An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA

Authors

Venu Vrundavan Mehta, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

Religious Studies

First Advisor's Name

Dr. Steven Vose

First Advisor's Committee Title

Major Professor

Second Advisor's Name

Dr. Iqbal Akhtar

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Dr. Albert Kafui Wuaku

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Jainism, Jain Diaspora, US Jain Diaspora, US Jain Communities, Jain Identity, Common Jain Identity, Jain Sects, Sectarian, Inter-Sectarian, Cross-Sectarian, Multi-Sectarian, Jain Philosophy, Pathshala, Anekantvada, Jain Temple, Jain Society, Jain Community, Jain Center, Sectarian Negotiations, Invented Tradition, New Form of Jainism, Diaspora Studies, Jainism in America, Jainism in the US, Asectarian, Indian Diasporas, Invention of New form of Jainism, Ethnographic Study of Jains in the USA, Ethnography, Ethnographic Study of US Jain Diaspora

Date of Defense

3-29-2017

Abstract

This thesis argued that the Jain community in the diasporic context of the USA has invented a new form of Jainism. Sectarian negotiations are the distinguishing marks of the diaspora Jain community and their invented form of Jainism. Based on ethnographic study that is, interviews and observations conducted at four different sites (Jain temples/communities) from June-August 2016, the thesis examined the sectarian negotiations among the diaspora Jain community in the USA and the invented Jain tradition that is resulting from these negotiations. The central questions of the research on which this thesis is based were: 1) what are the levels, processes and results of sectarian negotiations within the Jain diaspora community in the USA, and 2) what is the nature and characteristic of the new form of Jainism, the invented tradition; and how do Jains in the USA experience and use it.

Identifier

FIDC001765

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.

Recommended Citation

Mehta, Venu Vrundavan, "An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA" (2017). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3204.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3204