Introduction - Anjana Narayan and Bandana Purkayastha; Part I. Religion, Gender, Boundaries:; 1) Transgressing the Sacred-Secular, Private-Public Divide; 2) The Interconne(A)cting Humanity: Connections Between Our Spiritual And Secular World; 3) Islam Through a Mosaic of Cultures; 4) At the Cross Roads of Religions: The Experiences of a Newar Woman in Nepal and the US; 5) Color of God: Resplendent Clay of Hindu Images as the Glow of the Ineffable; 6) I am Muslim First; 7) Red, Bulls and Tea: Cultural Hashing of a 1.5er (a.k.a. Second-Generation Reflections); 8) Interpretive Intervention: Religion, Gender, Boundaries; Part II. Religion, Practices, Resistances:; 9) Many Facets of Hinduism; 10) Living Hinduism: Striving to Achieve Internal and External Harmony; 11) Growing Up Hindu: Mapping the Memories of a Nepali Woman in the US; 12) Bengali, Bangladesh yet Muslim; 13) Religion as Inspiration, Religion as Action; 14) Muslim Women Between Two Realities; 15) Challenging the Master Frame through Dalit Organizing in the US; 16) Interpretive Intervention: Religion, Practices, Resistances; 17) Conclusion: Human Rights, Religion, and Gender.
Bandana Purkayastha is Associate Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of the book titled Negotiating Ethnicity - Second Generation South Asian Americans Traverse a Transnational World (2005), and the co-editor of The Power of Women's Informal Networks- Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa (2004). She is also the Deputy Editor of the journal Gender and Society. Anjana Narayan is an Assistant Professor at California State Polytechnic University Pomona.
"Lucid in its narration and heartfelt in scholars careful etching
of their religious, culturally specific and spiritual selves as a
rightful, albeit negotiated part of their lives in the USA, this
volume of essays demonstrates the richness of everyday life in
contrast to theoretical attempts at capturing the ethos of
religion. In the process, it takes on some formidable binaries
including modernity/tradition, West/East and
secular/religious."
"Religion is both the most intimate experience as well as the most
widely-shared in a community, providing solace to the uncertainties
of life and death even as it inspires the finest creativity and
fiercest wars. Is there an intellectual thread that can sew such
seeming contradictions? No region is more afflicted by the passions
of faith than South Asia. No one is better equipped to address its
dilemmas than South Asian women, for their innate humanity sifts
the excess from the essence. "Living Our Religions" provides a
fascinating perspective on public space from the strength of the
inner eye. It is a superb addition to a complex literature."
"The book is a powerful multiple critique of the still socially and
religiously hegemonic orientalist, fundamentalist, conventional
Western feminist (privileging the experiences of middle-class white
women), and sensationalist mainstream mass media discourses about
the place and status of women in religious traditions, in
particular Hinduism and Islam."
"This book is an innovative collection of essays about religion and
gender written by Hindu and Muslim women of South Asian orgin
living in the United States. With minimal framing by the editors,
the contributors explore their religions from diverse persepectives
as spiritual journeys, ritual practices, inspirations for activism,
and/or philosophical ideas. Most significantly, the authors provide
alternative narratives to orientalist critiques of Hinduis and
Islam's treatment of women... This book provides an excellent
resource for undergraduate courses and allows students to
understand the diversity of South Asian Hinuism and Islam and the
experiences of religious minorities in the United States.
"This collection of thought-provoking essays illuminates our
understanding of the multiple contexts that shape South Asian
American women's religious experiences. Through nuanced narratives,
the authors compel us to break down simplistic stereotypes about
religion and South Asia and to take a fresh look at the linkages
between gender and religion."
"This collection of vivid and provocative essays captures the rich
diversity of religious experience among South Asian American women.
It challenges popular assumptions about religion and South
Asia."
"This highly topical book is both timely and reflective of the
contemporary challenges faced by many women who belong to complex
networks and communities, including religious communities and who
recognise both the complexity that this relationship entails and
its contribution to our universal understanding of humanity and
spiritual well-being. It is an ambitious piece of work which
successfully achieves its primary aim that is, to narrate the
experiences of Hindu and Muslim South Asian Americanwomen based
upon their personal and lived realities."
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