Michael W. Foley and Dean R. Hoge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195188707
- eISBN:
- 9780199785315
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188707.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book assesses the role of local worship communities — churches, mosques, temples, and others — in promoting civic engagement among recent immigrants to the United States. The product of a ...
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This book assesses the role of local worship communities — churches, mosques, temples, and others — in promoting civic engagement among recent immigrants to the United States. The product of a three-year study of immigrant worship communities in the Washington, D.C. area, the study looked at churches, mosques, temples, and other communities of immigrants from Korea, China, India, West Africa, the Muslim world, and El Salvador. The researchers surveyed 200 of these communities and studied twenty in depth. Communities vary widely in how much they build social capital, provide social services to immigrants, develop the civic skills of members, and shape immigrants' identities. Local leadership and group characteristics much more than ethnic origin or religious tradition shape the level and kind of civic engagement that the communities foster. Particularly, where leaders are civically engaged, they provide personal and organizational links to the wider American society and promote civic engagement by members. Homeland causes and a strong sense of religious and ethnic identity, far from alienating immigrants from American society, promote higher levels of civic engagement in immigrant communities.Less
This book assesses the role of local worship communities — churches, mosques, temples, and others — in promoting civic engagement among recent immigrants to the United States. The product of a three-year study of immigrant worship communities in the Washington, D.C. area, the study looked at churches, mosques, temples, and other communities of immigrants from Korea, China, India, West Africa, the Muslim world, and El Salvador. The researchers surveyed 200 of these communities and studied twenty in depth. Communities vary widely in how much they build social capital, provide social services to immigrants, develop the civic skills of members, and shape immigrants' identities. Local leadership and group characteristics much more than ethnic origin or religious tradition shape the level and kind of civic engagement that the communities foster. Particularly, where leaders are civically engaged, they provide personal and organizational links to the wider American society and promote civic engagement by members. Homeland causes and a strong sense of religious and ethnic identity, far from alienating immigrants from American society, promote higher levels of civic engagement in immigrant communities.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
As a result of the discovery of similarities between Sanskrit and the classical languages of Europe, scholars hypothesized the existence of an early “proto-Indo-European” people who spoke the ...
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As a result of the discovery of similarities between Sanskrit and the classical languages of Europe, scholars hypothesized the existence of an early “proto-Indo-European” people who spoke the language from which the other Indo-European speakers evolved. The solution to this Indo-European homeland problem has been one of the most consuming intellectual projects of the last two centuries. At first it was assumed that India was the original home of all the Indo-Europeans. Soon, however, Western scholars were contending that the Vedic culture of ancient India must have been the by-product of an invasion or migration of “Indo-Aryans” from outside the subcontinent. Over the years, Indian scholars have raised many arguments against this European reconstruction of their nation’s history, yet Western scholars have generally been unaware or dismissive of these voices from India itself. Edwin Bryant offers a comprehensive examination of this ongoing debate, presenting all of the relevant philological, archaeological, linguistic, and historiographical data, and showing how they have been interpreted both to support the theory of Aryan migrations and to contest it. Bringing to the fore those hitherto marginalized voices that argue against the external origin of the Indo-Aryans, he shows how Indian scholars have questioned the very logic, assumptions, and methods upon which the theory is based and have used the same data to arrive at very different conclusions. By exposing the whole endeavor to criticism from scholars who do not share the same intellectual history as their European peers, Bryant’s work newly complicates the Indo-European homeland quest. At the same time it recognizes the extent to which both sides of the debate have been driven by political, racial, religious, and nationalistic agendas.Less
As a result of the discovery of similarities between Sanskrit and the classical languages of Europe, scholars hypothesized the existence of an early “proto-Indo-European” people who spoke the language from which the other Indo-European speakers evolved. The solution to this Indo-European homeland problem has been one of the most consuming intellectual projects of the last two centuries. At first it was assumed that India was the original home of all the Indo-Europeans. Soon, however, Western scholars were contending that the Vedic culture of ancient India must have been the by-product of an invasion or migration of “Indo-Aryans” from outside the subcontinent. Over the years, Indian scholars have raised many arguments against this European reconstruction of their nation’s history, yet Western scholars have generally been unaware or dismissive of these voices from India itself. Edwin Bryant offers a comprehensive examination of this ongoing debate, presenting all of the relevant philological, archaeological, linguistic, and historiographical data, and showing how they have been interpreted both to support the theory of Aryan migrations and to contest it. Bringing to the fore those hitherto marginalized voices that argue against the external origin of the Indo-Aryans, he shows how Indian scholars have questioned the very logic, assumptions, and methods upon which the theory is based and have used the same data to arrive at very different conclusions. By exposing the whole endeavor to criticism from scholars who do not share the same intellectual history as their European peers, Bryant’s work newly complicates the Indo-European homeland quest. At the same time it recognizes the extent to which both sides of the debate have been driven by political, racial, religious, and nationalistic agendas.
Shawn Malley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781786941190
- eISBN:
- 9781789629088
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786941190.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ ...
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Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ in science fiction. But more than a well-spring for scenarios, SF’s archaeological imaginary is also a hermeneutic tool for excavating the ideological motivations of digging up the past buried in the future. A cultural study of an array of popular though critically neglected North American SF film and television texts–spanning the gamut of telefilms, pseudo-documentaries, teen serial drama and Hollywood blockbusters–Excavating the Future treats archaeology as a trope for exploring the popular archaeological imagination and the uses to which it is being put by the U.S. state and its adversaries. By treating SF texts as documents of archaeological experience circulating within and between scientific and popular culture communities and media, Excavating the Future develops critical strategies for analyzing SF film and television’s critical and adaptive responses to contemporary geopolitical concerns about the war on terror, homeland security, the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, and the ongoing fight against ISIS.Less
Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ in science fiction. But more than a well-spring for scenarios, SF’s archaeological imaginary is also a hermeneutic tool for excavating the ideological motivations of digging up the past buried in the future. A cultural study of an array of popular though critically neglected North American SF film and television texts–spanning the gamut of telefilms, pseudo-documentaries, teen serial drama and Hollywood blockbusters–Excavating the Future treats archaeology as a trope for exploring the popular archaeological imagination and the uses to which it is being put by the U.S. state and its adversaries. By treating SF texts as documents of archaeological experience circulating within and between scientific and popular culture communities and media, Excavating the Future develops critical strategies for analyzing SF film and television’s critical and adaptive responses to contemporary geopolitical concerns about the war on terror, homeland security, the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, and the ongoing fight against ISIS.
Michael W. Foley and Dean R. Hoge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195188707
- eISBN:
- 9780199785315
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188707.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Worship communities play important roles in civil society, in a few cases promoting political engagement around homeland causes and immigrant issues. Many communities provide informal or formal ...
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Worship communities play important roles in civil society, in a few cases promoting political engagement around homeland causes and immigrant issues. Many communities provide informal or formal social services to their members; others focus their charitable activities on the needy in inner-city America or abroad. Needier immigrant communities tend primarily to their own, especially in family-style worship communities; others draw on denominational resources to provide for immigrant members and others in their surroundings. More affluent worship communities provide money, goods, and volunteers for causes outside their immediate communities. Circumstances of immigration, the demographic profile of worship communities, and their organizational cultures and religious ties thus explain the considerable variation in the civic presence of immigrant worship communities.Less
Worship communities play important roles in civil society, in a few cases promoting political engagement around homeland causes and immigrant issues. Many communities provide informal or formal social services to their members; others focus their charitable activities on the needy in inner-city America or abroad. Needier immigrant communities tend primarily to their own, especially in family-style worship communities; others draw on denominational resources to provide for immigrant members and others in their surroundings. More affluent worship communities provide money, goods, and volunteers for causes outside their immediate communities. Circumstances of immigration, the demographic profile of worship communities, and their organizational cultures and religious ties thus explain the considerable variation in the civic presence of immigrant worship communities.
Michael W. Foley and Dean R. Hoge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195188707
- eISBN:
- 9780199785315
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188707.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Most communities encourage lay involvement in worship and leadership, thereby teaching civic skills. Smaller Protestant churches, Hindu ashrams, Sikh congregations, and even some activist Catholic ...
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Most communities encourage lay involvement in worship and leadership, thereby teaching civic skills. Smaller Protestant churches, Hindu ashrams, Sikh congregations, and even some activist Catholic parishes do this well. Some communities engage in direct training in civic skills, through literacy and English classes, naturalization and citizenship classes, discussion groups and forums, and programs to promote greater civic awareness. Lay and religious leadership is often crucial to mobilizing members around homeland causes or immigrant issues, and encouraging immigrants to exercise their civic skills in such causes.Less
Most communities encourage lay involvement in worship and leadership, thereby teaching civic skills. Smaller Protestant churches, Hindu ashrams, Sikh congregations, and even some activist Catholic parishes do this well. Some communities engage in direct training in civic skills, through literacy and English classes, naturalization and citizenship classes, discussion groups and forums, and programs to promote greater civic awareness. Lay and religious leadership is often crucial to mobilizing members around homeland causes or immigrant issues, and encouraging immigrants to exercise their civic skills in such causes.
John T. Hamilton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157528
- eISBN:
- 9781400846474
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157528.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
From national security and social security to homeland and cyber-security, “security” has become one of the most overused words in culture and politics today. Yet it also remains one of the most ...
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From national security and social security to homeland and cyber-security, “security” has become one of the most overused words in culture and politics today. Yet it also remains one of the most undefined. What exactly are we talking about when we talk about security? This book examines the discursive versatility and semantic vagueness of security both in current and historical usage. Adopting a philological approach, the book explores the fundamental ambiguity of this word, which denotes the removal of “concern” or “care” and therefore implies a condition that is either carefree or careless. Spanning texts from ancient Greek poetry to Roman Stoicism, from Augustine and Luther to Machiavelli and Hobbes, from Kant and Nietzsche to Heidegger and Carl Schmitt, the book analyzes formulations of security that involve both safety and negligence, confidence and complacency, certitude and ignorance. Does security instill more fear than it assuages? Is a security purchased with freedom or human rights morally viable? How do security projects inform our expectations, desires, and anxieties? And how does the will to security relate to human finitude? Although the book makes clear that security has always been a major preoccupation of humanity, it also suggests that contemporary panics about security and the related desire to achieve perfect safety carry their own very significant risks.Less
From national security and social security to homeland and cyber-security, “security” has become one of the most overused words in culture and politics today. Yet it also remains one of the most undefined. What exactly are we talking about when we talk about security? This book examines the discursive versatility and semantic vagueness of security both in current and historical usage. Adopting a philological approach, the book explores the fundamental ambiguity of this word, which denotes the removal of “concern” or “care” and therefore implies a condition that is either carefree or careless. Spanning texts from ancient Greek poetry to Roman Stoicism, from Augustine and Luther to Machiavelli and Hobbes, from Kant and Nietzsche to Heidegger and Carl Schmitt, the book analyzes formulations of security that involve both safety and negligence, confidence and complacency, certitude and ignorance. Does security instill more fear than it assuages? Is a security purchased with freedom or human rights morally viable? How do security projects inform our expectations, desires, and anxieties? And how does the will to security relate to human finitude? Although the book makes clear that security has always been a major preoccupation of humanity, it also suggests that contemporary panics about security and the related desire to achieve perfect safety carry their own very significant risks.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The Indigenous Aryan debate can only be understood in the context of the history of the greater Indo-European homeland quest in Europe. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the most prominent ...
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The Indigenous Aryan debate can only be understood in the context of the history of the greater Indo-European homeland quest in Europe. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the most prominent features of this history that are most directly connected with the problems of Indo-Aryan origins. Indigenous Aryanists are almost universally suspicious of the motives surrounding the manner in which evidence was interpreted and construed by British and European scholars in the colonial period. It is important to excavate clearly the various biases that influenced the epistemes of the time before attempting to consider the evidence itself, so this chapter addresses some of the more blatant ideological and religious attitudes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the West that co-opted Aryan discourse in some form or fashion. Since there have been a number of studies focused on the general history of Indo-European Studies, it focuses on the aspects of this history that are of particular relevance to the Indian side of the family.Less
The Indigenous Aryan debate can only be understood in the context of the history of the greater Indo-European homeland quest in Europe. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the most prominent features of this history that are most directly connected with the problems of Indo-Aryan origins. Indigenous Aryanists are almost universally suspicious of the motives surrounding the manner in which evidence was interpreted and construed by British and European scholars in the colonial period. It is important to excavate clearly the various biases that influenced the epistemes of the time before attempting to consider the evidence itself, so this chapter addresses some of the more blatant ideological and religious attitudes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the West that co-opted Aryan discourse in some form or fashion. Since there have been a number of studies focused on the general history of Indo-European Studies, it focuses on the aspects of this history that are of particular relevance to the Indian side of the family.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter addresses other linguistic issues often utilized in the Indo-European homeland quest and in examining Indo-Aryan origins. It looks at the center of origin method (the arguments of Robert ...
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This chapter addresses other linguistic issues often utilized in the Indo-European homeland quest and in examining Indo-Aryan origins. It looks at the center of origin method (the arguments of Robert Latham, Lachhmi Dhar, and others), dialectical subgroupings of the various cognate languages and their implications (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov’s model and Koenraad Elst’s co-option of this), and Johanna Nichol’s Bactria-Sogdiana (east of the Caspian Sea) model. The basic thrust of this chapter and the previous two has been to demonstrate some of the problems that have arisen in an attempt to pinpoint the origins of the Indo-Europeans and their offshoot Indo-Aryans through linguistic methods. The next three chapters look at the archaeological evidence.Less
This chapter addresses other linguistic issues often utilized in the Indo-European homeland quest and in examining Indo-Aryan origins. It looks at the center of origin method (the arguments of Robert Latham, Lachhmi Dhar, and others), dialectical subgroupings of the various cognate languages and their implications (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov’s model and Koenraad Elst’s co-option of this), and Johanna Nichol’s Bactria-Sogdiana (east of the Caspian Sea) model. The basic thrust of this chapter and the previous two has been to demonstrate some of the problems that have arisen in an attempt to pinpoint the origins of the Indo-Europeans and their offshoot Indo-Aryans through linguistic methods. The next three chapters look at the archaeological evidence.
Nicholas S. Hopkins and Sohair R. Mehanna (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774164019
- eISBN:
- 9781617970382
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774164019.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This is a retrospective look at a major investigation of the culture of a displaced people. In the 1960s, the construction of the Aswan High Dam occasioned the forced displacement of a large part of ...
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This is a retrospective look at a major investigation of the culture of a displaced people. In the 1960s, the construction of the Aswan High Dam occasioned the forced displacement of a large part of the Nubian population. Beginning in 1960, anthropologists at the American University in Cairo's Social Research Center undertook a survey of the Nubians to be moved and those already outside their historic homeland. The goal was to record and analyze Nubian culture and social organization, to create a record for the future, and to preserve a body of information on which scholars and officials could draw. This book chronicles the research carried out by an international team with the cooperation of many Nubians. Gathered here into one volume are chapters, which are reprinted, that provide a valuable resource of research data on the Nubian project, as well as photographs taken during the field study that document ways of life that have long since disappeared.Less
This is a retrospective look at a major investigation of the culture of a displaced people. In the 1960s, the construction of the Aswan High Dam occasioned the forced displacement of a large part of the Nubian population. Beginning in 1960, anthropologists at the American University in Cairo's Social Research Center undertook a survey of the Nubians to be moved and those already outside their historic homeland. The goal was to record and analyze Nubian culture and social organization, to create a record for the future, and to preserve a body of information on which scholars and officials could draw. This book chronicles the research carried out by an international team with the cooperation of many Nubians. Gathered here into one volume are chapters, which are reprinted, that provide a valuable resource of research data on the Nubian project, as well as photographs taken during the field study that document ways of life that have long since disappeared.
Christopher Prendergast
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155203
- eISBN:
- 9781400846313
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155203.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines questions about bodies and origins, homelands and fatherlands in À la recherche du temps perdu. In Marcel Proust's novel, the important parental body is the maternal body—at ...
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This chapter examines questions about bodies and origins, homelands and fatherlands in À la recherche du temps perdu. In Marcel Proust's novel, the important parental body is the maternal body—at once sacred and profane, place of both sanctuary and exile. We are also taken back periodically to the Recherche's original religious home, by, for example, the views of Charlus in pious mood on the subject of the Christian Church and the sacrament of the Word made flesh. Charlus spews out a set of stock themes from the history of anti-Semitism in Christian Europe. The chapter also considers the presence of churches and cathedrals in the Recherche; the cathedrals are an expression of nation and ancestry, and as national patrimony they belong to “the body-France.” The chapter concludes by suggesting that in Proust the body is where we live but not where we are at home.Less
This chapter examines questions about bodies and origins, homelands and fatherlands in À la recherche du temps perdu. In Marcel Proust's novel, the important parental body is the maternal body—at once sacred and profane, place of both sanctuary and exile. We are also taken back periodically to the Recherche's original religious home, by, for example, the views of Charlus in pious mood on the subject of the Christian Church and the sacrament of the Word made flesh. Charlus spews out a set of stock themes from the history of anti-Semitism in Christian Europe. The chapter also considers the presence of churches and cathedrals in the Recherche; the cathedrals are an expression of nation and ancestry, and as national patrimony they belong to “the body-France.” The chapter concludes by suggesting that in Proust the body is where we live but not where we are at home.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391640
- eISBN:
- 9780199866649
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391640.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This book is the story of how in six different locations indentured workers from India were able to design Hindu communities for themselves, and how those communities continue to thrive in those ...
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This book is the story of how in six different locations indentured workers from India were able to design Hindu communities for themselves, and how those communities continue to thrive in those postcolonial societies. In the colonial era, the recruitment of workers had many of the features of the earlier slave trade. As the late nineteenth century wore on, however, the colonial regimes in these places lost interest in governing and the workers were largely left to design a culture for themselves. In each location, the Hindu majority among the Indians developed a style of worship that linked their memories of home with the opportunities available in their new social environment. This was the first large‐scale diaspora of Hindus from the Indian subcontinent, and because they did not have religious specialists with them, they had to create a sense of community for themselves and then determine the ritual forms they would use to sustain that community. Because of the energy needed to initiate and sustain this kind of religious community, the Hindus in these locations are unusually proud of their religious traditions and have taught these new traditions to succeeding generations as authoritative traditions. When the author and his family lived among them in 1995–96 and in 2000, the Hindus in these societies eagerly assisted with the field work and showed great pride in what they considered their new homeland.Less
This book is the story of how in six different locations indentured workers from India were able to design Hindu communities for themselves, and how those communities continue to thrive in those postcolonial societies. In the colonial era, the recruitment of workers had many of the features of the earlier slave trade. As the late nineteenth century wore on, however, the colonial regimes in these places lost interest in governing and the workers were largely left to design a culture for themselves. In each location, the Hindu majority among the Indians developed a style of worship that linked their memories of home with the opportunities available in their new social environment. This was the first large‐scale diaspora of Hindus from the Indian subcontinent, and because they did not have religious specialists with them, they had to create a sense of community for themselves and then determine the ritual forms they would use to sustain that community. Because of the energy needed to initiate and sustain this kind of religious community, the Hindus in these locations are unusually proud of their religious traditions and have taught these new traditions to succeeding generations as authoritative traditions. When the author and his family lived among them in 1995–96 and in 2000, the Hindus in these societies eagerly assisted with the field work and showed great pride in what they considered their new homeland.
Colin G. Calloway
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340129
- eISBN:
- 9780199867202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340129.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
The final chapter draws together some of the enduring legacies and persistent challenges of the histories traced in the rest of the book. It also offers a series of reflections on the interplay of ...
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The final chapter draws together some of the enduring legacies and persistent challenges of the histories traced in the rest of the book. It also offers a series of reflections on the interplay of historical memory and modern-day identities, which are often fluid and contested. Many Native Americans and American Scots look to the past to define and represent themselves, individually and collectively.Less
The final chapter draws together some of the enduring legacies and persistent challenges of the histories traced in the rest of the book. It also offers a series of reflections on the interplay of historical memory and modern-day identities, which are often fluid and contested. Many Native Americans and American Scots look to the past to define and represent themselves, individually and collectively.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391640
- eISBN:
- 9780199866649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391640.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter introduces the reader to the unusual social situations that were created when shiploads of Indian workers were taken to these distant lands. Not only did the workers learn to share the ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to the unusual social situations that were created when shiploads of Indian workers were taken to these distant lands. Not only did the workers learn to share the space with other colonized people, but because ship loads from Calcutta had alternated with those from Madras, in most cases they also had to build community across the North Indian–South Indian cultural and linguistic divide. The Introduction argues that the religious traditions that were eventually developed share some common features that make them different in kind from traditions one might find either in India or in the later Hindu diaspora to Europe and North America. The label “new homeland” is used to describe the especially strong commitment people have made to the religious traditions their ancestors developed in these situations.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to the unusual social situations that were created when shiploads of Indian workers were taken to these distant lands. Not only did the workers learn to share the space with other colonized people, but because ship loads from Calcutta had alternated with those from Madras, in most cases they also had to build community across the North Indian–South Indian cultural and linguistic divide. The Introduction argues that the religious traditions that were eventually developed share some common features that make them different in kind from traditions one might find either in India or in the later Hindu diaspora to Europe and North America. The label “new homeland” is used to describe the especially strong commitment people have made to the religious traditions their ancestors developed in these situations.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391640
- eISBN:
- 9780199866649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391640.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter tries to explain why the Indian workers were so successful in building what they call a “new homeland” for themselves. One important factor was the weak and temporary nature of the ...
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This chapter tries to explain why the Indian workers were so successful in building what they call a “new homeland” for themselves. One important factor was the weak and temporary nature of the colonial regimes. Another factor was that while the Indians arrived in the society at a given point in time and set about defining themselves, the other colonized persons were in most cases less clear about their cultural goals. Although there were sometimes tensions between the North Indian and South Indian groups in building an Indian tradition, even that rivalry proved stimulating. In these postcolonial situations, the need to have a cultural identity was clear; and these six Hindu communities are more focused on that task than Hindus in India or in the later diaspora to Europe and North America are inclined to be. Hindus from these new homeland settings clearly take pride in their new religious traditions, and when they have immigrated to other parts of the world, they have usually reestablished their new religious tradition in that setting as well.Less
This chapter tries to explain why the Indian workers were so successful in building what they call a “new homeland” for themselves. One important factor was the weak and temporary nature of the colonial regimes. Another factor was that while the Indians arrived in the society at a given point in time and set about defining themselves, the other colonized persons were in most cases less clear about their cultural goals. Although there were sometimes tensions between the North Indian and South Indian groups in building an Indian tradition, even that rivalry proved stimulating. In these postcolonial situations, the need to have a cultural identity was clear; and these six Hindu communities are more focused on that task than Hindus in India or in the later diaspora to Europe and North America are inclined to be. Hindus from these new homeland settings clearly take pride in their new religious traditions, and when they have immigrated to other parts of the world, they have usually reestablished their new religious tradition in that setting as well.
Mamiko Saito and Paula Kantor
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264591
- eISBN:
- 9780191734397
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264591.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
In addition to the traumatic and post-traumatic effects migration has on young refugees, prolonged displacement poses a greater effect. It affects the young refugees’ perception of their selves, ...
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In addition to the traumatic and post-traumatic effects migration has on young refugees, prolonged displacement poses a greater effect. It affects the young refugees’ perception of their selves, homeland and future. Reintegration of young refugees is more difficult as most of them have profound alienated feelings towards their homeland which they feel that they barely know and they often feel intense attachment to the host country in which they grew up. This chapter addresses some gaps to better understand the less visible social and emotional trajectories experienced by young Afghan refugees in the process of reintegration to their homeland. It examines the personal journeys resulting from the respondent’s experiences of Iran and Pakistan, and their return to Afghanistan: their resettlement and their remigration. It highlights the expectations and the meaning of returning and repatriation to the homeland through the perspectives of the young refugees. The first section of the chapter provides a background to the study and the approach for the selection of a target group. The next section discusses the contradictory characteristics of young Afghan refugees who grew up as refugees in Pakistan and Iran, and looks at their perceptions and expectations with regard to Afghanistan. The last sections are devoted to the discussion of the barriers to successful reintegration and the key issues which can provide support to young returning Afghans beyond material assistance.Less
In addition to the traumatic and post-traumatic effects migration has on young refugees, prolonged displacement poses a greater effect. It affects the young refugees’ perception of their selves, homeland and future. Reintegration of young refugees is more difficult as most of them have profound alienated feelings towards their homeland which they feel that they barely know and they often feel intense attachment to the host country in which they grew up. This chapter addresses some gaps to better understand the less visible social and emotional trajectories experienced by young Afghan refugees in the process of reintegration to their homeland. It examines the personal journeys resulting from the respondent’s experiences of Iran and Pakistan, and their return to Afghanistan: their resettlement and their remigration. It highlights the expectations and the meaning of returning and repatriation to the homeland through the perspectives of the young refugees. The first section of the chapter provides a background to the study and the approach for the selection of a target group. The next section discusses the contradictory characteristics of young Afghan refugees who grew up as refugees in Pakistan and Iran, and looks at their perceptions and expectations with regard to Afghanistan. The last sections are devoted to the discussion of the barriers to successful reintegration and the key issues which can provide support to young returning Afghans beyond material assistance.
Sarah Kamal
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264591
- eISBN:
- 9780191734397
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264591.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
Voluntary repatriation has been framed as the optimal and durable solution in internal politics and legal frameworks since the 1980s. While still generally put into practice as the solution of ...
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Voluntary repatriation has been framed as the optimal and durable solution in internal politics and legal frameworks since the 1980s. While still generally put into practice as the solution of choice, repatriation is no longer perceived as an unproblematic end to the refugee cycle. With the growing awareness of repatriation’s less than exemplary methods, the sometimes coercive nature of it, and the unstable post-conflict conditions awaiting returnees, voluntary repatriation has waned over the years. However, there is an insufficient understanding of the long-term prospects of the returnees and the repatriation perspectives of the young refugee. This chapter hence explores repatriation within the perspectives of Afghan youths. It presents stories of four Afghan youths: in 2003 as they face the prospect of voluntary repatriation in the hands of the Iranian government; in 2006 as they situated themselves vis-á-vis Afghanistan in the early flush of return to their homeland; and in 2007 as they narrated their hopes and aspirations within their growing understanding of their new context. The stories presented in this chapter offer a longitudinal examination of repatriation from the perspective of the long-term forced migrant youth and a window to the lives of young Afghans repatriating from Iran.Less
Voluntary repatriation has been framed as the optimal and durable solution in internal politics and legal frameworks since the 1980s. While still generally put into practice as the solution of choice, repatriation is no longer perceived as an unproblematic end to the refugee cycle. With the growing awareness of repatriation’s less than exemplary methods, the sometimes coercive nature of it, and the unstable post-conflict conditions awaiting returnees, voluntary repatriation has waned over the years. However, there is an insufficient understanding of the long-term prospects of the returnees and the repatriation perspectives of the young refugee. This chapter hence explores repatriation within the perspectives of Afghan youths. It presents stories of four Afghan youths: in 2003 as they face the prospect of voluntary repatriation in the hands of the Iranian government; in 2006 as they situated themselves vis-á-vis Afghanistan in the early flush of return to their homeland; and in 2007 as they narrated their hopes and aspirations within their growing understanding of their new context. The stories presented in this chapter offer a longitudinal examination of repatriation from the perspective of the long-term forced migrant youth and a window to the lives of young Afghans repatriating from Iran.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This introduction describes the book as primarily a historiographical study of how various Indian scholars, over the course of a century or more, have rejected this idea of an external origin of the ...
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This introduction describes the book as primarily a historiographical study of how various Indian scholars, over the course of a century or more, have rejected this idea of an external origin of the Indo-Aryans by questioning much of the logic, assumptions, and methods upon which the theory is based. The aims of the book are discussed, with the primary aim identified as an excavation of marginalized points of view reacting against what is perceived as a flawed and biased historical construct. As a corollary of this aim, the book further complicates the Indo-European homeland quest by exposing the whole endeavor to a critique from scholars outside mainstream European academic circles who do not share the same intellectual history as their Western peers. A further aim of the book is to present a comprehensive exposition and analysis of views from within mainstream academic circles, addressing the issue of Indo-Aryan origins. The main part of the introduction gives an outline of the contents of each chapter and addresses various methodological issues.Less
This introduction describes the book as primarily a historiographical study of how various Indian scholars, over the course of a century or more, have rejected this idea of an external origin of the Indo-Aryans by questioning much of the logic, assumptions, and methods upon which the theory is based. The aims of the book are discussed, with the primary aim identified as an excavation of marginalized points of view reacting against what is perceived as a flawed and biased historical construct. As a corollary of this aim, the book further complicates the Indo-European homeland quest by exposing the whole endeavor to a critique from scholars outside mainstream European academic circles who do not share the same intellectual history as their Western peers. A further aim of the book is to present a comprehensive exposition and analysis of views from within mainstream academic circles, addressing the issue of Indo-Aryan origins. The main part of the introduction gives an outline of the contents of each chapter and addresses various methodological issues.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter starts the analysis of the actual data concerning Indo-Aryan origins. By the mid-nineteenth century, one of the few things regarding the homeland that Western Indo-European scholars did ...
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This chapter starts the analysis of the actual data concerning Indo-Aryan origins. By the mid-nineteenth century, one of the few things regarding the homeland that Western Indo-European scholars did agree on was that it could not have been India; wherever the original homeland might have been the Indo-Aryans at least must have come to the subcontinent from outside. While not the slightest bit concerned with the homeland obsession of European scholars in general, Indigenous Aryanists soon reacted to the corollary of the problem when it impinged on the origins of their own culture; it seemed unacceptable to consider that such an enormously speculative and seemingly inconclusive European undertaking should be entitled to make authoritative pronouncements on the early history of the Indian subcontinent. The first voices of opposition that attempted to utilize critical scholarship to counter the claim that the forefathers of the Vedic Indians hailed from outside the subcontinent are introduced. The initial objections concerned the philological evidence that had been brought forward as decisive by Western philologists. Since philology was a discipline that resonated with their own traditional Śruti epistemologies, and since it focused on texts in their own ancient language, Vedic Sanskrit, the philological evidence was the most easily accessible to Indigenous Aryan scrutiny; moreover, these texts that were suddenly of such interest to Western scholars happened to be their sacred ones and this fueled their concern.Less
This chapter starts the analysis of the actual data concerning Indo-Aryan origins. By the mid-nineteenth century, one of the few things regarding the homeland that Western Indo-European scholars did agree on was that it could not have been India; wherever the original homeland might have been the Indo-Aryans at least must have come to the subcontinent from outside. While not the slightest bit concerned with the homeland obsession of European scholars in general, Indigenous Aryanists soon reacted to the corollary of the problem when it impinged on the origins of their own culture; it seemed unacceptable to consider that such an enormously speculative and seemingly inconclusive European undertaking should be entitled to make authoritative pronouncements on the early history of the Indian subcontinent. The first voices of opposition that attempted to utilize critical scholarship to counter the claim that the forefathers of the Vedic Indians hailed from outside the subcontinent are introduced. The initial objections concerned the philological evidence that had been brought forward as decisive by Western philologists. Since philology was a discipline that resonated with their own traditional Śruti epistemologies, and since it focused on texts in their own ancient language, Vedic Sanskrit, the philological evidence was the most easily accessible to Indigenous Aryan scrutiny; moreover, these texts that were suddenly of such interest to Western scholars happened to be their sacred ones and this fueled their concern.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
An examination is made of various points of view on the location of the Indo-European homeland based on evidence from the method of linguistic paleontology. This is one of the most exploited ...
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An examination is made of various points of view on the location of the Indo-European homeland based on evidence from the method of linguistic paleontology. This is one of the most exploited disciplines used in the homeland quest, and one that is also fundamental in insisting that the Indo-Aryans had an origin external to the Indian subcontinent. Here, Indian scholars are found reconfiguring the same logic and method to arrive at very different conclusions from those of their Western counterparts. The two principal aspects of linguistic paleontology examined are terms for various Indo-European flora and fauna (including trees), and the term “ēkwos” for horse (along with references to the accompanying archaeological evidence). The chapter finishes by presenting criticisms of the linguistic palaeontology method.Less
An examination is made of various points of view on the location of the Indo-European homeland based on evidence from the method of linguistic paleontology. This is one of the most exploited disciplines used in the homeland quest, and one that is also fundamental in insisting that the Indo-Aryans had an origin external to the Indian subcontinent. Here, Indian scholars are found reconfiguring the same logic and method to arrive at very different conclusions from those of their Western counterparts. The two principal aspects of linguistic paleontology examined are terms for various Indo-European flora and fauna (including trees), and the term “ēkwos” for horse (along with references to the accompanying archaeological evidence). The chapter finishes by presenting criticisms of the linguistic palaeontology method.
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195156508
- eISBN:
- 9780199868230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156508.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter investigates the location and the chronology of the Slavic homeland. It adds that in light of new evidence, certain scholars have redefined the original Slavic homeland, and even the ...
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This chapter investigates the location and the chronology of the Slavic homeland. It adds that in light of new evidence, certain scholars have redefined the original Slavic homeland, and even the original Indo-European homeland, to include parts of Russia. It explains B. A. Rybakov's views of the original Slavic homeland—one is between the Western Bug and the Vistula eastward to the Dnieper; and the other is between the Western Bug and the Vistula westward to the Oder. It clarifies that these kinds of identifications are linguistic, not racial, and do not necessarily correspond to any physical traits. It also examines the consequences of Slavic migrations and of the great and rather sudden expansion of the Slavic zone in Europe. It also discusses the theory of Indo-European social and religious structure.Less
This chapter investigates the location and the chronology of the Slavic homeland. It adds that in light of new evidence, certain scholars have redefined the original Slavic homeland, and even the original Indo-European homeland, to include parts of Russia. It explains B. A. Rybakov's views of the original Slavic homeland—one is between the Western Bug and the Vistula eastward to the Dnieper; and the other is between the Western Bug and the Vistula westward to the Oder. It clarifies that these kinds of identifications are linguistic, not racial, and do not necessarily correspond to any physical traits. It also examines the consequences of Slavic migrations and of the great and rather sudden expansion of the Slavic zone in Europe. It also discusses the theory of Indo-European social and religious structure.
