An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations Among Diaspora Jains in the USA Venu Vrundavan Mehta Florida International University, [email protected]
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-29-2017 An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA Venu Vrundavan Mehta Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC001765 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Religion Commons 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 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SECTARIAN NEGOTIATIONS AMONG DIASPORA JAINS IN THE USA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in RELIGIOUS STUDIES by Venu Vrundavan Mehta 2017 To: Dean John F. Stack Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This thesis, written by Venu Vrundavan Mehta, and entitled An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. ______________________________________________ Albert Kafui Wuaku ______________________________________________ Iqbal Akhtar ______________________________________________ Steven M. Vose, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 29, 2017 This thesis of Venu Vrundavan Mehta is approved. ______________________________________________ Dean John F. Stack Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs _______________________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2017 ii © Copyright 2017 by Venu Vrundavan Mehta All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION For my Mā, Bā and Bāpujī. I dedicate this thesis to my mother Dr. Purnima Mehta; and my grandparents Tarulata and Vinay Mehta. Your love, blessings and dreams are my treasures. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I find immense pleasure in expressing gratitude to all who helped and encouraged me throughout my research work. I begin by thanking my thesis advisor and my major professor Dr. Steven Vose. It would be apt if I say this thesis would not have been possible without his motivation and directions. His guidance was an essential pillar throughout my research. I thank him for fostering in me the skills I needed to conduct this research. He allowed me to work independently but constantly navigated my research. I respectfully thank Dr. Albert Kafui Wuaku, my thesis committee member, who identified this research for having the potential to be developed into my MA thesis. His keen guidance helped me unfold the themes and concepts my thesis has. He continuously helped me solve any problem I encountered during the entire process of my research. I also thank him for igniting my passion for ethnography, anthropology and diaspora studies. I learnt from Dr. Wuaku, the essential methods of academic study of religion as I progressed throughout my research. My special thanks to Dr. Iqbal Akhtar, my thesis committee member who has always encouraged me to be academically driven and active. His continuous support and constructive thoughts have provided me the energy I required to for my research. His scholarly inputs on diasporic study helped formalize my thoughts and theories. I thank Prof. Nathan Katz who inspired me to pursue a second MA in the Religious Studies at Florida International University. His inspiration has opened a new academic world to me. I would also like to thank Latika and Rajiv Jain for the fellowship that gave me the opportunity to do this research. I am grateful to the local Jain community members for their support and motivation. v This thesis is for them and because of them – I sincerely thank the Jain community members of the Jain Center of South Florida, Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago, The Jain Society of Greater Phoenix and The Jain Center of America (New York) for allowing me to conduct research at the temples and interact with the community members. Their contribution to thesis is what I respect and consider as my treasure. I take this opportunity to thank Dr. Oren Stier for strengthening my methodologies during the course that I took with him; his teaching helped me to shape my thoughts in the research. I specially thank Dr. Erik Larson for providing the conducive environment to develop my academic skills throughout my graduation years at the department. His appreciations for my academic endeavors have kept me working to achieve higher goals. I thank the management of Charotar University and Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) for motivating me and granting me the study leave to pursue this degree. I thank my mother Dr. Purnima Mehta, whose dream and vision for her daughter to study Jainism have embarked my path towards this thesis. Her support, patience and warmth have been my drive to live away from my home and get involved thoroughly in the academic life. I could not have done this research if she would not have nurtured me with enlightening directions as a mother and as my former professor. I cannot conclude without expressing my veneration to Padma Bhushan late Prof. Madhusudan. A. Dhaky, Fellow of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai (FASM), and Director (Emeritus) American Institute of Indian Studies (New Delhi/Gurgaon). His blessings are forever alive within me. vi ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SECTARIAN NEGOTIATIONS AMONG DIASPORA JAINS IN THE USA by Venu Vrundavan Mehta Florida International University, 2017 Miami, Florida Professor Steven M. Vose, Major Professor 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. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION……………..….…………………….…….….………………………...1 Chapter Outline…………………… ……………………………………..……………..3 Respondents’ Identity Disclosure…………………………..………….…..…………..5 CHAPTER 1 Conceptualizing the Issues………………………….……..……….....…...6 Introduction…………………………...………………………….……………………6 The Theme: Sectarian Negotiations……………………………...……….…………...7 Model of the Sectarian Negotiations: Levels and Spectrums……….……....…………7 Concept: Invented Tradition………………………………...….…………….………13 Structural Context: Diaspora………………………………………………….....……19 Conclusion……………………………………………....………………….………....23 CHAPTER 2 The Story of My Fieldwork: The Methodical Considerations……….…....24 Introduction………………………………………….……….…………….….......……..24 Geographical Settings: The Sites…….……………………………………....……….25 Participant Observation………………………………………………………… ……29 Interviews………………………………………………………..……………...…….31 Researcher Positionality………………………………………………………….…....32 My Experience of the Fieldwork………………………………….….……………….40 Conclusion…………………………………………….……………………………...41 CHAPTER 3 Jainism, Sectarian Developments, a Contour of Jain Identity and the Diaspora Jains in the USA………………………………………….………….……...42 Introduction………………………………….………………….……………………..42 Jainism……………………………………………………………………….…….….43 Śvetāmbara and Digambara: the Two Principle Sects in Jainism………….…………47 Sub-Sectarian Developments in Jainism……………………………………………..58 Jains: Sectarian and other Identity Markers………………………………….……….62 Jain identity in India and its Significance to the Diaspora Jains in the USA…....….…65 Jainism’s Status as Minority Religion………………………………………………....67 Jains in Diaspora, a Special Reference to the USA……………………………..…...….69 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..…...71 CHAPTER 4 Coming Together: the Inception and Development of the Sectarian Negotiations among the Jains in the USA………………….…………….…………...74 Introduction……………………………………………………………..……….……..74 Sectarian Negotiations……………………………………………………….….…….74 I Feel Stronger, United; I Feel Pride: Coming Together - the Creation of the Sectarian Negotiations………………………………………………......…….76 We are Jains: in the Making of a (common) Jain Identity in the USA….….…..……..85 viii The Śvetāmbaras cook for the Digambaras: Living and Working towards the Negotiations……………………………………………………….………………….97 Management and Decision-Making…………………………………….…………...101 Conclusion…………………………………………………………….…..………….111 CHAPTER 5 Place-Making, Ritual-Visual Culture: The Invented Tradition………...112 Introduction……….……………………………………………………………….….112 Place-Making and the Jain Centers (temples): the