Unit 9: Religion, Faith, and Tolerance (PDF)

Urban Social Structure UNIT 9 RELIGION, FAITH AND TOLERANCE Contents 9.0 Introduction 9.1 Religion and Conception of Rural and Urban in Anthropology 9.2 Religion and Colonial Cities 9.3 Road-Sid...

Urban Social Structure UNIT 9 RELIGION, FAITH AND TOLERANCE Contents 9.0 Introduction 9.1 Religion and Conception of Rural and Urban in Anthropology 9.2 Religion and Colonial Cities 9.3 Road-Side Temples and Shrines in Urban Areas 9.4 Religion as Marker of Urban Space: Fear, Conflict and Violence 9.5 Religion in Urban Space: A Battle Ground for Secularisation and New Religious Movements 9.6 Urban Aspirations, Globalisation and Religious Fundamentalism 9.7 Summary 9.8 References 9.9 Answers to Check Your Progress LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this Unit the students will learn to:  Describe the proto-historical and historical importance of religion in urban spaces;  Discuss the location of religion within urban anthropological studies;  Interpret the historical process of religious enclave formation in urban areas;  Identify the presence of road-side temples and shrines in urban areas;  Critique religion as a marker of urban space and resulting fear, conflict and violence in urban areas;  Examine challenges for secularisation in urban context; and  Debate on modernisation, urbanisation and increasing influence of religion. 9.0 INTRODUCTION Religion in the context of urban spaces has a very ambivalent existence. This ambivalence on one hand is prevalent among the people imagining about religion and faith in urban spaces and on the other among the academics writing and researching on the subject. If you start thinking about religion and faith in urban context you will soon realise the existence of this ambivalence. The root of this lies in the fact that the moment we think about the urban, we imagine a space Contributor: Dr. Prashant Khattri, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh 130 riding on the European industrial modernity which is a product of enlightenment. Religion, Faith and This tries to build an image in our minds that urban spaces are modern spaces Tolerance and religion is kept mostly in the ‘traditional’ realm. But the moment you start thinking more, you will soon realise that religion has not lost its ground in urban areas even in the most so-called modern European context and the Church and other such religious organisations hold an important place in urban context. You think a bit more and you start realising that in fact religious organisations are more robust in the context of urban spaces as compared to rural ones as they get more visibility and reach in urban areas as compared to the rural ones. There is a concentration of religious specialists of different faiths and sects in urban areas for the same reason. This brings us to two important questions viz- that how we are supposed to imagine the relation between the urban space and religion and faith? And What insights can anthropological studies of urban areas provide to understand this relation? V. Gordon Childe’s book, Man Makes Himself (1951) can be a good starting point to understand religion in the context of urban spaces. In this book he writes a chapter on “Urban Revolution” where he asserts that ancient civilisations of Egypt and India were basically urban civilisations. Emergence of surplus, led to the emergence of urban centers that were actually centers hosting different classes of people. Among various classes, priests occupied foreground in urban centers. He further says that earlier states obtained their legitimacy from divine powers and priests acted as mediators between the people and the head of the state who was considered as the divine incarnate. Archaeological evidence also suggests that earliest temples were the repositories of real wealth in the name of the deity. Such huge wealth was administered by a ‘corporation of priests.’ Such priests provided the administrators with God’s treasury. Thus, priests play a very important role in the functioning of earliest cities and urban centers. Temples and their corporation of priests were so central to the urban administration that in case of war temples were plundered but then rebuilt by the new king in his own name as they were central to the governance of the people. Childe further suggests that the emergence of writing that is considered as the hallmark of civilisation emerged in response to the growing administrative complexities within the temples and its treasury. Written records from Mesopotamia points to the fact that temples were not only places of worship but they were also the centers of capital accumulation in the city. They worked as ‘great banks’ in urban centers. Temple wealth was available to people in form of loans that they had to pay back with interest in the form of offerings to the God. There was a moral and religious commitment on the part of the people and temple administrators reminded people to pay-back their loans in the name of God. Thus, temples and religious establishments in earliest cities had a very important economic function. Check Your Progress 1. Why does religion in the context of cities has an ambivalent existence?............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 131 Urban Social...................................................................................................................... Structure...................................................................................................................... 2. Discuss the role of religion in Ancient Cities of the world......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9.1 RELIGION AND THE CONCEPTION OF THE RURAL AND URBAN IN ANTHROPOLOGY Anthropological literature on urban spaces and religion projects a very dichotomous understanding of social lives. On the one hand there are societies labelled as traditional and on the other there are societies labelled as modern. Then there is also a distinction between the societies in the West and those in the East. Most quoted dichotomy is the one given by Tonnies that is of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. He distinguished between community and society, where community is traditional and governed by collective religious idioms and society is modern and governed by codified rules called law. Societies in the village are considered closer to the traditional pole of this dichotomy and that of the urban areas is considered modern. Religion falls under the traditional realm and therefore urban spaces according to this dichotomous view are governed more by modern instrumental rationalities rather than traditional religious thought. Moreover, scholars have also suggested that Eastern societies are more traditional than the Western societies and therefore urban spaces in the East are more governed by religious cosmologies. On the other hand, modern, Western, industrial cities are considered as ‘true urban communities’ marked with freedom of thought and individualism (Hansen, 2014). Evolutionary thought and colonialism further reinforced this line of thinking where village communities were considered as governed by collective religious traditions and customs and modern urban industrial cities were considered to be governed by secular authorities and individualism. This view also informed many of the classical anthropological writings. In these writings religion was considered as inseparable part of the tribal village community (Hansen, 2014). Scholars like Evans-Pritchard’s writing on Nuer religion subscribed to the same dichotomous understanding. Earlier urban studies in anthropology-largely done by the Manchester School- did not focus much on religion as they were more concerned with understanding the issues of identity and culture of tribal folks in urban land. Max Gluckman suggested that urbanism and urban ways of living had much impact over the tribes migrating to these places and their traditional cultural identities are overshadowed by urban ethos (Hansen, 2014). Sociological and anthropological writings also reinforced the dichotomous understanding of the rural and the urban. George Simmel talked about rural life as governed by customs and emotions in opposition to urban life. Similarly in his most celebrated essay titled “Urbanism as a Way of Life”, Louis Wirth 132 differentiated between the urban and the rural on the same dichotomous grounds. Religion, Faith and He was of the view that urban life is based mostly on secondary contacts as Tolerance opposed to rural life which is based on primary contacts. Check Your Progress 3. Colonial anthropology and evolutionary thought reinforced the view that religion is part of rural society whereas urban societies are secular and modern. Discuss......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9.2 RELIGION AND COLONIAL CITIES This clear-cut dichotomy between the rural and the urban vis-à-vis religion is more described as an idealist understanding and at best represented in some cases in Modern European cities. However, when we look at cities in South Asia we realise that some cities are also big religious centers. Economy of some of the big and old-cities in the South Asia revolve around religious places. However, there still exists a contrast between such cities and more pristine and sacred religious centers in the hills and forests that are considered to be the place of residence and penance for the sages. But city as a religious center took a backseat and a beating after the coming of the British. In order to administer the cities in a better way and also to house their own staff and administrative officers, the British built new enclaves in these old cities. These new enclaves were named as ‘civil lines,’ ‘parade grounds,’ ‘clock towers’ and places in the name of administrative officers. They projected such new centers as modern spaces for governance in contrast to the old and walled cities that were projected as filthy, dirty and governed by religious customs and mores. Cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow etc. were now recognised more in terms of administrative buildings and spaces rather than as centers of religious associations (Hansen, 2014). In these colonial cities religion would play different role in different parts of the city. Folk deities were part of the old city and the modern part had a more cosmopolitan look and feel. But social scientists were also quick to add that these cosmopolitan parts of the colonial cities were not completely secular as was the case with some of the modern European cities. David Pocock and Milton Singer were of the view that the new urban centers in India gave space for the re-organisation of religious sects and cults and also incorporated more people under their aegis. Urban presence of such religious organisations increased their visibility and prestige (Hansen, 2014). Ethnographic studies have challenged the dichotomous model of modern city and religious rural places. Metropolitan cities in modern Europe were not completely secular places. Religion played an important role within these cities as well. As these metropolitan centers grew in size, a large portion of 133 Urban Social their population came from adjoining rural areas for want of work. This led Structure to the emergence of a new class in these cities that was largely made-up of workers in industrial settings. The upper classes in these cities visualised these proletariats as ‘crowds’ and ‘threat to the city.’ A whole range of theories on social pathologies emerged in this context. Therefore, in order to moralise this population (as they were considered as immoral and prone to crimes) missionary activities began in urban areas. This led to the organisation of religion in urban areas for a very different purpose. The same happened with urban centers in the British colonies. Populations were subjected to religious disciplines and various religious missions played important role in this regard. There was also an attempt to bring more and more people under a religious denomination in order to expand the religious base (Hansen, 2014). During the colonial period in India, religion was also used to organise large groups of people in big cities. This helped in bringing together people against the rule of the oppressors. During 1890s, Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak started organising Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Bombay (now Mumbai) as a mark of showing strength to the British. Such large gatherings helped in generating religious and community sentiments against the colonial rule. Ganesh Chaturthi festival has persisted till date in the form of large religious gathering and spectacle in the city of Mumbai. It has been argued by social scientists that earlier it may have been used as an event against the colonial rule but in today’s context, Ganesh Chaturthi festival is also used by people to claim the city space. People use these festivals to lay their claim over the right to use city space. It is their way of announcing their existence in the city which is otherwise largely claimed by the rich and affluent. The purpose of such religious gatherings also changes with the change in the larger political climate. This is evident in the way Ganesh Chaturthi festival is used by groups of people for claiming their linguistic and ‘original’ right over the city. A politics driven on the premises of outsider versus insider largely propagated by political outfits like Shiv Sena has used such festivals to firmly establish the Maharashtrian Hindu identity (Hansen, 2014). Similarly, large religious gatherings were used to garner anti-colonial sentiments in other parts of India. One good example is the holy city of Allahabad (now Prayagraj). This city is situated at the confluence of three rivers (hence also referred to as Triveni) viz- Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswathi. Every twelve years, the city hosts one of the largest religious gatherings in the world- Kumbh Mela. People from across India come to Allahabad to take a holy dip at Sangam (confluence of the three rivers). Such large gatherings were used during the British period to strategise against the colonial rule. Allahabad was one of the important colonial sites of the British in North India and therefore the city was developed in the line of other colonial cities in India. Another interesting dimension to the city is the development of an ‘ephemeral city’ every twelve years along the river banks to host the Kumbh Mela. This ephemeral city is entirely a product of religious belief that draws billions of people to the banks of the river. The city is an exact replica of any modern city with all the municipal, regulatory and service institutions as its important parts. 134 Check Your Progress Religion, Faith and Tolerance 4. Colonial cities were segregated on the lines of religion. Discuss......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5. Religion in colonial cities played an important role in generating anti- colonial sentiments. Discuss......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9.3 ROAD-SIDE TEMPLES AND SHRINES IN URBAN AREAS For a very long time in anthropology, the study of urban centers and that of religion were considered as separate domains. Urban anthropology was mostly concerned with the study of the problems faced by people migrating to urban areas. This was later on followed by studies on kinship and kinship networks in urban spaces. Religion was still considered as something associated with the traditional societies. Urban studies focused more on issues of livelihood, race relations, class, housing, gender roles etc. A confluence of studies on religion and urban spaces has however changed the contours of our thoughts regarding the urban places. Anthropological emphasis on the alternative and the marginal brought to the fore, studies on everyday religion in urban centers. This led to the studies on road-side temples and shrines in urban areas. These studies focused on understanding how these shrines work as sacred markers of community identities in urban spaces. Everyday travel on the roads of urban centers in India reveals that communities living in urban spaces have their unique ways of marking those spaces and claiming them. This is different from the way in which religion was described in the previous section during the colonial times. While travelling even in big metropolitan/cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai or Delhi one may easily spot road-side temples and shrines. These temples and shrines are built largely by people migrating to the city for work. In case of Mumbai, such temples and shrines are important part of the old mill district which is famously known as the area of the working class in Mumbai. Small temples and shrines are found under the trees that houses painted stones and other sacred religious objects. Over a period of time such places of worship gain prominence in an area and people from different walks of life start visiting these places. People also add objects like photographs, decorations, loudspeakers, bricks, amulets, threads 135 Urban Social around trees over a period of time. These structures on the side of urban roads Structure also sometimes flout the municipal rules and regulations but still they persist because of the local patronage these places and beliefs enjoy. People including the local politicians actively take part in protecting these structures from getting demolished. A large protest march took place in Mumbai in 2003 when the municipal corporation started planning to demolish such ‘unauthorised’ structures. Such structures on the road-side and pavements of urban areas have challenged long-held conceptions about religion in anthropology and sociology. Durkheim defined religion as belief in the sacred that is set apart and forbidden. The idea of sacredness gets challenged in the context of road-side temples. The sacred is set apart from the profane but here in this case we see that temples and shrines are part of the mundane and the everyday. They are very much part of the pavements and side-walks that are in no ways sacred and set-apart. Such structures are actually part of the everyday life and flow of the city. But despite being the part of the ordinary and the everyday, such structures are well protected by the communities and politics alike. As already discussed, it is really hard to demolish or destroy such structures without invoking the ire of the local community involved. Different civil society members get involved in such conflicts that take the form of long legal battles in the court of law (Hansen, 2014). This has important bearing over the plans for urban expansions. Urban spaces are dynamic and looking at the needs of the population growth and development, urban spaces try to expand continuously. Such religious structures sometimes come in the way of urban expansions. This also suggests that such religious places form a very integral part of urban spaces and therefore cannot be ignored by the local politics and the system of justice. A tussle ensues between the agenda of development and local beliefs and practices of community. Moreover, community sentiments and identities are also sometimes associated with such temples and shrines. Road-side temples and shrines have also challenged the notion of secularisation of urban spaces. It has been believed that modernisation will lead to secularisation of modern spaces, however, the presence of such structures and their importance in the urban community and polity proves otherwise. It was believed that the process of secularisation will lead to reduction in religious beliefs and practices in urban spaces and an increase in subjective practice of religious beliefs. In other words, it was imagined that religion will become more subjective and private in nature in urban spaces and we will see in the words of William James- ‘varieties of religious experiences.’ However, contrary to this, as explained earlier, road- side temples and shrines are in no way private affairs and they get linked to the larger politics of the region and the local area. It was also observed by Clifford Geertz that contrary to the secularisation of modern spaces and privatisation of religious beliefs and practices, religion in ‘contemporary’ modern world will become more outwardly and linked with the larger politics of the area. Studying road-side temples of Chennai, Kalpagam (2006) has argued that such temples form part of the urban popular culture. She further says that popular culture is defined in terms of its ‘spirit of resistance’ but in the case of road-side 136 temples there is a form of synthesis between the great-tradition and the little- tradition. She argues that many such road-side temples belong to the Amman Religion, Faith and who is the mother goddess worshipped largely by the Dalit communities and Tolerance is not part of the Sanskritik/Vedic tradition of Hinduism. Road-side temples of Amman are good examples of synthesis between the little tradition (Amman also denotes folk deities) and great-tradition as these temples also house other great-tradition gods and goddesses. Moreover, Dalit communities through their worship in these temples carry out rituals that are exclusively performed in bigger temples by Brahmins. Kalpagam (2006) further argues that road-side temples can be seen within the theoretical framework of multiple-modernities. This framework argues that there is more than one way of being modern. European modernity is not sufficient to define modernity throughout the globe. There are local variations of modernity that give rise to multiple-modernities. One such notion of modernity is the South-Asia version where tradition forms an important part of the modern world. Road-side temples are also testimony to the fact that not all modernities are secular in nature. Religion and tradition form important part of South- Asian modernities. It is in this context that we can see the presence of road-side temples in urban spaces. Check Your Progress 6. Discuss the importance and role of road-side temples and shrines in urban areas......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7. Road-side temples and shrines have challenged the notion of secularisation of urban spaces. Discuss......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8. Discuss road-side temples in urban areas within the theoretical frame of multiple-modernities......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 137 Urban Social Structure 9.4 RELIGION AS MARKER OF URBAN SPACE: FEAR, CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE Religious spaces and communities living in the vicinity of such places mark the borders and boundaries of areas within urban spaces. It has been observed that historically certain areas and places become synonymous with some religious groups. If one tries to see the settlement pattern of colonial cities then one will be surprised to see such religious and community-oriented enclaves within urban areas. Colonial authorities encouraged people to settle according to their religious and caste preferences. Different areas in the city were marked for people from different religions. People migrating from rural areas to urban areas for work preferred to stay and live in areas where they found their ‘own people.’ This colonial policy of segregating the city on community and religious lines took another form in the context of religion based politics and communal tensions between different religious groups. This further led to communities preferring areas where their own community people lived. A sense of safety in one’s own area and fear of the ‘other’ took shape in this context. Urban expansion and development through real-estate development projects took a trajectory guided by such markings of urban spaces. This meant that some areas got investment and others did not. This also meant that real-estate projects targeted people based on their religious and community affiliations. This further segregated the city on religious lines. Religious spaces as markers of community identity face a threat from the ‘other’ community. People perceive the ‘other’ religious community as a nuisance in their area. They just want to get rid of such spaces or structures and people. Stereotypes and prejudices about certain communities play an important role in such perceptions of the other community. Although stated in the above discussion that religious places and structures are protected by the community and are guarded against any demolition but in certain cases where the issues of the minority religion is involved, such demolitions do happen in the name of ‘beautification’ of the area. One such example is that of Delhi’s Noor Masjid (Mosque). The Mosque, located in South Delhi’s Jangpura colony was demolished in the name of beautification of the area. This Mosque catered to the needs of Bengali/Bangladeshi Muslim migrants living in slums in that area. The Jangpura Resident Association (JRA) filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Delhi High Court for the removal of the Mosque. This example has an important theoretical implication on how we conceptualise the urban space. Cities have been conceptualised as segregated basically on class lines. Further, there is a tendency towards embourgeoisement of cities. Embourgeoisement means a tendency of upward mobility of the working class into the middle class by adopting the life style and values of the middle class. This further leads to decrease in working class consciousness and increase in material consumption in cities. Embourgeoisement of cities means an elite-oriented planning and policy implementation for the cities where the voice of the poor and minority are overlooked. This is basically a ‘class dominated’ understanding of the city and it misses a very important point that is reflected in the example of Noor Masjid, that cities are also getting segregated on the lines of religion and community. 138 This new pattern of segregation of modern urban cities is reflected in increase Religion, Faith and in religious ghettos in cities (Gayer and Mahajan, 2011). Tolerance Religion forms an important variable in the way city is perceived by people. In the context of communal conflicts and violence, people’s relationship with their localities and city in general undergo a change. The relationship of people and community with the state also undergo a change in this context. We can take the example of Babri Masjid demolition that happened in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh and the violence that followed in Mumbai. After the Babri Masjid demolition, large scale violence took place in several localities in Mumbai. Hindu and Muslim groups targeted each other in this communal conflict. The police dealt with this situation with a very heavy hand and kept a constant vigil over the localities dominated by Muslims. The demolition was also followed by bomb blasts in several places in Mumbai and was projected as a revenge for demolition of the mosque. In this context city was used as a location to settle communal dispute. The visibility and economic importance of cities play an important role in making cities as sites for settling religious scores. This entire episode reminds us of the fact that cities are fragmented on the lines of religion and it plays a very important role in the local politics and community formation in cities. Religion becomes an important tool for place-making in urban areas. It also influences the collective memories of people and their perceptions of the city. Religion also significantly transforms the relation between people from different communities in urban spaces for a long time to come (Van Der Veer, 2015). Religious markings of the urban space are also visible in the context of festive and religious processions of various religions. Whether it is Ganesh Chaturthi festival, Ram Leela, Muharrum or any other religious occasion, processions form an important part of them. As discussed earlier, these religious processions are one of the ways in which people claim rights over the city. In an otherwise elite- dominated space that includes state and state-actors, such occasions give some space to the ‘ordinary’ people to claim their right over the roads and other spaces in the city. However, the very act of claiming right is fraught with conflict in the context of multiple religions. People sometimes object to processions being carried from their localities as they do not subscribe to that particular religious ideology. This also creates a lot of tension between different religious groups and also with the city municipal corporation. It is in this context that religious organisations negotiate their rights with other religious groups and also with the city administration and state (Van Der Veer, 2015). Check Your Progress 9. How does any urban space marked by religion generate fear and violence?........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 139 Urban Social Structure 9.5 RELIGION IN URBAN SPACE: A BATTLE GROUND FOR SECULARISATION AND NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS Social scientists have argued for long that as the world would become modern, religion will diminish in its presence and reach. The earliest proponents of this view were anthropologists and sociologists like Tylor, Frazer and Comte. They were of the view that as the society will progress, religion will diminish and science will grow. People would become more rational. In his evolutionary sequence Tylor suggested that the society will progress through three stages viz- magic, religion and science. Similarly, Comte was of the view that society will progress through the stages of theology, metaphysics and positivism. These scholars can be labelled as supporters of the secularisation thesis. They were of the view that the society will become more secular as the influence of religion will diminish. Max Weber also suggested that central features of modernisation will include rationalisation, industrialisation, urbanisation and secularisation. The secularisation thesis thus proposed that with urbanisation, influence of religion will decrease and rational thought will occupy its place. With urbanisation, religion will transform into an occasional activity, that is, something that we do once in a week, like going to a temple, church or any other such place. It was also suggested within the secularisation theory that since urban spaces cater to people from different religious backgrounds, it becomes very difficult to bind them together into a ‘moral community’ through a single religion. In other words, pluralism acted as a force that threatened religion (Furseth and Repstad, 2006; Eller, 2007). The above discussion presents only one side of the coin. There are scholars who suggest that religion will not lose its influence with urbanisation and modernisation. These scholars are against the secularisation thesis. They are of the view that religion will not lose its ground due to modernisation or urbanisation. On the contrary religion will take new forms and will sustain itself in new ways. It is in this context that one needs to understand the role of New Religious Movements (NRMs). The NRMs have been defined as the emergence of new religious groups or sects in the Western countries. These groups and sects emerged alongside the mainstream religions. Most of the NRMs emerge from already existing major religions in the world like Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam etc. Members of the NRMs are mostly converted individuals that are not born in that religion. These members are also often well-educated and from middle-class backgrounds. In order to understand the NRMs better we may take the example of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) also known as the Hare Krishna Movement. This is one of the most widespread NRM emerging out of Hinduism. This was first established in the city of New York in 1966 by Swami Prabhupada. The main belief system revolves around the concept of Bhakti Yoga, meditation, vegetarianism, reincarnation and Karma. This is one of the most popular NRM in the western world. It has around five hundred major centers across the globe and it promotes Krishna consciousness through 140 seminars, festivals, performing arts and distribution of the society’s literature. Religion, Faith and It also has a dedicated and dynamic website of its own, projecting its activities Tolerance through the globe besides a robust social media presence. This example showcases the changes that are happening within the traditional religions and how they are transforming to the needs of the modern world. This also suggests that religion and religious beliefs have not vanished or decreased but have changed its form and character. It has also being argued that people generally feel that the traditional religions have become very ritualistic and have also lost their meanings. People find a greater sense of community and belongingness in NRMs. Rise of NRMs has also been attributed to rapid social changes (Giddens, 2006). Thus, our discussion so far suggests that religion and urbanisation are not mutually exclusive. Modernisation and urbanisation could not be linked to secularisation. However, it may be submitted that there has been a considerable change in the way we think about and perform religion. It has been argued that there is an increasing trend towards ‘believing without belonging.’ That means people do believe in God and some supernatural force but are not bound to any institutionalised form of religion. Most of the religious activities take place outside the traditional religious institutions like the Church and Temple. People tend to look for more meaningful collaboration between communities of believers than any traditional organisation could offer. Religious community has become a more global force as people seek their community partners throughout the globe. Internet and social media helps people towards this goal. Studies suggest that in United States two-third of all internet content searches online belong to religious searches. People also look for how to celebrate religious events and they are keen to travel to places for such celebrations. Check Your Progress 10. What is secularisation thesis and how New Religious Movements have challenged it in urban context?........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9.6 URBAN ASPIRATIONS, GLOBALISATION AND RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM Globalisation has been defined as the process of flow of economy, polity and culture between societies and nations. It is largely imagined in the form of global aspirations towards homogeneous ways of living and believing. Global flow of images forms an important part of the process of globalisation. These images are of global cities beaming with economic activities, leisure and conspicuous consumption. Globalisation is also synonymous with mixedness as cultural flows bring different cultural traits at one place and therefore a 141 Urban Social mixed cultural trait emerges. It has been argued that this mixedness leads to loss Structure of identity of both societies and individuals. It is in this context that religious identities become important. Religion in this context give new imaginations to form community bonds that are otherwise lost on account of homogenisation of cultural traits and inter-mixing of cultural attributes. Robertson (1987, 1991) has argued that since globalisation leads to unsettling and never-ending aspirations, people sometimes feel nostalgia for the images of the past. These past images are largely religious as they form important part of culture. Thus, there are religious reactions to globalisation process. This is due to the fact that globalisation produces tension and people tend to find its resolution in religion. People residing in global cities worldwide experience this kind of a tension as these spaces are highly aspirational. Religion seems to be the best response to counter such tensions. Peter Beyer (1990) has studied religious reactions to globalisation and came to the conclusion that there are basically two kinds of religious reactions to globalisation viz- religious movements that react against globalisation and religious movements that celebrate diversity. The first category of religious movements results into religious fundamentalism. These movements emerge as there is a general feeling that globalisation threatens religious identities. Therefore, such movements try to revive the old religious identities. In the second category there are liberal movements like religious environmentalism. Such movements are based upon religious teachings concerning environment and try to convey the message that people need to change the way they relate to their environment. In conveying such meanings they use religious teachings, philosophies and scriptures. Frank Lechner (1993) is of the view that the emergence of religious fundamentalism in reaction to globalisation is actually a result of a clash between two worldviews. Modernity for Lechner is a worldview that sees the world in a very specific way. This is very different from the people who want to see the world as a Kingdom of God. People see themselves as defenders of God and modernity as a worldview that opposes God. Thus they want to restore the importance of religious scriptures and rules. Anthony Giddens (2006) is of the view that religious fundamentalism has risen largely in response to globalisation. Modernisation according to him has challenged traditional values around family and status of women and men in the society. This challenge has been dealt with by using religion and religious values. Religious fundamentalism is seen as a force in defence of traditional values and beliefs. In doing so, fundamentalists have used global cities as their base camps and also as their battle grounds. They are using all sorts of modern gadgetry and mediums in order to convey their thoughts and values. They also use global cities as sites to attack modern thought process. There are two reasons behind this viz- global cities are considered as epitome of modern values and fundamentalists want to make a point against this and second these cities are also well covered by the global media and therefore, they are able to reach a wider audience world over. Thus, religious fundamentalism forms the anti-thesis of urban aspirations and globalisation. It gives a new form to the relationship of human beings to their religion. The other way in which religion reacts to urban aspirations and globalisation is in the form of liberal movements as already discussed. 142 Check Your Progress Religion, Faith and Tolerance 11. Religious fundamentalism emerged as a reaction to globalisation, modernisation and urbanisation. Discuss......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9.7 Summary This unit tries to understand religion in the context of urban space. It started with discussing the central role that religion played in the development of early cities in earliest civilisations. Then it moved on to understand that how anthropologists have looked into religion. Earlier studies in anthropology overlooked religion in urban spaces as they largely believed it to be the attribute of rural areas. This kind of an understanding has colonial and evolutionary dimension to it. The unit then discussed religion in colonial cities and how colonial cities were segregated on the basis of caste and religion that gave rise to religious enclaves within cities. We then discussed everyday religion in urban areas in the form of road- side temples in cities. These temples and shrines form an integral part of urban areas and a lot of local politics revolve around it. This led us to understand how religion produces conflict in cities and how violence is played-out in the name of religion in urban areas. Then we moved on to more theoretical understanding of religion in urban spaces in the context of secularisation thesis. There is a tension between the scholars that hold on to secularisation thesis and those who talk about new religious movements. Urban spaces along-with being modern spaces are also the sites for the emergence of new religious movements. In the end we discussed how urban aspirations and globalisation leads to religious fundamentalism. 9.8 REFERENCES Beyer, P. (1990). “Privatization and the Public Influence of Religion in Global Society”. In Global Culture. Nationalism, Globalisation and Modernity, Mike Featherstone (ed.), London: Sage. Childe V.G. (1951). Man makes Himself. New York: Mentor Books. Eller J.D. (2007). Introducing Anthropology of Religion. New York: Routledge. Furseth I. and Repstad P. (2006). An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. England: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Gayer L. and Mahajan C. (2011). “Delhi’s Noor Masjid: Tales of a Martyred Mosque”. Economic and Political Weekly. XLVI (10). 12-15. Giddens A. (2006). Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press. 143 Urban Social Hansen T.B. (2014). “Religion”. In Nonini D.M. (ed.). A Companion to Urban Structure Anthropology. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. 364-380. Kalpagam U. (2006). “Secularism, Religiosity and Popular Culture: Chennai’s Roadside Temples”. Economic and Political Weekly. November 4. 4595-4600. Lechner F. J. (1993). “Global Fundamentalism”. In A Future for Religion? New Paradigms for Social Analysis, William H. Swatos, Jr. (ed.),. London: Sage. 19-36 Robertson R. (1987). “Church–State Relations and the World System”. In Church–State Relations, Thomas Robbins and Roland Robertson (eds.),. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. 39–51. Robertson R. (1991) “After Nostalgia? Wilful Nostalgia and the Phases of Globalization”. In Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity, Bryan S. Turner (ed.). London: Sage. 45–61. Van Der Veer P. (ed.). (2015). Handbook of Religion and the Asian City: Aspiration and Urbanization in the 21st Century. California: University of California Press. 9.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 1. Refer to the 1st paragraph of section 9.0 2. Refer to the 2nd paragraph of section 9.0 3. Refer to section 9.1 4. Refer to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of section 9.2 5. Refer to the 4th and 5th paragraph of section 9.2 6. Refer to section 9.3 7. Refer to the 5th paragraph of section 9.3 8. Refer to the 7th paragraph of section 9.3 9. Refer to section 9.4 10. Refer to section 9.5 11. Refer to section 9.6 144