A
Place at the Multicultural Table
Price: $26.95
Subtitle: The Development of an American
Hinduism
Author: Prema A. Kurien
Subject: Sociology / Religion / Asian
American Studies
Paper ISBN 0-8135-4056-9
Cloth ISBN 0-8135-4055-0
Pages: 352 pages
Publication Date: July 2007
Praise for A Place at the Multicultural Table
"This book is an impressive work of scholarship in its
breadth and depth of information on the Hindu American
experience."-Nazli Kibria, author of Becoming Asian American:
Second-Generation Chinese and Korean American Identities
View the
Table of Contents (.pdf)
Description:
Multiculturalism in the United States is commonly lauded as a
positive social ideal celebrating the diversity of our nation. But, in
reality, immigrants often feel pressured to create a singular
formulation of their identity that does not reflect the diversity of
cultures that exist in their homeland. Hindu Americans have faced this
challenge over the last fifteen years, as the number of Indians that
have immigrated to this country has more than doubled.
In A Place at the Multicultural Table, Prema A.
Kurien shows how various Hindu American organizations-religious,
cultural, and political-are attempting to answer the puzzling questions
of identity outside their homeland. Drawing on the experiences of both
immigrant and American-born Hindu Americans, Kurien demonstrates how
religious ideas and practices are being imported, exported, and
reshaped in the process. The result of this transnational movement is
an American Hinduism-an organized, politicized, and standardized
version of that which is found in India.
This first in-depth look at Hinduism in the United States and
the Hindu Indian American community helps readers to understand the
private devotions, practices, and beliefs of Hindu Indian Americans as
well as their political mobilization and activism. It explains the
differences between immigrant and American-born Hindu Americans, how
both understand their religion and their identity, and it emphasizes
the importance of the social and cultural context of the United States
in influencing the development of an American Hinduism.
About the Author:
Prema Kurien is an associate professor of
sociology at Syracuse University. She is the author of
Kaleidoscopic Ethnicity: International Migration and the Reconstruction
of Community Identities in India, which was co-winner of the
American Sociological Association's 2003 Asia/Asian America book award.
Receive
special offers and book notices by email. Sign up for RU READING?
Price: $26.95
|
