Virtual Conference:
The Intersection of Hinduism and Contemporary Society

June 2-3 2022

Hindus, their communities, and their traditions face a wide variety of sociological challenges in assimilating into or avoiding modern secular societies. An underpinning of these tensions is that Hindus live and work in the world while simultaneously maintaining a separation from it. Sociological issues that they may encounter include those of identity, value, affiliation, and ethnicity. This conference aims to provide an opportunity for scholars to dialogue and share research related to the experiences of contemporary Hindu communities and adherents as they navigate life within, without, and on the fringes of their religious institutions and host communities. All are welcome to participate.

Hit “Download programme” link above for abstracts.

Please register here.

Conference Programme

DAY 1: THURSDAY 2nd JUNE 2022

(All times in UTC)

Welcome
12pm

SESSION 1
12:10pm – 1:30pm     

Angela Burt
The Changing Relationship of the Hare Krishna Movement with Mainstream Society: An Alignment Perspective

Gustavo H. P. Moura
World Kirtan: Music and Spirituality in a Transcultural Whirlpool

Ace Simpson and Alan Herbert
Rapture and Rupture: Experiences of Former Ashram Residents

SESSION 2
1:30pm – 2:50pm

Tuhina Ganguly
The Wonder of Darshan: Going Beyond the Local and the Visual

Hrvoje Čargonja
Dialectics of Narrative Identity in the Hare Krishna Stories of Religious Experience

Cecilia Bastos
Mind, Body and Subjectivity: The Performance of Yoga and Meditation Practitioners

DAY 2: FRIDAY 3rd JUNE 2022

Welcome
12pm

SESSION 1
12:10pm – 1:30pm

Richa Shukla
Contemporary Hindu Woman: Strangled Soul or an Emancipated One?

Sraddha Shivani Rajkomar
Hinduism and Creole Cultural Memory in Present-day Mauritius

Priyesh Patel
Finding the One: Marriage and Love among Hindus in the UK

SESSION 2
1:30pm – 3:10pm

Gowda Gomathi & Babu Lenin G
Memorial Stones as Social Identity in the Past

Paolo E. Rosati
Cultural Identity and Cultural Memory at Kāmākhyā: A Preliminary Study

Michael Sheludko
Russo-Ukrainian War and Problems of Violence Justification Among Russian and Ukrainian Vaishnavas

Rasa Pranskevičiūtė-Amoson
Acting in the Underground: Life as a Hare Krishna Devotee in the Republic of Lithuania (1979–1989)

Organizing Committee

Cecilia G. Bastos
T +55 71993661399
E ceciliagbastos@gmail.com
National Museum / Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Angela R. Burt       
T +61 412 439 734
E aburt@ochs.org.uk
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Alan C. Herbert
T +44 7463 138252
E alan@ochs.org.uk
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies 

Ace V. Simpson
T +44 1895 265899
E ace.simpson@brunel.ac.uk
Brunel University London