M.Phil. Modern Society and Global Transformations

RELIGION AND GLOBALISATION

After following this module students should have an analytical basis for undertaking the comparative study of various contemporary religious movements, in different cultural settings. They should also have developed an understanding of the complexities involved in understanding the various meanings of cultural globalization as it applies to the religious field. The sessions will cover conceptual issues in the understanding of globalisation and religion, especially the relations between the local and the global, the universal and the particular. The emphasis will be on empirical cases and comparative studies, they will cover Islam in Pakistan, Judaism and Asian-based religious movements in the West.

The four seminars will, provisionally, focus on the following topics and case-studies: 1. Sociology of religion, Secularization and Globalisation; 2. The diffusion of neo-Hindu movements in the West; 3. A comparative analysis of the Kabbalah Centre in France and Britain; 4. Islam, An Inherently Global Religion? The Case of Jamaat-e-Islami .

1. Secularization and Religion in Global Context
This lecture will firstly introduce the sociology of religion’s key debates and theorists, in particular theories of secularisation. Secularisation is a concept designed to understand the loss of religion’s social significance and cultural hegemony, but it is open to a variety of interpretations, focusing on bureaucratisation and rationalisation in modern societies, on the privatization of religious practices and beliefs, on the relation between church and state, etc.

One of the most significant phenomena to challenge classical secularisation theory is globalisation. If secularisation seemed to be more concerned with processes through time (the fate of religion in modern times), globalisation probably relates more to spatial and geographical dimensions of social change’s impact on religion. This lecture will provide introductory reflections on the relationship between globalisation and religion. We will discuss contributions and responses to globalisation made by religion, relations between the global and the local, and anthropological criticisms of the notion of global culture.

2. A case-study: how Hinduism became transnational
The transnational diffusion Neo-Hindu movements has been analysed as a “counter-mission”, responding to colonisation and Christian missions in India, at the end of 19th century. Paradoxically, this Hindu identity affirmation has led modern gurus to elaborate practical, exoteric and flexible teachings that are disentangled from their roots, in order to transcend cultural boundaries and become universal. This case-study underscores how globalisation represents an opportunity for some religious movements. It also illustrates the universalisation of particularism, which interplays with the particularisation of universalism in the global context.

3. Another case of the universalisation of particularism: The Kabbalah Centre
In this seminar, another transnational religious organisation, the Kabbalah Centre, will be introduced and compared with the transnationalisation of neo-Hindu movements. The Kabbalah Centre teaching content will be discussed, focusing on the ways in which a complex and secret form of Jewish mysticism is made accessible to anyone by this organisation. The impact of the local context will be tackled by comparison with the Kabbalah Centre’s branches in France and Britain.

Both Neo-Hindu movements and the Kabbalah Centre shed light on the fact that the process of universalisation entails the de-ethnicisation and the standardisation of particular religions. Religious leaders as well as their disciples contribute to this standardisation, which involves simplification, subjectivisation and pragmatism. In addition, in these case-studies, the homogenisation process is paradoxically reinforced by the individualisation of religion. Finally, we might also argue that they are cases of westernisation.

Dr. Iqtidar’s seminar

4. Islam, An Inherently Global Religion? The Case of Jamaat-e-Islami
This seminar will focus the debate on ‘global Islam’ through a closer look at the Jamaat-e-Islami. Jamaat-e-Islami, founded in undivided India in the last few years of colonial rule, has inspired similar organisations around the world. In addition, it has chapters in Bangladesh, Pakistan, UK, South Africa and US. Islam is conceptualised popularly and particularly in Western media as a religion that has an inherent compulsion to global reach and influence. Implicit in this conceptualisation is the suggestion that this compulsion is different from and perhaps much more than that in other major religions. The discussion will focus on thinking through both religion and globalization as analytic categories, before proceeding to the nexus of the two. The relationship between globalization- past and present- and religious practice can be meaningfully analysed by first building some historical context to the specificities of the present day.

Sample essays titles

1. Is secularization truly ‘disproved’ by the proliferation of global religious movements and global fundamentalist organisations?

2. To what extent are Jewish, Christian and Islamic fundamentalism ‘the same’?

3. How can we sociologically interpret the relationship between colonisation, post-colonial contexts and globalisation of religion?

4. To what extent is globalisation local?

5. Why has Buddhism been successful beyond cultural and national frontiers?

6. Is Pentecostalism the most global of contemporary religious movements?

7. In what ways have the culture and doctrines of Islam in Europe been influenced by secularism and democracy?

8. Do ethnic identity-claims limit globalisation?

9. Analyse Brazil’s contribution to the globalisation of religion.

10. How has anthropology’s discussion of globalisation contributed to our understanding of contemporary religious phenomena?

11. Western societies have embraced Buddhism and Indian gurus’ teachings for nearly fifty years. Is it right to conclude that the West has become to some extent “easternized” and what does this imply in terms of the globalisation of religion?

12. How does social stratification impact on the globalisation of religions?

13. Are some religions inherently more ‘global’ than others?

14. How does the experience of Jamaat-e-Islami help us conceptualise the term ‘religion’?