for transnational Hindus to maintain contact with the principle epicenters of their religion in India. Moreover travel to pilgrimage sites of religious significance renews both the center and the periphery and renders obsolete notions of frontiers as defined by geographical boundaries. This paper explores the nature of religious travel by the Hindu diaspora to India and its significance on the lives of transnational Hindus. It concludes that the feeling of being a 'stranger' in the host country propels the need for Hindu Americans to coalesce around an identity centered on religion.

Paper short abstract:

The paper will deal with the history and circumstances under which Indians migrated to Germany from the 1950s onwards. The focus will be on their experiences in communicating with the majority community for the process of their settling down while keeping their links with the 'origin country' alive.

Paper long abstract:

From the mid-1950s onwards Indians came on an individual basis for work, training and higher education to Germany. Though in their majority intending to return after some years, they stayed on and formed the "first generation". At the beginning of the 21st century there are roughly 40000 Indian citizen and equally 40000 citizen of Indian origin living in Germany as "second" and "third generations".

The paper in the beginning will deal with the formal and informal circumstances in India and Germany under which Indians opted for migrating to Germany during the second half of the 20th century (development of a German immigration policy, India's attitude towards their diaporic communities, individual considerations of Indians for migrating and for staying on in the 'diaspora').

The major part will review the available literature (personal accounts, reminiscences etc.) concerning the attitude of the majority community, the Germans, towards Indian migrants. It will reflect their individual experiences made in their communication with the various layers of the local society. I will argue that this is one of the most decisive factors influencing the process of their "settling down", e.g. to which extent Germany in their understanding has become their own country. This contradictory process addressing Germans and Indians alike has always India as a reference point.The paper therefore finally tries to reflect on the crucial role, the link with the 'origin country' continues to play in the mind -set and the real and imagined activities and considerations of 'settled strangers'.