Full Description
The South Asian Christian diaspora is largely invisible in the literature about religion and migration. This is the first comprehensive study of South Asian Christians living in Europe and North America, presenting the main features of these diasporas, their community histories and their religious practices. The South Asian Christian diaspora is pluralistic both in terms of religious adherence, cultural tradition and geographical areas of origin. This book gives justice to such pluralism and presents a multiplicity of cultures and traditions typical of the South Asian Christian diaspora. Issues such as the institutionalization of the religious traditions in new countries, identity, the paradox of belonging both to a minority immigrant group and a majority religion, the social functions of rituals, attitudes to language, generational transfer, and marriage and family life, are all discussed.
Contents
Introduction, Knut A. Jacobsen, Selva J. Raj; partONE Europe; Chapter 1 South Asian Christians in the UK, Eleanor Nesbitt; Chapter 2, Brigitte Sébastia; Chapter 3 The Seventieth Anniversary of 'John Matthew': On 'Indian' Christians in Germany, Urmila Goel; Chapter 4 Seeking the Blessing of the Consolatrix Afflictorum: The Annual Pilgrimage of Sri Lankan Tamils to the Madonna in Kevelaer (Germany), Brigitte Luchesi; Chapter 5 Perpetuating Religious and Social Concepts in the Extended Motherland: Tamil Christians in Berne (Switzerland), Damaris Lüthi; Chapter 6 Creating Sri Lankan Tamil Catholic Space in the South Asian Diaspora in Norway, Knut A. Jacobsen; Chapter 7 Goans and Damanians in Portugal: An Overview of a Singular Diaspora, Helena Maria, Mauricio C. Sant'ana; Chapter 8 Surinamese East Indian Christians in the Netherlands, Freek L. Bakker; partTWO North America; Chapter 9 The Culture of Asian Indian Catholicism in North America, Elizabeth Cameron Galbraith; Chapter 10, Selva J. Raj; Chapter 11 Indian Christians and Marriage Patterns, Farha Ternikar; Chapter 12 Doing Friendship, Making Contacts and Building Trust: Christian Indian Responses to Religious Diversity, Nori Henk; Chapter 13, Rachel Fell McDermott; Chapter 14 Conclusion, Raymond Brady Williams;
