IMAGINED FUTURES: INTERPRETATION, IMAGINATION, AND DISCIPLINE IN HINDU TRINIDAD by AARON ANDREW GREER A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Aaron Andrew Greer Title: Imagined Futures: Interpretation, Imagination, and Discipline in Hindu Trinidad This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Anthropology by: Philip Scher Chair Lynn Stephen Member Lamia Karim Member Deborah Green Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice-President for Research and Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2011 ii © 2011 Aaron Andrew Greer iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Aaron Andrew Greer Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology December 2011 Title: Imagined Futures: Interpretation, Imagination, and Discipline in Hindu Trinidad Globalization has inaugurated many rapid changes in local communities throughout the world. The globalization of media, both electronic and print, has introduced new pressures for local communities to confront while also opening up new imaginative possibilities. As many observers have noted, transnational media transform local public cultures, or shared imaginative spaces, but never in predictable, totally hegemonic ways. This dissertation focuses on the efforts of a small Hindu community called the Hindu Prachar Kendra located in Trinidad, West Indies, as they develop critical strategies that help their children read, negotiate, and in some cases contribute to local and global public cultures. I argue that though many Hindu parents and teachers of the Kendra share anxieties about the effects of local and global popular cultures on their children, they also use many features, ideas, and texts emerging from imaginative media in creative ways. Furthermore, their concerns about media shape their interpretation and instruction of Hindu practice. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Aaron Andrew Greer GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Humboldt State University, Arcata, California DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Anthropology, 2011, University of Oregon Master of Arts, International Studies, 2005, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, 2003, Humboldt State University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Anthropology of Religion Public Culture Cultural Studies Post-Structuralism PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, 2007-present Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Religious Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2003-2007 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Religious Studies, 2003-2007 Elise Elliott Research Grant, 2009 and 2010 Magna Cum Laude, Humboldt State University, 2003 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project could not have been possible without the help, support, and patience of many people. The Kendra community deserves special recognition in this regard. Their willingness to open their doors to me, to share their classes, their thoughts, and their time made the research a true joy to engage in. I owe Mayaji and Raviji a huge debt of gratitude for the many hours they spent with me, answering all my needling questions and clearing up my endless confusion about Hindu practice. Beyond the Kendra, several other people in Trinidad added incalculable value to my research. Gabby Hosein’s erudition and critical intellect helped me sharpen my research goals. Burton Sankeralli’s encyclopedic knowledge of Caribbean history, culture, and religion nuanced my understanding of the West Indies more broadly and of Trinidad in particular. Sharing ideas with Sharda Patasar, who was doing her own doctoral research on Indian music in Trinidad, has also improved my understanding of India in Trinidad. I must also thank my adviser, Professor Phil Scher, for his support and guidance. Professor Scher’s expertise in Caribbean studies, especially on Trinidad, has been, and will continue to be, enormously beneficial to my work. I must also recognize the support and encouragement of the Pacific University community. Dean John Hayes deserves my undying gratitude for his financial support of my project. In the Social Sciences, Professors Cheleen Mahar, Sarah Phillips, and Jayecee Whitehead served as my committee away from my committee by reading drafts, providing critical feedback, and offering anxiety-allaying advice. The encouragement from department members Don Schweitzer and Adam Rafalovich, whose careers followed a similar trajectory, kept my emotions buoyed. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support of my family. My folks have been extremely encouraging, vi helping me through some rough patches with their support. And my partner, Charlotte Lumae, and my daughter, Mila, have suffered my long absences, both physically and mentally, with the patience of saints. vii If there is a shower in the form of beautiful ideas, lovely pearls make their appearance in the form of poetic effusions. If those pearls are pierced with skill and strung together on the beautiful thread of Sri Rama’s exploits, and if noble souls wear them in their innocent heart, grace in the form of excessive fondness is the result. ~ Sri Ramacaritamanas viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 The Shifting Valences of Ethnic Identity........................................................................5 Imagination, Contingency, and the Contemporary .......................................................11 Operationalizing an Anthropology of the Imagination: Fieldwork Methods and Their Limitations ....................................................................................................................14 Analysis of Data............................................................................................................21 Culture, Cultural, and Cultural Logics: A Brief Definition of Terms...........................28 II. RAM LILA: PERFORMANCE, PERFORMATIVITY, PRACTICE .........................32 Performing the Hindu Self ............................................................................................36 Performativity and Language........................................................................................42 Constructing Authentic Creole Hinduism.....................................................................48 Pichakaaree: The Invention of Tradition.......................................................................57 Acting the Ideal: Ramayana Characters as Moral Guides ............................................61 Discipline and Performance: The Role of Precision in Subject Creation .....................65 Fearful No More............................................................................................................74 III. “I AM A TRINIDADIAN. I AM A HINDU. I AM AN INDIAN”: NATIONALISM, PRESERVATIONISM, AND REINVENTION IN CREOLE HINDUISM.......................................................................................................................78 The Rise of Hindu Nationalisms in India......................................................................80 The Sacred as Political: The Emergence of a Political Hindu Nationalism..................82 Valences of Nationalism/ Taxonomies of Hindu Nationalism......................................90 ix Chapter Page New World Nationalism: The Problematic of a Creole Hinduism in Trinidad ............98 The Ramayana: The Epic and Epic Narrations of Nation...........................................104 Caribbean Nationalism: Trinidadian National Identity as Bricolage..........................111 IV. SUBJECT CREATION, DISCIPLINE, IDENTITY FORMATION .......................125 The ‘Subversion of Categories’: A Short History of Discipline in Trinidad ..............126 Disciplining Trinidad ..................................................................................................129 Subjectivity, Identity, and Identification.....................................................................133 The Contingency of Subjectivity.................................................................................140 Naipaul’s Trinidad: Convergences and Contestations ................................................146 Discipline and Purchase: Gaining a Foothold in Modern Capitalism.........................155 The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.................................................................................160 V. INTERPRETATION, KNOWLEDGE, PARADOX .................................................174 Yes, We Can Rise: Campaigning Obama-style in Trinidad........................................178 Symbolic Creativity in Hindu Modernity....................................................................183 Interpreting the Present, the Past, and the Present Future...........................................196 More than Sacred Text ................................................................................................206 VI. CONCLUSION: IMAGINED TRANSNATIONALITIES......................................217 APPENDICES A. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..............................................................................