74 – South Asian transnational religious networks and political mobilizations

October 1, 2025
1:45 pm
Neue Aula
The links between migration, religion and political mobilizations have been widely studied, often by focusing on either transnational political-religious movements or the “politics of recognition” of religious leaders in diasporic contexts. This panel aims to bridge these two fields of studies by looking at the connections between religious and political mobilizations in transnational South Asian contexts. We approach South Asian religious networks in a broad sense, including relations emerging among migrants threatened by religious persecution, religious organizations formed around the worship or leadership of a divine, saintly or guru figure, and nationalist movements, among others. The objective will be to understand how the religious and political diasporic fields intersect. What role do members of religious structures (Hindu temples, gurdwaras, mosques, sects) play in political movements like Hindutva, Khalistan, Tamil or Kashmiri nationalism? If connections exist, are they open, obfuscated, contested from within or without the diasporic population? How are the recognition politics of religious groups and transnational political mobilizations intertwined? How do the politics of exclusion and inclusion come together when examining the relation between local diasporic contexts and global movements? This panel invites contributions on diverse case studies to think jointly about South Asian transnational religious and political mobilizations.

Convenors

Natalie Lang
Lola Guyot
Debangana Baruah

Presentations

Managing mandirs and more: An ethnography of far-right Hindu women and their contribution to Globalizing Hindutva
agarwal aparna - Oxford, Oxford, oxford, United Kingdom
Hindutva, Resistance and Solidarity: Building Bridges and Contesting Communalism in the Diaspora
Anderson Edward - Northumbria University, SOAS, University of London, Newcastle / London, United Kingdom
The Sangh Parivar and the Swaminarayan movement: affinities and complementarity
Jaffrelot Christophe - CERI, SciencesPo, Paris, France
Hindu nationalism with an American flavor
Guyot Lola - EHESS, EHESS, paris, France
“Dalit-Hindu” Belonging in Pakistan: Migration, Pilgrimage, and Ideological Circulation across Borders
Zehmisch Philipp - South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Contentious Borderlands? Reflections on Co-existence, Belonging, and Shared Histories at the India-Pakistan Border.
Sethi Srishtee - The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, Boston, Delhi, United States
Reimagining ‘Hyderabadi Tehzeeb’ as civic duty: Transnational Muslim welfare and its ambivalent post COVID entanglements with the city administration
Roohi Sanam - Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany