Hindu/Indian Culture Outside India

[acharya]

HINDUISM IN AMERICA
CAS RN 313/RN 313 HP/RN 611
Professor Stephen Prothero
TT 2-3:30
Office Hours: TT 1-2
CAS 225
Office: STH 5
th
Floor (540B)
Phone: 353-4426
Email: prothero@bu.edu
Description
This course explores the transplantation and transformation of the ideas, institutions, and
practices of Hinduism in the United States. We will attend to the ways that Asian
Americans and European Americans alike have adapted Hinduism to American
circumstances and, in the process, changed the course of American religious history and
even the history of Hinduism itself. Emphasis on close readings of primary sources,
including memoirs of converts, autobiographies of gurus, Supreme Court cases, and the
controversial literature of “anti-cult” critics. Themes include: Americanization,
creolization, and pluralism.
Requirements
1. Class participation: 10%
2. Site Visit, Written Report, and In-Class Presentation: 10%.
Visit a Boston-area Hindu (or Hindu-influenced) site. (For suggested sites, see
“World Religions in Boston” (http://www.pluralism.org/wrb.html). Write a report
(3 double-spaced, typed pages) regarding the site and your experiences there.
Analyze, as best as you can, the community (demographics, such as gender, age,
race, ethnicity), practices, beliefs, architecture, and location. Describe your
impressions of the people, their place, and their activities. Then analyze your
impressions. How did these people and their place meet your expectations?
Frustrate them? Written report due on April 12 at the bginning of class (2 p.m.).
In-class presentation of your site and your experiences (presentation of
approximately 10 minutes) are scheduled on the syllabus below.
3. Two book reviews (15% each). Choose from two of the following three options:
Jackson, Vedanta in the West (due on February 8 at the beginning of class);
and/or Yogananda, Autobiography of a Swami (due on February 27 at the
beginning of class); and/or Muster, Betrayal of the Spirit (due on March 27 at the
beginning of class).
4. Contribution to our Web site on American Hinduism (details to be announced) (25%).
5. Final take-home essay examination (due on May 8) (25%).
Late Papers/Makeup Exam Policy
Exams will not be rescheduled. Papers are due at the beginning of class on the due date.
Papers may be handed in late, but late papers will be marked down one half grade for
each day or portion thereof they are late. (No excuses necessary.) Plagiarism will not be
tolerated. See Boston University's academic conduct handbook.
Page 2
Required Texts
Thomas A. Tweed and Stephen Prothero, Asian Religions in America: A Documentary
History (Oxford University Press, 1998). (Abbreviated here as TP.)
Carl T. Jackson, Vedanta for the West: The Ramakrishna Movement in the United States
(Indiana University Press, 1994).
Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship, 1979).
Nora J. Muster, Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life Behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna
Movement (University of Illinois Press, 1996).
J. Isamu Yamamoto, Hinduism, TM & Hare Krishna (Zondervan, 1998)
Ed Viswanathan, Am I a Hindu? The Hinduism Primer (Halo Books, 1992)
Course Packet (CP).
Internet Resources
Hinduism Today (http://www.hinduismtoday.com)
American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) (http://www.hindunet.org/ahad)
Hindu Web Universe (http://www.hinduweb.org)
Beliefnet (http://www.beliefnet.com)
INTRODUCTION
Jan 16
Introduction: The United States and East/West Encounters
Jan 18
Introduction: Basic Hinduism
Reading: Ed Viswanathan, Am I a Hindu?
Jan 23
Introduction: Basic Hinduism
Reading: Ed Viswanathan, Am I a Hindu?
Jan 25
Madonna, Yoga, and Pop Hinduism
Reading: Review AHAD Web Site (http://www.hindunet.org/ahad).
Assignment/Discussion: Bring to class one example of Hinduism in
American popular culture (art, advertisement, music, TV, etc.). Is this use
of Hindu symbols, terms, divinities a good or a bad thing? Why?
ENCOUNTERS: LITERARY AND INTERPERSONAL
Jan 30
Face-to-Face Encounters Abroad: Missionaries and Travelers
Reading: “Orientations, 1784 to 1840,” in TP, 25-27; Amaso Delano, A
Narrative of Voyages and Travels (1817) in TP, 29-32; Christian Disciple,
“An Account of the Sikhs in India” (1814) in TP, 32-35; Joseph Priestley,
A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with Those of the Hindoos and
other Ancient Nations (1799) in TP, 44-48; “John Adams to Thomas
Jefferson” (1813-14), in TP, 48-51;
Feb 1
Literary Encounters: Unitarians and Transcendentalists Romance
the Orient
Page 3
Reading: “Encounters, 1840-1924” in TP, 61-65; Hannah Adams, A
Dictionary of All Religions (1817) in TP, 54-57; Ralph Waldo Emerson,
“Brahma” and “Plato” (1857, 1850) in TP, 92-95; Henry David Thoreau,
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) in TP, 95-98.
Feb 6
Pioneers in American Hinduism: The Vedanta Society
Reading: Carl T. Jackson, Vedanta in the West
Feb 8
Pioneers in American Hinduism: The Vedanta Society
Reading: Carl T. Jackson, Vedanta in the West
** Book Review Due at Beginning of Class **
ASIAN INDIAN IMMIGRATION: THE FIRST WAVE (1900-1924)
Feb 13
Asian Indian Immigration and its Discontents
Reading: Saint Nihal Singh, “The Picturesque Immigrant from India's
Coral Strand” (1909) in TP, 82-86; United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
(1923) in TP, 88-91; Asian Exclusion Act (1924) in TP, 163-64
Feb 15
Mother India’s Scandalous Swamis
Reading: Mersene Sloan, The Indian Menace (1929) in TP, 212-215;
selected newspaper articles regarding the Ole Bull case of 1911 (CP).
Feb 20
** NO CLASS (Monday schedule meets instead because of
Monday holiday)
Feb 22
Pioneers in American Hinduism: Yogananda and the Self-
Realization Fellowship
Reading: “Exclusion, 1924 to 1965” in TP, 159-62; Paramahansa
Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946).
Feb 27
Pioneers in American Hinduism: Yogananda and the Self-
Realization Fellowship
Reading: Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946).
** Book Review Due at Beginning of Class **
Mar 1
The Oriental Christ
Reading: Swami Paramananda, Christ and Oriental Ideals (1923) in TP,
86-88; Stephen Prothero, “The Oriental Christ” (CP).
** SPRING BREAK (March 3-11) **
ASIAN INDIAN IMMIGRATION: THE SECOND WAVE (1965-present)
EXPORT HINDUISM
Page 4
Mar 13
Hinduism for the Counterculture: Transcendental Meditation ™, the
Hare Krishnas (ISKCON), Ram Dass, and Sai Baba
Reading: A TM Catechism” (1975) in TP, 241-44; “The Beatles and A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Search for Liberation” (1981), in TP,
244-48; Ram Dass, The Only Dance There Is (1974) in TP, 235-40; Elsie
Cowan, “Sai Baba and the Resurrection of Walter Cowan” (1976) in TP,
257-60.
Mar 15
African-American Hinduism: The Case of Alice Coltrane
Mar 20
Christian Critiques of Hinduism (and a Hindu Response)
Reading: J. Isamu Yamamoto, et al, Hinduism, TM, and Hare Krishna
(1998); “A Contrast of Convictions,” in TP, 304-306.
Mar 22
ISKCON Criticized
Reading: Nora Muster, Betrayal of the Spirit
Mar 27
ISKCON Criticized
Reading: Nora Muster, Betrayal of the Spirit (continued)
** Book Review Due at Beginning of Class **
Mar 29
Indian Religions and the Law
Reading: Chief Justice William Rehnquist, “The Krishna
Religion” (1992) in TP, 383-85; “Sikh Kirpans in the Public Schools”
(1994) in TP, 385-87.
IMMIGRANT HINDUISM
Apr 3
Hindu Temples in the United States: Adaptation and
Accommodation
Reading: Joanne Wagnorne, “The Hindu Gods in a Split-level World: The
Sri Siva-Vishnu Temple in Suburban Washington, D.C.,” in Robert Orsi,
ed., Gods of the City (Indiana University Press, 1999); Anand Mohan,
“The Pilgrimage” (1994) in TP, 289-94; “Rituals at Sri Venkateswara
Temple” (1995) in TP, 294-99; Sri Ganesha Temple, Nashville,
“Recounting History and Nurturing Youth (1985-95) in TP, 299-303.
Apr 5
Recent Asian Indian Immigration and Identity Politics
Reading: “Passages, 1965 to the Present,” in TP, 223-27; Prema Kurien,
“Becoming American by Becoming Hindu: Indian Americans Take Their
Place at the Multicultural Table,” in R. Stephen Warner and Judith G.
Wittner, Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New
Immigration (CP)
Apr 10
The Swaminarayan Movement and Indian Transnationalism
Page 5
Reading: Raymond Brady Williams, “Transnational Growth of
Swaminarayan Hinduism” (CP).
Apr 12
Issues in American Hinduism: The Hindu Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism: Silicon Valley Hindus
Discussion Question: According to the Washington Times, the 300,000
Indian Americans living in the Silicon Valley take home $60 billion
annually. They also hold down roughly 40 per cent of the high-tech jobs
there and have started some of its most successful new businesses. Why
in your view are Indian Americans so successful in the New Economy? Is
their religion central to their success? Are Asian Indians the “model
minority”? To prepare for this meeting, you must research this topic (on
the Internet and/or via Lexus/Nexus) and come to class prepared to discuss
it.
Apr 17
Issues in American Hinduism: Guru Scandals
Discussion Question: Consider the cases of Rajneesh, Sai Baba, and
Swami Muktananda. All were accused of violating the trust of their
students. Are these just trumped up charges invented by an anti-Hindu
media? Or are these teachers actually guilty of exploiting their students
financially and sexually? To prepare for this meeting, you must research
at least one of these cases (on the Internet and/or via Lexus/Nexus) on the
Internet and come to class prepared to discuss it.
Apr 19
Issues in American Hinduism: Americanization and Intergenerational
Conflict
Discussion Question: Older and younger Hindus in the United States do
not always see eye-to-eye. Frequently they disagree about a variety of
matters--language, clothing, diet, and gender relations--that also vexed
Catholic and Jewish immigrants in the nineteenth century. What in your
view are the key “flashpoints” for conflict and compromise between older
generations of Hindu Americans and the younger generations?
Apr 24
Web work
Apr 26
Web work
May 1
Conclusion


www.contemplativemind.org/programs/academic/syllabi/prothero.pdf