Ritualizing on the Boundaries
Continuity and Innovation in the Tamil Diaspora
Fred
W. Clothey
ABOUT THE BOOK
For centuries and particularly
since the 1830s, Tamils and other South Indians have become part of a diaspora
that has scattered their identities and traditions, both real and invented, to
cities around the world. In his comparative study of four Tamil resettlements,
senior scholar Fred W. Clothey examines the rituals that have traveled with
these South Indian communities—Hindu, Muslim, and Christian—and how these
practices perpetuate or modify the heritages these groups claim for themselves
in their new environs.
Clothey looks specifically at settlements
in the cities of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore; Mumbai, India; and
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Describing such settlements as
communities living on boundaries, Clothey explores how their existence
illustrates divisions among ethnic, local, and global identities; between
generations; and between imagined pasts and uncertain futures. He contends that
one of the most visible ways expatriated communities negotiate these boundaries
is through the use of ritual as manifested in the building of shrines and
temples, the celebration of festivals, the perpetuation and modification of
performances, and the enactment of ceremonies believed to have ancient roots.
In individual chapters Clothey examines the
construction of Pittsburgh’s Sri Venkatesvara temple, one of the oldest and
most authentic Hindu temples in the United States; explores the transition from
temporary to permanent shrines in Singapore’s Hindu community; compares how
brahmins in Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur perpetuate subethnic identities in their
shrines; and surveys Mumbai’s slums to explore the worlds of Muslims,
Christians, and castes of Hindus. He also reflects on the meanings of elaborate
festivals in each of these cities and speculates about how the singing of hymns
links the singers to their perceived lineage as well as to social
configurations in their new homes. Such vignettes reveal how rituals serve to
affirm a community’s sense of heritage while at the same time reflecting their
present circumstances. Through these case studies of the Tamil diaspora,
Clothey suggests that rituals can create a process of being at home away from home.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fred W. Clothey, professor
emeritus of religious studies, has taught at the University of Pittsburgh for
more than thirty years and also served as chair of its Department of Religious
Studies. A founder of the Journal of
Ritual Studies, he has produced and directed six documentary films on
ritual and has written or edited seven books, including Rhythm and Intent: Ritual Studies from South India and The Many Faces of Murukan. Clothey has
been a visiting professor at Charles University in Prague, the University of
Hyderabad, and West Virginia University. He is the recipient of four Fulbright
grants and four fellowships of the American Institute of Indian Studies.
Clothey resides in Pittsburgh.
Dy. 261pp. with 6 figs., 2 maps & 7
tables. (hb). 2015.
ISBN 978-81-215-1284-8. Rs 895.
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