Celebrating arti at the recently opened Swaminarayan BAPS Mandir in Preston

On the 13th of August 2016, Pramukh Swami, the President and guru of the transnational Hindu movement Swaminarayan BAPS, died in his 95^th year. Just over two weeks earlier, I had been doing a recce in the Swaminarayan BAPS Mandir (temple) in Preston for a film sequence we are making for our latest module (Exploring Religion). The devotion of members of the community to their guru was evident in almost everything they said.  Even more poignant in the light of events was their hope that, although Pramukh Swami had been in poor health for some years, they would yet have the joy of celebrating his 100^th birthday in five years’ time.

I only learnt of Pramukh Swami’s death when the community contacted us to postpone the actual filming. What struck me almost immediately was that I had not learnt of this through the British media. Still in the media’s so-called  ‘silly season’ during the peak holiday period and the summer recess of parliament, I checked with several people closely involved in the study of religions, but none  recollected having seen or heard any mention of Pramukh Swami’s death in the British media. Newspapers in India, of course, were full of the news of the death of this major Hindu personality. I did come across tweets of condolence from a few British politicians, including the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and later found an appreciation of Pramukh Swami’s life by Mark Tully (dated 29^th August) in the online Guardian. But I waited in vain for wider coverage in the British media, other than in outlets specifically designed to serve British Asian communities such as Asian Image and Eastern Eye.

The British Hindu community, although often said to lack the media profile of some other religious groups in Britain, is a large and active one. Swaminarayan BAPS is currently the most dynamic strand of the Swaminarayan tradition with a highly visible presence in Britain because of its flagship mandir in Neasden (inspired by Pramukh Swami). Pramukh Swami, who had led Swaminarayan BAPS as President (from 1950) and then guru since 1971, had a global standing, and not just because of his temple-building, which had earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Just as many Britons now have known no monarch other than Queen Elizabeth II, who came to the throne in 1952, so too, many Swaminarayan BAPS devotees have lived their whole lives under the inspiration and guidance of this one guru.

The limited interest shown by the media in Britain in the death of Pramukh Swami, an event of monumental significance for a large number of British Hindus, is surely revealing. Not about ISIS nor the wearing of burqas nor about gender and sexual politics in the Church of England, perhaps his death simply was not deemed ‘newsworthy’? Odd, really, when accounts of transgressions by gurus in India have previously found their way into British newspapers, although these gurus have had far less impact on British society than Pramukh Swami.

[I have delayed this blog as it would have been inappropriate to post this kind of reflection in the days immediately after the death of Pramukh Swami, although this is the period to which the blog refers.]

Gwilym Beckerlegge

Some of you may be aware of the Modern Religious History seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, which is convened by two members of the department – John Wolffe and John Maiden. The autumn series has now been confirmed, below.

Modern Religious History seminar

Autumn term, 2016-17

The seminar is held in the Olga Crisp room (N102) at the IHR, at 5.15pm. We usually go for drinks, followed by dinner, after the talk.

2 November – Dr Roland Quinault (IHR): Gladstone and the Roman Catholic converts.

16 November – Dr Andrew Holmes (Queen’s, Belfast): The United Kingdom as an Ulster-Scottish project: Presbyterianism, literature, and politics in the nineteenth century.

30 November – Dr Michael Ledger-Lomas (KCL): Faith and scholarship in Victorian England: Henry Wace and the Dictionary of Christian Biography (1877-87).

14 December – Dr Uta Balbier (KCL) “Praying for Billy”: religious practice and the shaping of a transnational evangelical community during the Billy Graham Crusades, 1950-1960.

A very strong OU Religious Studies presence at BASR Conference this year: four faculty, four PhD students and 2 former PhD students. All taking a very active part in proceedings, giving papers, chairing round table discussions, etc.

To mark the launch of our Graduate School in October 2016, The Open University is making a strategic investment in up to 30 PhD studentships. As part of this initiative, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is keen to receive applications for studentships in history/historical studies or sociology (both broadly defined to include historical and/or sociological approaches to any area of the Arts and Social Sciences). Open University Graduate School PhD studentships will cover full fees and stipend (currently £14,057 p.a.) for 3 years commencing October 2016 (or shortly thereafter). Applications are invited from both UK and EU citizens for full-time study.

Specialist expertise in religious history in the Religious Studies department at the OU includes evangelical and charismatic movements in the 19th and 20th century North Atlantic world, modern Hinduism, historical approaches to religious conflict, and the history of pilgrimage.

You can find out more information here – http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/research/funded-studentships.shtml

Yesterday was Star Wars day. Can Jediism be classed as a religion, or is it merely a cultural fad?

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/whats-on/events/star-wars-vii-can-jediism-be-classed-religion

Why not follow us on Twitter…?

@religion_ou

Last Monday we enjoyed an excellent Digital Humanities seminar and workshop courtesy of Chris Cotter and David Robertson of the Religious Studies Project.  Their seminar topic was Impact and Engagement, and for those of you who weren’t able to make it they have kindly made available the slides of their talk here https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ayLLtJXNmsEpJ7TYbZEIlkheh02UfrYO0kf9A27HYjU

There are some really interesting insights here on using podcasts, online collaboration and networking.

Podcast workshop (picture courtesy of Marion Bowman)

As part of the REDO team of researchers (funded by the Norwegian Research Council*) exploring the relationships between rituals and democracy, I have been privileged to spend time at a number of Indigenous festivals. In particular, I have been considering the multiple activities that make up the Riddu Riddu festival in arctic Norway. More properly, it is located in a valley in the Sámi territory of Sapmi. Each July large numbers of people gather to hear Indigenous performers from round the world as well as to hear talks, join in discussions, buy crafts, and party in the continuous sunlight of the arctic summer. Many different styles of music are performed on the main stage, from rock and reggae to the traditional chants of various Indigenous peoples, especially the Sámi yoik. I’m interested in the different ways in which performers draw on the resources and repertoires of Indigenous rituals to create and offer what they offer to their audiences. Then there are theatre pieces that catch people up into something transformative, illustrating the ways in which entertainment can take on the flavour of profound ritual. In this vibrant context of cultural interchange and spectacle, I’m examining the subtle and explicit expressions of Indigenous vitality, sovereignty and community-making. I’ll be writing more about that soon.

Alongside that annual event, I’ve been participating in other Indigenous gatherings. Every two years there is a wonderful extravaganza of Indigenous cultural display in London’s Origins Festival of First Nations. I should note, then, that I have been deliberately capitalising the word “Indigenous” to refer to peoples, nations or cultures that self-identify as such, and have found recognition in international forums such as the United Nations. There is a large debate about what “Indigenous” might mean and how scholars might use the term – especially because it is employed, like many self-designations, somewhat polemically or perhaps strategically. It is, perhaps, roughly synonymous with words like “native”, “aboriginal” or “First Nations” – all of which draw attention to modes of belonging to particular places, lands or communities. This too deserves more discussion!

In June 2015, I was involved in the making of the short film above. It showcases some of the performers and artists from the Origins Festival, especially in events at the British Museum, at RichMix club and in a park in west London. These provided unrivalled venues for considering what these eloquent Indigenous people wanted to convey to their audiences and others. I think there’s a richness in the video that deserves watching more than once to catch its nuances. It is intended to provide insights into significant issues for Indigenous peoples as well as to encourage further discussion and engagement.

Graham Harvey (Open University)

*http://www.tf.uio.no/english/research/projects/redo/

The weekend of 7-8 November saw the official opening of the new BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Preston. The celebratory Nagar Yatra (round-city procession) on the Saturday afternoon started in Preston Market Place where the procession formed with the new images, which would be installed in the temple on the Sunday, being adorned on ornately decorated vehicles. The main shopping street in the city centre was closed off while the procession made its way slowly through the Saturday-afternoon shoppers. Continue reading →