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RISA Panels at the 2008 AAR Annual Meeting

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CASTE, DALITS, AND CHRISTIANITY
This panel focuses on caste and Indian Christianity. Dalits (the “Oppressed,” 
formerly “Untouchables”) make up at least 75% of the Indian Christian church, 
and in some dioceses of some denominations, the percentages are higher. Since 
the late 1980s, due to the emergence of powerful all-India caste-based 
political parties, some Dalit-led; the development of Dalit Liberation 
Theology; and the internationalization of caste oppression under a Human 
Rights banner, the various Indian Christian denominations have begun to 
“Dalitize” their church leadership and attempt to level the ecclesiastical 
playing field. The six presenters on this panel seek to assess the benefits 
and problems involved in such policies by looking at on-the-ground realities 
in the Roman Catholic church, the Church of South India, and the Church of 
North India, as well as theological trends in Dalit Theology and transnational 
Dalit experiences of caste in Indian churches in the United States.
Mathew N. Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross, Presiding
Panelists:
Jebaroja Singh, William Paterson University
George Ninan, All Saints Episcopal Church
Sarah Anderson-Rajarigam, Union Theological Seminary
Sathianathan Clarke, Wesley Theological Seminary
Rachel Fell McDermott, Barnard College
THE DIVINE CHILD IN SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
The child god who most commonly comes to the minds of many scholars of South 
Asian religions is the mischievous Krishna of medieval Sanskrit and Hindi 
devotional literature. Yet, even before and long after the butter thief made 
his most memorable appearances in Vaishnava Puranas and bhakti poetry, other 
divine children have been featured as characters in Sanskrit epics and Puranas 
and in Hindi biographies and films and have been identified in real life in 
Nepal. Thus, in focusing on the figure of the divine child in South Asian 
religious traditions, this panel will examine a variety of media from ancient, 
medieval, and modern times to show how young deities such as Shiva’s infant 
son Kumara, child manifestations of Shiva, the child Krishna, the child 
Hanuman, and the living goddess Kumari have captivated their audiences.
Alf Hiltebeitel, George Washington University, Presiding
Panelists:
Shubha Pathak, American University
Knut Axel Jacobsen, University of Bergen
John Hawley, Barnard College
Philip Lutgendorf, University of Iowa
Deepak Shimkhada, Claremont McKenna College
Paula Richman, Oberlin College
RISA BUSINESS MEETING

GLOBALIZATION AND SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIONS: REDEFINING THE DISCOURSE BEYOND 
DIASPORA. Co-sponsored with Comparative Studies in Religion section
For the better part of the last quarter of the twentieth century, diaspora has 
been the dominant, if not the sole, model when discussing the globalization of 
South Asian religions. While this is a legitimate and valid category of 
analysis, recent scholarship has identified several new, equally valid and 
viable, categories that call for redefining the discourse beyond diaspora. 
Specifically, the recent wave of globalization mediated through the Internet, 
telecommunication, transnationalism etc suggests that globalization is 
significantly more complex and complicated, encompassing much more than 
diaspora. In light of recent ethnographic research on the impact of 
globalization in several South Asian religious traditions, the proposed panel 
attempts to shift the discourse on globalization beyond the dominant discourse 
of diaspora and wrestles with the many nuanced wrinkles and dimensions of 
globalization both in south Asia and abroad.
Tracy Pintchman, Loyola University Chicago, Presiding
Panelists:
Bruce M. Sullivan, Northern Arizona University
Hanna H. Kim, New York University
Gregory Grieve, University of North Carolina-Greensboro
Sangeetha Ekambaram, Syracuse University
Karen Pechilis, Drew University
Steven W. Ramey, University of Alabama
Frank Korom, Boston University
Rachel Fell McDermott, Barnard College
ISLAM AS DISCOURSE: IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN INDIA 
Co-sponsored with Contemporary Islam Consultation.
The panel examines how Islamic discourse has articulated new South 
Asia-specific religious and caste identities. The first paper contrasts common 
Islamic discourses of martyrdom and prophethood in contemporary devotional 
practices of Hindu women and popular literature written by Muslim authors. The 
second paper examines caste in the sayings of Nizam al-din Auliya; these 
sayings paradoxically uphold notions of caste hierarchy while also critiquing 
them, thereby opening social space for ‘low caste’ and ‘untouchable’ 
participation in dargah life. Using ethnographic data, the third paper 
documents the process by which northern Indian Muslims seek to identify 
themselves with newly established norms of Islam while continuing to observe 
customs that may violate or transcend these norms. The fourth paper examines 
the National Muslim Forum Nepal and its quest for a unified Nepali Muslim 
identity. The fifth paper examines an experimental interfaith relations 
project formed by a diverse group of Muslims in Hyderabad, India.
Teena Purohit, Columbia University, Presiding
Papers:
Carla Bellamy, Baruch College, CUNY. “Exclusion, Incorporation and Liberation: 
Prophethood and Martyrdom in an Indian Context”
Joel Lee, Columbia University. “Sayyid, Sweeper, Butcher, Pir: Hierarchy and 
Egalitarianism in the Discourses of Nizam al-din Auliya”
Dominique Sila-Khan, Institute of Rajasthan Studies. “Who is a Hindu, Who is a 
Muslim. . .”
Megan Adamson Sijapati, Gettysburg College. “Experiences of Conflict and 
Formations of a Muslim Minority ‘Nation’: The National Muslim Forum Nepal”
Danielle Widmann Abraham, Harvard Divinity School. “Communal Harmony through 
Community Development: Interpreting Religion in an Indian Muslim Organization”
Respondent: Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Emory University
THE ROLE OF MIRACLES AND THE MIRACULOUS IN CREATING AND SUSTAINING SOUTH ASIAN 
RELIGIONS
This session brings together scholars of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, 
and Islam to examine the role of miracles in creating and sustaining South 
Asian religions. In South Asia, Lawrence Babb once asserted, “the miraculous 
lacks any element of truly radical surprise.” Nevertheless, acknowledging that 
miracles are common should not lead scholars to dismiss them as academically 
uninteresting. On the contrary, the centrality of miraculous claims is 
justification for paying close attention to their role in South Asian 
religious life. The presenters in this panel will draw on the diversity of 
religions in South Asia, and the persistence of (sometimes contentious) claims 
about the miraculous within them, to explore the significance of miracles not 
only for establishing and maintaining religious communities on the 
subcontinent, but also more generally.
Corinne Dempsey, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, Presiding
Panelists:
Susan Prill, Juniata College
Bradley S. Clough, American University in Cairo
Marcia Hermansen, Loyola University Chicago
Tracy Pintchman, Loyola University Chicago
John Cort, Denison University
THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN SOUTH ASIA: THE STATE OF THE FIELD
The academic study of religion has followed different trajectories. Its 
primary location in most North American and European universities is in 
departments variously titled Religion, Religious Studies or Theology. But in 
most South Asian universities, religion is most often studied and taught 
either in departments focused on a single religious tradition (Islam, 
Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, etc.), or in departments such as History, 
Anthropology or Indology. The focus on South Asia at the 2008 AAR meetings 
gives us a chance to learn about the study and teaching of religion in South 
Asia from some of its leading practitioners. We have invited scholars from 
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to share with us some of their 
experiences in a roundtable presentation. We anticipate an informative set of 
presentations followed by a discussion aimed at allowing us all to come away 
with an enlarged sense of our shared field.
John E. Cort, Denison University and Robin Rinehart, Lafayette College, 
Presiding
Panelists:
  Uma Chakravarti, Delhi University
  Muhammad Khalid Masud, Council of Islamic Ideology
  Golam Dastagir, Jahangirnagar University
  Premakumara De Silva, University of Colombo
  M. A. Jayashree, University of Bangalore
  K. Srinivasan, Vivekananda College
WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP AND MONASTIC ORGANIZATION IN THERAVADA BUDDHISM 
Co-sponsored with Women and Religion section
Scholarship on Theravada Buddhist nuns—nuns recognizing Pali textual 
traditions and who follow Theravada lineages—has grown in the last two 
decades. Here, we bring together scholars who examine the roots of the 
teachings on nuns in the Pali Vinaya literature with others who investigate 
issues relating to contemporary Theravada practice among nuns in South and 
Southeast Asia. We examine how representations of female monasticism should be 
understood vis à vis organizational structures of leadership and agency. How 
do the representations of female monasticism correlate to those of male 
monasticism? How are nuns as agents of change and spiritual and intellectual 
leaders perceived in traditions that emerge in South Asia? In what ways might 
representations of textual traditions shape perceptions of Buddhist nuns in 
South Asia and beyond? The emergence of ordinations of Theravada Buddhist 
women globally is rooted in ordinations conducted in South Asia, but the 
implications are global.
Elizabeth Wilson, Miami University of Ohio, Presiding
Panelists:
Carol S. Anderson, Kalamazoo College
Ann Heirman, Ghent University
Gisela Krey, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University
Susanne Mrozik, Mount Holyoke College
Nirmala S. Salgado, Augustana College
Vanessa Rebecca Sasson, Marianapolis College
Karma Lekshe Tsomo, University of San Diego
Ingrid Jordt, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

 

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Revised: May 06, 2008