John Zavos

Negotiating multiculturalism: Religion and the organisation of hindu identity in contemporary Britain

This paper examines the intersections of religious with ethnic and racial discourses in contemporary British politics, and asks how this process has affected the projection of minority identities in Britain. In particular, it looks at the development of Hindu identity through the emergence of national-level Hindu organisations, examining them in the framework of an analysis of developing multiculturalism and the articulation of religion as a legitimate facet of the public space. The paper argues that religion has emerged in a number of ways in recent years, and tries to understand Hindu organisations in relation to these varied articulations. Drawing comparisons with the political representation of Hindus and others in colonial India, the paper goes on to argue that the dominant discursive formation through which religion is legitimated as a facet of contemporary politics invokes an ‘organisational landscape’ which mediates and contains the potential of religious identifications in modern Britain.

Defending Hindu Tradition: Sanatana Dharma as a Symbol of Orthodoxy in Colonial India

Abstract Accounts of social and religious reform and of Hindu revivalism in late nineteenth-century India refer consistently to the idea of sanatana dharma as an indicator of ‘orthodox’ resistance to change in the context of a modernising religion. This article questions this presentation of sanatana dharma as an unmediated reactionary force. It argues that sanatana dharma as orthodoxy in fact emerged as an influential feature of the modernisation process, most particularly in the development of a doctrinally non-confrontational, pan-Hindu identity. The article then argues that this identity was critical to the conception of the Hindu nation in the early twentieth century—an idea which has subsequently developed into a significant force in Indian political and cultural life.

Stamp it out! Disciplining the image of Hinduism in a multicultural milieu

Abstract In November 2005 the UK Royal Mails use of Hindu imagery in its Christmas stamp set was vigorously opposed by a range of organisations projected as representative of Hindus in the United Kingdom. The ‘Hindu stamp’ affair highlighted the speed with which appropriate institutional resources can now be mobilised to discipline the image of Hinduism as a religion in the name of a British Hindu community. It is one of a succession of such campaigns over the past few years, all directed towards regulating the representation of Hindu-ness in commercial, media and state institutions. In this paper I want to ask what function is served by this regulatory practice, and why has it become more prominent in recent years? What can the development of such practices tell us about the location of Hindu-ness as a minority ethnic identity, and the way in which this identity uses or contests broader regulatory practices related to the construction of ethnic identities in Britain? By examining the contexts and tracing the emergence of ‘Hindu campaigning’ in Britain, this paper argues that such mobilisations signal a significant stage in the rapid development of religion as a feature of contemporary British politics.

Conversion and the Assertive Margins: An Analysis of Hindu Nationalist Discourse and the Recent Attacks on Indian Christians

THIS PAPER EXPLORES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HINDU NATIONALIST discourse and the Christian minority in India. It asks whether the recent increase in attacks on Christians both verbal and physical can be attributed to a qualitative change of strategy in the Sangh Parivar, and what such a change might tell us about the underlying logic of Hindu nationalist discourse. By adopting a historical perspective, the paper argues that the threat of conversion to Christianity has always formed a significant element of Hindu nationalist discourse, and that this significance was configured by the perceived focus of Christian missionaries from the late nineteenth century onwards on marginal groups such as dalits and tribals. The questionable status of such groups in relation to Hinduism made them particularly important to a discourse which has sought always to articulate clearly the limits of Hinduness, whilst at the same time maintaining the marginality of such groups in terms of socio-political power. Paradoxically, then, marginal groups occupy a critical position in the articulation of Hindu identity. The tension implicit in this situation has meant that any attempt at independent organisation by such groups religious, social, political has been vigorously opposed by Hindu nationalism. The paper argues that recent developments towards independent assertiveness amongst such groups characterised particularly by the Dalit

Situating Hindu nationalism in the UK: Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the development of British Hindu identity

This paper assesses the role of Hindu nationalism in the development of Hindu identity in Britain. Some accounts argue that the authoritarian network of Hindu nationalist organisations apparent in India is reproduced in diaspora contexts, especially in the west. The paper argues that this degree of organisational intentionality is not always borne out by evidence in the UK. Although Hindu nationalist organisations have achieved some success in establishing their presence, in national arenas they frequently give way to umbrella organisations such as the Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) and the Hindu Council UK (HCUK). The paper argues that Hindu nationalist organisations nevertheless operate vigorously in multilocal contexts, fuelling a ‘Hindutva effect’ which has a broader ideological influence. The paper examines some of the positions taken by the HFB and HCUK to demonstrate how this influence is played out in national arenas, before reflecting more broadly on the implications of these dynamics for the development of diaspora identities.

Small acts, Big Society: sewa and Hindu (nationalist) identity in Britain

This paper examines developing Hindu identity in a British context. It focuses on a recent initiative known as Sewa Day, an annual day dedicated to the provision of sewa, or service, as small-scale social action in local communities. Hindu nationalist organizations such as the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh have been central to promoting and taking part in Sewa Day. The paper asks what purpose is served by the drive to promote social action in this way, arguing that it represents a significant attempt to project Hindus as model citizens, contributors to what the UK government has termed the ‘Big Society’. The paper explores the implications of this project in terms of its ability to re-situate the politics of Hindu nationalism in relation to dominant registers of civic virtue.

Decentring the Indian Nation

Decentring the Indian nation constitutional centring - nation formation and institutional legacies in India and Pakistan redrawing the body politic - federalism, regionalism and the creation of new states in India the continuing struggle for Indias jharkhand - democracy, decentralization and the politics of names and numbers, liberal, secular democracy and explanations of Hindu nationalism whatever happened to cultural nationalism in Tamil Nadu? A reading of current events and the recent literature on Tamil politics a response to John Harriss identity politics and social pluralism - political sociology and political change in Tamil Nadu.

Transnational Religious Organisation and Flexible Citizenship in Britain and India

John Zavos extends the idea of the political-cultural entanglement of Asian-European citizenships. He argues that religious organizations have the potential to be significant actors as dynamic new ideas of citizenship are fashioned in the challenging contexts of global transnationalism. The chapter focuses on one particular religious organization, the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (or BAPS), examining its location in two different but related arenas of citizenship development, Britain and India. The chapter explores ways in which religion can operate as an ordering discourse in this context. Religious organizations, Zavos suggests, can navigate the public discourses opened up by these trends in order to enhance their sense of belonging, their status, and their access to rights in relation to national, social, and political arenas.

Are we not ‘BrAsians’?

Abstract This review article comments on the publication of a new collection of essays focused on the South Asian presence in Britain. Through an initial comparison with an earlier edited volume focused on this theme, the article points to the distinctive features of this new collection, with its insistence on the complex, fragmentary dynamic that flows from a post-colonial analysis. The volume advocates the use of the neologism ‘BrAsian’ as a means of disrupting settled notions of the South Asian experience in Britain. While acknowledging the logic of this post-colonial critique, the article points to the struggle to sustain this level of critical awareness in an edited volume of this scale. The article also points to the relative silence of the volume on the issue of religious identity – although perhaps an expectation that this theme should be covered is another settled notion disrupted by the challenging agenda of this ambitious project.

Digital Media and Networks of Hindu Activism in the UK

This paper seeks to explore the role of digital media and other forms of networking in the development of Hindu activism in a diaspora environment. It asks how the opening up and development of new digital media environments has impacted on Hindu activism, its potential for growth and its resonance in broader social and political spaces. The paper focuses on a case study of one Hindu activist movement that has emerged in the UK in recent years, Sewa Day, and reflects on its significance for our understanding of Hindu activism as it develops in these expanded contemporary environments.