DOCSLIB.ORG

The Religious Lifeworlds of Canada's Goan and Anglo-Indian Communities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Religious Lifeworlds of Canada's Goan and Anglo-Indian Communities Brown Baby Jesus: The Religious Lifeworlds of Canada’s Goan and Anglo-Indian Communities Kathryn Carrière Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the PhD degree in Religion and Classics Religion and Classics Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Kathryn Carrière, Ottawa, Canada, 2011 I dedicate this thesis to my husband Reg and our son Gabriel who, of all souls on this Earth, are most dear to me. And, thank you to my Mum and Dad, for teaching me that faith and love come first and foremost. Abstract Employing the concepts of lifeworld (Lebenswelt) and system as primarily discussed by Edmund Husserl and Jürgen Habermas, this dissertation argues that the lifeworlds of Anglo- Indian and Goan Catholics in the Greater Toronto Area have permitted members of these communities to relatively easily understand, interact with and manoeuvre through Canada’s democratic, individualistic and market-driven system. Suggesting that the Catholic faith serves as a multi-dimensional primary lens for Canadian Goan and Anglo-Indians, this sociological ethnography explores how religion has and continues affect their identity as diasporic post- colonial communities. Modifying key elements of traditional Indian culture to reflect their Catholic beliefs, these migrants consider their faith to be the very backdrop upon which their life experiences render meaningful. Through systematic qualitative case studies, I uncover how these individuals have successfully maintained a sense of security and ethnic pride amidst the myriad cultures and religions found in Canada’s multicultural society. Oscillating between the fuzzy boundaries of the Indian traditional and North American liberal worlds, Anglo-Indians and Goans attribute their achievements to their open-minded Westernized upbringing, their traditional Indian roots and their Catholic-centred principles effectively making them, in their opinions, admirable models of accommodation to Canada’s system. Table of Contents PART I: INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY AND THEORY .............................................................................. 1 Introduction and problem .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Method and description of research participants ...................................................................................................... 6 Theory ......................................................................................................................................................................11 Migration and diaspora ........................................................................................................................................12 Migrant identity construction ...............................................................................................................................17 Lifeworld, system, and belonging ........................................................................................................................22 PART II: HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF GOANS AND ANGLO-INDIANS ..........................................................36 Goans .......................................................................................................................................................................38 “Goan” to search for spices..................................................................................................................................38 The Spread of Christianity in Goa .......................................................................................................................40 “Goan,” goin’, gone: the fall and aftermath of Portuguese rule ...........................................................................56 Anglo-Indians ..........................................................................................................................................................62 What is an Anglo-Indian? ....................................................................................................................................67 The roots and development of British India .........................................................................................................73 Anglo-Indians in British India .............................................................................................................................80 The birth and growth of Anglo-Indians ...............................................................................................................81 Goan and Anglo-Indian movement and immigration to Canada .............................................................................99 Twice migrants ..................................................................................................................................................100 Thrice migrants ..................................................................................................................................................120 Direct migrants ..................................................................................................................................................122 Goan Canadians & Anglo-Indian Canadians .....................................................................................................128 Goan and Anglo-Indian presence and identity in contemporary Canada ...............................................................135 PART III: THE LIFEWORLD OF CANADA’S GOAN AND ANGLO-INDIAN COMMUNITIES ....................140 Institutional rootings: being Catholic in public contexts .......................................................................................148 There’s no place like church ..............................................................................................................................150 Education and schooling ....................................................................................................................................175 Brown Baby Jesus: reclaiming Indian Catholicism ...............................................................................................199 (Re-) inventing Indian rituals and traditions .....................................................................................................201 Goaphiles, Gollywogs, and Canadesiacs: juggling a hybridized ethnic identity ...................................................257 Unexamined Goans and misunderstood Anglo-Indians .....................................................................................262 The rediscovery of one’s roots ...........................................................................................................................276 Accepting it all ...................................................................................................................................................302 Light eyes and wheatish skin: on the pervasive role of race ..................................................................................323 The colonial roots of colourism and its religiocultural proliferation .................................................................328 Colourism as it manifests today .........................................................................................................................341 PART IV: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................358 PART V: APPENDICES ..........................................................................................................................................368 Appendix A: Recruitment forms for all interviews ................................................................................................368 Appendix B: Moderator’s guide: group interviews ...............................................................................................369 Appendix C: Moderator’s guide: one-on-one interviews .......................................................................................371 Appendix D: Participant list and breakdown .........................................................................................................374 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................................................378 PART I: INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY AND THEORY Introduction and problem Some years ago, a small yet significant event occurred in my life. I was pursuing my undergraduate degree and I, like many Canadian university students, was confident and secure with my ethnic identity. It was late in the evening, and I had offered to drive an Italian-Catholic co-worker home from the restaurant where we both worked. Getting into my car, he noticed a small pewter crucifix hanging from my rear-view mirror. Smirking at me, he said, “Christian? I thought all you Indians were Hindu.” I remember feeling my confidence fly out the window, as his unexpected words painfully stung me. All you Indians? Hindu? What was he talking about? The next few moments were near-humiliating for me, as I awkwardly attempted to explain my Catholic-Indian ancestry and “legitimize” to him my beliefs. In all honestly, I was not even sure whether he was listening to my verbal floundering or not. Shrugging it off, he casually switched the subject telling
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Portuguese Language in Angola: Luso-Creoles' Missing Link? John M
    Portuguese language in Angola: luso-creoles' missing link? John M. Lipski {presented at annual meeting of the AATSP, San Diego, August 9, 1995} 0. Introduction Portuguese explorers first reached the Congo Basin in the late 15th century, beginning a linguistic and cultural presence that in some regions was to last for 500 years. In other areas of Africa, Portuguese-based creoles rapidly developed, while for several centuries pidginized Portuguese was a major lingua franca for the Atlantic slave trade, and has been implicated in the formation of many Afro- American creoles. The original Portuguese presence in southwestern Africa was confined to limited missionary activity, and to slave trading in coastal depots, but in the late 19th century, Portugal reentered the Congo-Angola region as a colonial power, committed to establishing permanent European settlements in Africa, and to Europeanizing the native African population. In the intervening centuries, Angola and the Portuguese Congo were the source of thousands of slaves sent to the Americas, whose language and culture profoundly influenced Latin American varieties of Portuguese and Spanish. Despite the key position of the Congo-Angola region for Ibero-American linguistic development, little is known of the continuing use of the Portuguese language by Africans in Congo-Angola during most of the five centuries in question. Only in recent years has some attention been directed to the Portuguese language spoken non-natively but extensively in Angola and Mozambique (Gonçalves 1983). In Angola, the urban second-language varieties of Portuguese, especially as spoken in the squatter communities of Luanda, have been referred to as Musseque Portuguese, a name derived from the KiMbundu term used to designate the shantytowns themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Social and Economic Development
    Journal of Social and Economic Development Vol. 4 No.2 July-December 2002 Spatial Poverty Traps in Rural India: An Exploratory Analysis of the Nature of the Causes Time and Cost Overruns of the Power Projects in Kerala Economic and Environmental Status of Drinking Water Provision in Rural India The Politics of Minority Languages: Some Reflections on the Maithili Language Movement Primary Education and Language in Goa: Colonial Legacy and Post-Colonial Conflicts Inequality and Relative Poverty Book Reviews INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE BANGALORE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Published biannually in January and July) Institute for Social and Economic Change Bangalore–560 072, India Editor: M. Govinda Rao Managing Editor: G. K. Karanth Associate Editor: Anil Mascarenhas Editorial Advisory Board Isher Judge Ahluwalia (Delhi) J. B. Opschoor (The Hague) Abdul Aziz (Bangalore) Narendar Pani (Bangalore) P. R. Brahmananda (Bangalore) B. Surendra Rao (Mangalore) Simon R. Charsley (Glasgow) V. M. Rao (Bangalore) Dipankar Gupta (Delhi) U. Sankar (Chennai) G. Haragopal (Hyderabad) A. S. Seetharamu (Bangalore) Yujiro Hayami (Tokyo) Gita Sen (Bangalore) James Manor (Brighton) K. K. Subrahmanian Joan Mencher (New York) (Thiruvananthapuram) M. R. Narayana (Bangalore) A. Vaidyanathan (Thiruvananthapuram) DTP: B. Akila Aims and Scope The Journal provides a forum for in-depth analysis of problems of social, economic, political, institutional, cultural and environmental transformation taking place in the world today, particularly in developing countries. It welcomes articles with rigorous reasoning, supported by proper documentation. Articles, including field-based ones, are expected to have a theoretical and/or historical perspective. The Journal would particularly encourage inter-disciplinary articles that are accessible to a wider group of social scientists and policy makers, in addition to articles specific to particular social sciences.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Name of Krishna: the Cultural Landscape of a North Indian Pilgrimage Town
    In the Name of Krishna: The Cultural Landscape of a North Indian Pilgrimage Town A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Sugata Ray IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Frederick M. Asher, Advisor April 2012 © Sugata Ray 2012 Acknowledgements They say writing a dissertation is a lonely and arduous task. But, I am fortunate to have found friends, colleagues, and mentors who have inspired me to make this laborious task far from arduous. It was Frederick M. Asher, my advisor, who inspired me to turn to places where art historians do not usually venture. The temple city of Khajuraho is not just the exquisite 11th-century temples at the site. Rather, the 11th-century temples are part of a larger visuality that extends to contemporary civic monuments in the city center, Rick suggested in the first class that I took with him. I learnt to move across time and space. To understand modern Vrindavan, one would have to look at its Mughal past; to understand temple architecture, one would have to look for rebellions in the colonial archive. Catherine B. Asher gave me the gift of the Mughal world – a world that I only barely knew before I met her. Today, I speak of the Islamicate world of colonial Vrindavan. Cathy walked me through Mughal mosques, tombs, and gardens on many cold wintry days in Minneapolis and on a hot summer day in Sasaram, Bihar. The Islamicate Krishna in my dissertation thus came into being.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Review:" Christianity in India: from Beginnings to the Present"
    Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies Volume 22 Article 21 January 2009 Book Review: "Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present" Kristin Bloomer Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Bloomer, Kristin (2009) "Book Review: "Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present"," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 22, Article 21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1448 The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. Bloomer: Book Review: "Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present" Book Reviews 63 Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present. Robert Eric Frykenberg, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2P08, 564 pp. UNTIL now, no one book in English has informative for the beginner, they seem to want attempted to cover the vast topic of Christianity to belong to another book. The effect of these in India.! Robert Frykenberg's recent work does early, seventy pages on the narrative frame, so in a manner that is not only timely and useful however, is strong: Christianity did not enter for scholars of Indian history and religion; it is India in a vacuum, nor did it steamroll in, also ambitious, to which its heft and length leveling everything in its path. it entered a attest. The author, a prof~ssor emeritus of specific geography, politics and culture through' history at Northwestern University, has spent the individual Christians who interacted with other past fifty years of his life studying Christianity individual Christians and non-Christians from a in India.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Educational Social
    CULTURAL EDUCATIONAL SOCIAL Established 1964 Publication of the Assyrian Foundation of America Volume 43, Number 4, 2019 Books Contents 4 The Lazarists and Daughters of 21 A Son’s Loving Tribute... ComprendreComprendre le M leoyen- Moyen-OrientOrient ClaireClaire Weibel Weibel Yacoub Yacoub La France et les CollectionCollection dirigée dirigée par J.-P. par ChagnollaudJ.-P. Chagnollaud Jonathon Malek QUELLEQUELLE CITOYENNETÉ CITOYENNETÉ LA LAFRANCE FRANCE ET ETLES LES ASSYRO-CHALDÉENS ASSYRO-CHALDÉENS Charity among the Assyro-Chaldeans DANSDANS LES LESCAMPS CAMPS DE RÉFUGIÉSDE RÉFUGIÉS ? ? Qu’enQu’en dit ditla pressela presse ? ? ParmiParmi les Chrétiens les Chrétiens d’Orient, d’Orient, les Arméniens les Arméniens sont sontdevenus devenus familiers familiers Abdulmesih BarAbraham, MSc. Assyro-Chaldéens Les palestiniensLes palestiniens au Liban au Liban aux médiasaux médias et à l’opinionet à l’opinion publique publique française. française. Mais Mais qu’en qu’en est-il est-il des des LALA FRANCEFRANCE Assyro-ChaldéensAssyro-Chaldéens ? Les ?connaît-on Les connaît-on vraiment vraiment ? Sont-ils ? Sont-ils les oubliés les oubliés de de Claire Yacoub Weibel la grandela grande histoire histoire ? ? Claire Yacoub Weibel ETET LES LES ASSYRO-CHALDÉENS ASSYRO-CHALDÉENS Il est unIl est fait un que fait la que presse la presse française, française, toutes toutes tendances tendances confondues, confondues, a parléa parlédes Assyro-Chaldéens,des Assyro-Chaldéens, ces Syro-Mésopotamiens,ces Syro-Mésopotamiens, chrétiens chrétiens 22 Letter from the Assyrian depuisdepuis deux deuxmille milleans. ans. e e Qu’en dit la presse ? Qu’en dit la presse? Dès leDès xix le xixsiècle, siècle, elle répercuteelle répercute abondamment abondamment les récitsles récits des des Qu’en dit la presse ? explorateursexplorateurs et les et événements,les événements, souvent souvent tragiques, tragiques, qui quitouchent touchent les Assyro-Chaldéensles Assyro-Chaldéens aux confinsaux confins des empiresdes empires ottoman ottoman et persan.et persan.
    [Show full text]
  • The Grace of God and the Travails of Contemporary Indian Catholicism Kerry P
    Journal of Global Catholicism Volume 1 Issue 1 Indian Catholicism: Interventions & Article 3 Imaginings September 2016 The Grace of God and the Travails of Contemporary Indian Catholicism Kerry P. C. San Chirico Villanova University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/jgc Part of the Asian History Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Catholic Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Comparative Philosophy Commons, Cultural History Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Hindu Studies Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Religion Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, Oral History Commons, Other Anthropology Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Practical Theology Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, Rural Sociology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social History Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, and the South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation San Chirico, Kerry P. C. (2016) "The Grace of God and the Travails of Contemporary Indian Catholicism," Journal of Global Catholicism: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 3. p.56-84. DOI: 10.32436/2475-6423.1001 Available at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/jgc/vol1/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by CrossWorks.
    [Show full text]
  • Khabbar Vol. XXXIII No. 4 (October, November, December
    K h a b b a r North American Konkani Newsletter Volume XXXIII No. 4 October, November, December - 2010 From: The Honorary Editor, "Khabbar" P. O. Box 222 Lake Jackson, TX 77566 - 0222 XXXIII-4 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED FIRST CLASS TO: Khabbar XXXIII No. 4 Page: 1 Khabbar Follies In this section, Khabbar looks into the Konkani community and anything and everything that is Konkani from a Konkani point of view. The names will never be published but geographic location will be identified in general terms. There is no doubt in my mind that Khabbar is a part & parcel the latest Khabbar. Here comes the reply from this young of life of Konkanis in North America. In fact, Khabbar has Konkani reader: developed a special relation with most of the Konkani families and here are some examples of those close encounters of a “Thanks for sending Khabbar, Vasant uncle. My hostel is different kind….…… really lonely but Khabbar always gives me a good feeling of ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- home when I read the newsletter. Here’s also my correct Khabbar has a good track record of mailing hard copies to answer to this quarter’s quiz. I am also enclosing Rs. 15 as my subscribers regularly. I was sending Khabbar to this young dues (Sorry, I have no dollars, only rupees!!). reader from Houston, TX. Recently, he moved to India for higher studies without giving his forwarding address. Editor’s Note: Khabbar managed to get his address in India and mailed him That’s the most valuable Rs. 15.00 Khabbar ever earned! ***** SUBSCRIPTION FORM: Dear Konkani family, It is time to renew your subscription for 2011.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of Christian Missions an Overview
    www.sosinclasses.com CHAPTER 4 IMPACT OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AN OVERVIEW 4.1 The Impact of missions, a summing up 4.2 Christian missions and English education CHAPTER FOUR IMPACT OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS-AN OVERVIEW 4.1 The impact of missions, a summing up In the preceding part an attempt was made to understand the Christian missions in India in terms of western missionary expansion. As stated earlier, India had a hoary tradition of tolerance and assimilation. This tradition was the creation of the syncretic Hindu mind eager to be in touch with all other thought currents. “Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides”1 was the prayer of the Hindu sages. The early converts to Christianity lived cordially in the midst of Hindus respecting one another. This facilitated the growth of Christianity in the Indian soil perfectly as an Indian religion. The course of cordiality did not run smooth. The first shock to the cordial relation between Christian community and non-Christians was received from the famous Synod of Diamper. Latin rites and ordinances were imposed forcefully and a new world of Christendom was threatened to be extended without caring to understand the social peculiarities of the place where it was expected to grow and prosper and ignoring the religio-cultural sensitivity of the people amidst whom the 1 Rigveda 1-89-1. www.sosinclasses.com 92 new religion was to exist. As pointed out earlier the central thrust of the activities of the Jesuit missions established in India during the second half of sixteenth century was proselytizing the native population to Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • 9 Said River, by Readily Believing Suspicions of Disloyalty and Treason
    9 said river, by readily believing suspicions of disloyalty and treason against Bemoym, or more truthfully because he wanted to return to the kingdom, he slew the said Bemoym with a sword, and then returned to this kingdom; whereat the king, being in Tavilla, grew very sad; and he overlooked this crime by Pero Vaaz, seeing that he did not visit heavy punishment upon him or many others who served it for the same reason; yet the king strongly disapproved of their killing him, since, being accomplices in such an error, they ought to have been treated as they treated him, because they had him freely in their power without offence or peril. Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, pp. 21-24 The wealth of Africa (1508) As the Portuguese moved farther and farther along the coast of Africa, they reported on the great amounts of trade in which the local people engaged, the wealth and power of many of the communities, and the skill evident in the production of items such as delicately carved ivory necklaces and finely woven mats. This was a continent teeming with people and commerce. And where the Portuguese could not go, such as inland areas where the followers of Islam ruled, they imagined the existence of dog- faced people and men with bristles like those of pigs. Duarte Pacheco Pereira wrote this account of Africa’s wealth in 1505–8 after spending many years in the late 1400s as a ship’s captain employed by King John II of Portugal. He was involved in the building of Elmina Castle, traveled to India in the early 1500s, and returned to serve as governor of the castle from 1520 to 1522.
    [Show full text]
  • Self-Organised Networks in the First Global Age
    Kyoto Sangyo University 133 Self-organised Networks in the First Global Age: The Jesuits in Japan Amélia POLÓNIA 最初の黄金時代の自己組織的なネットワーク ―日本におけるイエズス会― アメリア・ポローニア Abstract The paper intends to explore the strength of individual and group agency in the scope of Portuguese overseas expan- sion at a global level. It further seeks to emphasise the mechanisms of cooperation, both between European agents and between those and local agents and authorities, sometimes led even against the interests of the Portuguese crown. Finally it argues that the success of these contacts depended more often than not on an active process of ac- culturation and miscegenation, rather than on imposition mechanisms, traditionally regarded as the lever of colonial and empire building processes. To discuss the evidence underlying these assumptions, it focus on the Portuguese case, fi rst at a general level, then from a micro-approach centred on the Jesuit enactments in Japan and their interaction with trade networks in the Pacifi c Ocean. Key words: Self-organisation, informal networks, Portuguese expansion, Jesuits, trade networks, cross-cultural networks, Japan 1. Theoretical Framework. New theories on empire building European historiography usually associates the analysis of globalisation in the Early Modern Period (1500–1800) with “empire building” processes, considering overseas expansionism led by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British and French as the main lever in the process, disregarding proposals that argue in favour of an increasing pre-globalisation dynamics in the Indian Ocean1), long before the arrival of Europeans. Furthermore, the study of the historical outcomes of early modern empires is usually focused on central power strategies and imperial rivalries, monopolies, warfare strategies and political disputes between colonisers.
    [Show full text]
  • International Conference on Asian Art, Culture and Heritage
    Abstract Volume: International Conference on Asian Art, Culture and Heritage International Conference of the International Association for Asian Heritage 2011 Abstract Volume: Intenational Conference on Asian Art, Culture and Heritage 21th - 23rd August 2013 Sri Lanka Foundation, Colombo, Sri Lanka Editor Anura Manatunga Editorial Board Nilanthi Bandara Melathi Saldin Kaushalya Gunasena Mahishi Ranaweera Nadeeka Rathnabahu iii International Conference of the International Association for Asian Heritage 2011 Copyright © 2013 by Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. First Print 2013 Abstract voiume: International Conference on Asian Art, Culture and Heritage Publisher International Association for Asian Heritage Centre for Asian Studies University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. ISBN 978-955-4563-10-0 Cover Designing Sahan Hewa Gamage Cover Image Dwarf figure on a step of a ruined building in the jungle near PabaluVehera at Polonnaruva Printer Kelani Printers The views expressed in the abstracts are exclusively those of the respective authors. iv International Conference of the International Association for Asian Heritage 2011 In Collaboration with The Ministry of National Heritage Central Cultural Fund Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology Bio-diversity Secratariat, Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy v International Conference of the International Association for Asian Heritage 2011 Message from the Minister of Cultural and Arts It is with great pleasure that I write this congratulatory message to the Abstract Volume of the International Conference on Asian Art, Culture and Heritage, collaboratively organized by the Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Ministry of Culture and the Arts and the International Association for Asian Heritage (IAAH). It is also with great pride that I join this occasion as I am associated with two of the collaborative bodies; as the founder president of the IAAH, and the Minister of Culture and the Arts.
    [Show full text]
  • Dalit Theology and Indian Christian History in Dialogue: Constructive and Practical Possibilities
    religions Article Dalit Theology and Indian Christian History in Dialogue: Constructive and Practical Possibilities Andrew Ronnevik Department of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76706, USA; [email protected] Abstract: In this article, I consider how an integration of Dalit theology and Indian Christian history could help Dalit theologians in their efforts to connect more deeply with the lived realities of today’s Dalit Christians. Drawing from the foundational work of such scholars as James Massey and John C. B. Webster, I argue for and begin a deeper and more comprehensive Dalit reading and theological analysis of the history of Christianity and mission in India. My explorations—touching on India’s Thomas/Syrian, Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal traditions—reveal the persistence and complexity of caste oppression throughout Christian history in India, and they simultaneously draw attention to over-looked, empowering, and liberative resources that are bound to Dalit Christians lives, both past and present. More broadly, I suggest that historians and theologians in a variety of contexts—not just in India—can benefit from blurring the lines between their disciplines. Keywords: Dalit theology; history of Indian Christianity; caste; liberation 1. Introduction In the early 1980s, Christian scholars in India began to articulate a new form of Citation: Ronnevik, Andrew. 2021. theology, one tethered to the lives of a particular group of Indian people. Related to libera- Dalit Theology and Indian Christian tion theology, postcolonialism, and Subaltern Studies, Dalit theology concentrates on the History in Dialogue: Constructive voices, experiences, and aspirations of India’s so-called “untouchables”, who constitute the and Practical Possibilities.
    [Show full text]