Digital Hinduism

Dharma and Discourse in the Age of New Media

Contributions by Murali Balaji Temple University, Denzil Chetty, Sachi Edwards, Ravi Grover, Heinz Scheifinger, K.S. Arul Selvan, Lakshmi Chandrashekar Subramanian, Charu Uppal, Shikhandi Edited by Murali Balaji Temple University

Publication date:

01 November 2017

Length of book:

208 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

236x161mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781498559171

This edited volume seeks to build a scholarly discourse about how Hinduism is being defined, reformed, and rearticulated in the digital era and how these changes are impacting the way Hindus view their own religious identities. It seeks to interrogate how digital Hinduism has been shaped in response to the dominant framing of the religion, which has often relied on postcolonial narratives devoid of context and an overemphasis on the geopolitics of the Indian subcontinent post-partition. From this perspective, this volume challenges previous frameworks of how Hinduism has been studied, particularly in the West, where Marxist and Orientalist approaches are often ill-fitting paradigms to understanding Hinduism. This volume engages with and critiques some of these approaches while also enriching existing models of research within media studies, ethnography, cultural studies, and religion.

Introduction: Digital Paths to the Divine? New Media, Hinduism, and the Transformation of Dharmic Discourse and Practice, Murali Balaji
Part I
Chapter 1: The Significance of Non-Participatory Digital Religion: The Saiva Siddhanta Church and the Development of a Global Hinduism, Heinz Scheifinger
Chapter 2: The Formation of Online Religious Identities: A Case Study of the Internet-Hindu in India’s Cyberspace, Denzil Chetty
Chapter 3: From Newsgroups to #hashtags: Mapping Pattern of Online Hindu Religious Practices, K.S. Arul Selvan
Part II
Chapter 4: Mirabai Sings on YouTube: The Transmission of a Poet-Saint in the Age of Digital Devotion, Lakshmi Chandrashekar Subramanian
Chapter 5: Creating Spaces for Progressive Voices in Hinduism: My Experience with the Queer Hindu Blogosphere, Shikhandi
Part III
Chapter 6: Dharma Deen Alliance: Cyber Resistance and Building Online Hindu-Muslim Unity, Ravi Grover
Chapter 7: #Hinduphobia: Hate Speech, Bigotry, and Oppression of Hindus through the Internet, Sachi Edwards
Chapter 8: Digital Divide, Diasporic Identity, and a Spiritual Upgrade, Charu Uppal
Chapter 9: Digitalizing the Diasporic Subaltern: How Caribbean Hinduism Is Preserved through the Web, Murali Balaji
Conclusion: Digital Dilemmas and New Paradigms in Digital Dharma, Murali Balaji

Digital Hinduism helps to legitimize a relatively new conversation in religious studies. Because the subfield of digital religious studies is still being defined and studies on the intersection of new media and religion are burgeoning, particularly within Hindu studies, this collection of essays brings further insight to a fairly new area of study. . . . This collection has many strengths. Almost every essay provides a wealth of information on technology and how accessible that technology may be to various communities. Additionally, many different topics relating to the formation of an online Hindu identity are represented. An effort was clearly made to bring a diversity of voices into the conversation. . . On the whole, this collection provides a wide-ranging survey of digital Hinduism.