When the twain meet

Redefining ‘British’ Religions

through Student Encounters with

Religious Communities

Denise Cush and Catherine

Robinson

Bath Spa University

Religions of South Asian Origin

• Hinduism

• Buddhism

• Sikhism

• Jainism

• Studied in different academic

settings (see Sharpe, 2005:31)

Teaching in British Universities

• Nineteenth century beginnings

• University of Manchester 1904

(Sharpe, 1975: 131-133)

• University of Lancaster 1967

Reasons for Curriculum Change

• Secularisation (Jackson, 2004: 1-5)

• Immigration (Jackson, 2004: 1-5)

• Social liberalism

• Liberal Protestant theology (Bates,

1994; 1996)

• Second Vatican Council (Sharpe,

2005:39)

Late 1960s Counterculture

• youth culture

interest in

‘Eastern’ religions

• 40th anniversary of

ISKCON in London

Hippies, from ‘Carnaby Street’ by Tom Salter,

1970, colour lithograph, Malcolm English,

twentieth century, Private Collection,

Bridgeman Art Library.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Recent Trends• Feminism

• Other liberationist approaches

• Critiques of phenomenology and

orientalism

• Other forms of religion and

spirituality

Current Practice

• Of 37 British universities offering

undergraduate TRS degrees

– Hinduism 27 (Sanskrit 6)

– Buddhism 26 (Pali 3)

– Sikhism 10

– Jainism 3

(see AUDTRS handbook and University

websites)

Current Practice

• Texts in original languages

• Texts in translation

• Textbooks and more specialised

sources

• Fieldwork

Living Religion Project

• One-week community placement

• Students as ethnographers in

communities with beliefs,

values and customs other than

their own

Bath Spa Placements

• Of 23 placement communities

– 14 are religions of South Asian

origin

• 10 Buddhist

• 3 Hindu

• 1 Sikh

Buddhist Placements

Samye Ling Kagyu Centre

Hartridge (Forest Sangha)

Hindu Placements

Bhaktivedanta Manor

Skandavale

Sikh Placement

Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara

Diaspora

• Definition as dispersion

• Origins in Septuagint (OED, 2010)

• Original Jewish usage (Bauman,

2000: 317)

• Wider application (Tololyan,

1996:8)

Diaspora

• Types of Diaspora

– Victim

– Labour

– Imperial

– Trade

– Deterritorialized

(Cohen, 2008: 18)

Diaspora

• Characteristics

– Displacement from homeland

– Allegiance to homeland

– Shared ethnic identity

– Relationship with host societies

(Cohen, 2008: 17)

Diaspora

• Negative connotations?

• Westernisation as equivalent to

modernisation?

Religion and Diaspora

• Cohen on religion and diaspora

– Privileges ethnicity and homeland

– ‘[Religions] do not constitute

diasporas in and of themselves’

(Cohen, 1997: 189)

Religion and Diaspora

• Hinnells on religion and diaspora

– Concentrates on religion

– ‘[D]iaspora religion’ indicates a religion

practised by a minority group, conscious

of living in a culturally and religiously

different, possibly hostile, environment,

away from the old country of the religion’

(Hinnells, 1997: 686)

Religion and Diaspora

• Vertovec on religion and diaspora

– Stress on ethnicity and homeland

(Vertovec, 2000a:2)

– Critical of application of concept

of diaspora to multi-ethnic and

proselytising religions

(Vertovec,2000b: 11)

Religion and Diaspora

• McLoughlin on religion and

diaspora

– Differentiation between ‘ethnic’ and

‘universal ‘religions’

– Endorses application of concept of

diaspora to ‘ethnic’ religions

(McLoughlin, 2005: 541)

Sikhism and Diaspora

• Sikhism as clearest case of

diaspora as Sikhs compared to

Jews in being an ethnic and

religious group who look to a

homeland (Cohen, 2008: 112, 116

cf. Tatla, 1999: 2,8)

Hinduism and Diaspora

• Analogy drawn with Judaism and

Sikhism as Hinduism is non-

proselytising and regards

India as sacred so satisfying

criteria of ethnicity and

homeland (Vertovec, 2000a: 2-4)

Buddhism and Diaspora

• Problematic to regard Buddhism

as diasporic because, as a

‘universal’ religion, it is

multiethnic with no one

homeland (McLoughlin, 2005:

541)

Contesting Diaspora

• Intention to challenge hegemonic

views of religions in the ‘old

country’ and ‘old times’

• Danger of reinscribing difference

from the principal manifestations of

the religions and from British

society

British Religions

• Over a hundred years of history

• Western converts

• New movements

History of Sikhism in Britain

• Maharajah Duleep Singh in mid-

nineteenth century (Singh &

Tatla, 2006: 44)

• First gurdwara in Putney in

1911 (Knott, 1997: 758)

History of Hinduism in Britain

• Ram Mohan Roy in first half of

nineteenth century (Knott,

1997: 758)

• First temple in Coventry in

1967 (Vertovec, 2000a: 97)

History of Buddhism in Britain

• Allan Bennett in early

twentieth century (Oliver,

1979: 43-45)

• First monastic community

(Sinhalese) in London in 1928

(Oliver, 1979: 65)

Sikhism in Britain

• Presence of gora (white) Sikhs

• Role of Sikh Dharma of the

Western Hemisphere

(see Singh & Tatla, 2006;

Takhar, 2003)

Hinduism in Britain

• Existence of Western ‘Hindus’

• Movements such as

Transcendental Meditation and

the International Society for

Krishna Consciousness

(see Barrett, 2001; Cole, 2007)

Buddhism in Britain

• Western-dominated Buddhist

groups, often new movements

• Changed profile with migrant

Buddhists now in the majority

(see Bluck, 2006; Thanissaro,

2011)

Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism in Britain

• Multiethnic in composition

albeit to differing extents

• Thriving and creative

Conclusion

• Not necessary to focus solely

on South Asia or assume a South

Asian model

• Religions of South Asian origin

as authentic and innovative in

their British forms

Conclusion

• Combination of familiar with

unfamiliar

• More inclusive view of

religions and better

understanding of the West

• Part of students’ own heritage

Conclusion

• Value of first-hand encounters with

religions of South Asian origin in a

British context

– Relationship between religion, culture

and ethnicity

– Usefulness of diaspora as a concept

• The twain meet in Britain

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