RISA Panels at the 2008 AAR Annual Meeting
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
Revised: May 06, 2008
|