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Gendered contours of contemporary South Asian religious practices in the context of migration: second-generation Jain women and men in Britain and USA

Gendered contours of contemporary South Asian religious practices in the context of migration: second-generation Jain women and men in Britain and USA
Gendered contours of contemporary South Asian religious practices in the context of migration: second-generation Jain women and men in Britain and USA
Viewing religion through the social constructionist lens and adopting a ‘lived religion’ methodological approach, this article draws attention to the gendered contours of contemporary Jain practice. Though it is a non-theistic, non-institutionalised religion, gender differences are embedded within lay practice in India. In contrast, analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with fifty second-generation, middle and upper-middle class Jain women and men in Britain and USA reveals a gender convergence in patterns of everyday religious practice and performance. I argue that the social turn in late modern societies, together with dominance of neo-orthodox Jain approach amongst diasporic Jains facilitates this convergence. Further, shifting patterns of religious practices suggest that religion is an important site for the negotiation of gender identities in the context of migration. The construction of Jain religious selves enables both young Jain women and men to navigate multiple and contradictory femininities and masculinities, and to display more affective, relational and compassionate selves in late modern societies.
second-generation Jains, Jain dharma, everyday religious practice, gender, femininities, masculinities
1353-7903
331-351
Shah, Bindi
c5c7510a-3b3d-4d12-a02a-c98e09734166
Shah, Bindi
c5c7510a-3b3d-4d12-a02a-c98e09734166

Shah, Bindi (2019) Gendered contours of contemporary South Asian religious practices in the context of migration: second-generation Jain women and men in Britain and USA. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 34 (2), 331-351. (doi:10.1080/13537903.2019.1621551).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Viewing religion through the social constructionist lens and adopting a ‘lived religion’ methodological approach, this article draws attention to the gendered contours of contemporary Jain practice. Though it is a non-theistic, non-institutionalised religion, gender differences are embedded within lay practice in India. In contrast, analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with fifty second-generation, middle and upper-middle class Jain women and men in Britain and USA reveals a gender convergence in patterns of everyday religious practice and performance. I argue that the social turn in late modern societies, together with dominance of neo-orthodox Jain approach amongst diasporic Jains facilitates this convergence. Further, shifting patterns of religious practices suggest that religion is an important site for the negotiation of gender identities in the context of migration. The construction of Jain religious selves enables both young Jain women and men to navigate multiple and contradictory femininities and masculinities, and to display more affective, relational and compassionate selves in late modern societies.

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Article for Special Issue of Journal of Contemporary Religion Final - Version of Record
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 16 February 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 July 2019
Keywords: second-generation Jains, Jain dharma, everyday religious practice, gender, femininities, masculinities

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 419363
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/419363
ISSN: 1353-7903
PURE UUID: b1a121f2-2597-47ea-9be7-fd43708aa417
ORCID for Bindi Shah: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5571-9755

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Apr 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 06:24

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