University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2015 Tracing an American Yoga: Identity and Cross-Cultural Transaction Christa Schwind University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, Religion Commons, and the South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Schwind, Christa, "Tracing an American Yoga: Identity and Cross-Cultural Transaction" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1048. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1048 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Tracing an American Yoga: Identity and Cross-Cultural Transaction A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD Program University of Denver In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Christa Schwind June 2015 Advisor: Dr. Jacob Kinnard © Copyright by Christa Schwind 2015 All Rights Reserved Author: Christa Schwind Title: Tracing an American Yoga: Identity and Cross-Cultural Transaction Advisor: Dr. Jacob Kinnard Degree Date: June 2015 Abstract This dissertation looks at the creative identity of an American yoga, both rooted in its Indic origins and radically transformed in its U.S. manifestations. It traces the broad historical transactions of yoga in terms of East and West, Secular and Religious, authenticity and idealized conception, as well as provides a critical historical genealogy of Anusara and Sridaiva yoga. Furthermore, the project relates yoga to the identity, power, and knowledge dynamics of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern histories and interpretations of yoga and Tantra, multiple theoretical discourses, and the embodied practices of individuals within Indian and American contexts. I argue that there is a unique and polysemous yogic identity in America, and that this identity has developed from a messy process of transaction between Indian and Western modes of being and knowing. Furthermore, the current Americanized culture of yoga brings along with it narratives of specific value. American yoga displays a particularly consumptive quality of yogic lifestyle that reflects a cultural atmosphere of reinvention and a merging of profit and personal purpose. American yoga’s identity today is entrepreneurial, branded, business oriented, and marketed for consumption. This dissertation shows how the American yogic identity is in flux, continuously fracturing and multiplying into various and novel understandings that relate to yoga’s past and to the market value for today’s American consumer. It examines the moving nature of yoga in the American landscape as what Jared Farmer calls a “center of ii creativity” and as a display of excess and choice. The discussion of yoga is further located in John Friend’s styles of yoga and/or lifestyle practices, Anusara and Sridaiva, as they both redefine and further remove yoga from established Indian markers of identity. My locations as American yogi, as comparativist, as ethnographer, and as a Bachelor of Science in Advertising and Marketing also situate this analysis. iii Acknowledgements A big thank you to Dr. Jacob Kinnard, my advisor and dissertation chair, for his help and encouragement throughout coursework, comprehensive exams, and the dissertation stage of my doctoral work. His guidance and supervision have been crucial in helping me complete my PhD and will remain with me as I continue my career. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Carl Raschke and Dr. Ginni Ishimatsu for their valuable insights and assistance. To my dissertation writing group, April Favara and Elizabeth Coody, I appreciate all of your reading, editing, and reassurance through the long process of writing a dissertation. To my mother, I would not have been able to do this without your willingness to help me in all matters of life. I can only hope to be as magnificent of a parent as you have been to me. Finally, to my husband, Jason, I cannot say thank you enough for the love, support, and encouragement that you have provided. I am beyond grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Chapter One: Tracing American Yoga: What Is Going On? ...............................................1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Ethnography and Subjective Contextualization .......................................................9 Participant Observation ..............................................................................16 Tracing a Layered Account of India and America .................................................21 Modern Yoga Research..............................................................................21 Mapping the Beginnings of a Tantric Genealogy ......................................31 Branding and Consuming Spirituality .......................................................35 Importance of Research .........................................................................................38 Chapter Outlines ....................................................................................................39 Chapter Two: Theories and Methodologies: Clarifying and Confusing the Concept of American Yoga ...............................................................................................43 Introduction ............................................................................................................43 The Paradox of Defining Hinduism .......................................................................46 Theory ....................................................................................................................49 Deleuze and the Rhizomatic Deterritorialization and Reterritorialization of Yoga.......................................................................................................51 Homi Bhabha: Colonialism and Hybridity ................................................55 Soja and the Creation of Thirdspace ..........................................................59 Bourdieu and Habitus ................................................................................61 Discourse of the Post .................................................................................63 Method ...................................................................................................................66 J. Z. Smith: Comparison and Difference ...................................................69 Making Meaning ........................................................................................71 The Development of Modern Yoga .......................................................................74 Figures of Modern Yoga ............................................................................84 Conclusion .............................................................................................................89 Chapter Three: Yoga and Tantra: Remembering the Past, Understanding the Present ................................................................................................................................90 Introduction ............................................................................................................90 Anusara: The Palimpsestic Mapping of a Mashup ................................................93 Maps, Nation States, and Tracings ............................................................96 John Friend Creates a Style of Yoga..........................................................99 Habitus and Hyperreal: Yoga in Translation ...........................................100 Tantra and Its Relationship to Yoga: The Mapping of Multiple Definitions ......103 v Defining Tantra and Yoga “In Theory” ...................................................104 Defining Tantra and Yoga in Visual and Aesthetic Practice ...................106 Defining Tantra as Text and Map ............................................................111 Tantra, Yoga, and the Transactions of Colonialism ............................................115 Islam and Yoga in Transaction ................................................................115 Colonialism in India: Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries .........................116 European/British Colonialism ..................................................................117 Tracing Anusara: Defining and Redefining Tantra for an American Audience ..............................................................................................................125 Contextualizing Kashmir Shaivism .........................................................130 Hatha and Tantra in Relationship ............................................................132 Conclusion