Saturday, May 01, 2010

Beyond the Bible Belt: The Expansion of Indian-American Communities in Alabama

By Dr. Steven Ramey

Steven Ramey, Director of Asian Studies and Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, is grateful to the generous hospitality and assistance that people of South Asian heritage have demonstrated to him in Alabama and around the world.

A church on every corner. That is the image that many hold of religion in Alabama. And it is not too much of an exaggeration, even as the cultural diversity of the state has increased. Public knowledge of South Asian religions in the United States often centers on those organizations that look the most like Christian churches, such as temples, mosques and gurdwaras with publicly visible buildings. Membership rolls and educational classes in those institutions, uncommon in India, are seen as adaptations to the culture of the United States, making them more like Christian congregations.

Based on earlier research on Hindu, Jain, and Sikh practices in the Southeast, I knew that those temples, mosques, and gurdwaras, while important, only told a part of the story. When I began researching South Asian-American religious practices in Alabama as an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, I focused on the variety of activities that relate to the religions of South Asia, inside and outside these publicly visible institutions. Even with my earlier experiences, the range of formal organizations and informal activities that take place in cities across the state surprised me.

Immigrants from the Indian subcontinent have established a number of “brick and mortar” institutions across Alabama. Beyond the international mosques that attract South Asian Muslims, five temples have their own buildings, including temples in Huntsville, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa along with two temples in metropolitan Birmingham. In the past year or so, two gurdwaras have begun regular gatherings in their separate buildings in Bessemer, outside of Birmingham, and in Opelika, near Auburn. Although these seven institutions, with their publicly visible signs and flags, fit the common image of a religious center in Alabama, other activities complicate the picture. In Huntsville, Sikh leaders turn the Woodmen of the World Lodge into a gurdwara one Sunday each month. In Mobile, a portion of the community meets once a month for prayers and puja in the Mobile Botanical Gardens while some have discussed establishing a separate temple. One priest in Huntsville has also established his own center that people can use for various family and community rituals. In contrast to the assumption in Christian churches that a person will be an active member in only one church, some Indian-Americans actively participate and even take leadership roles in more than one of these centers. The idea that a person should exclusively associate with one institution, common in Christian communities, is not assumed in these organizations, demonstrating one way that they differ from the churches and have not simply assimilated to the majority viewpoint in the United States.

Regional identities also play a significant role in the formation of community and religious practices among South Asian-Americans in Alabama. Particular temple rituals attract devotees primarily from a specific region or North or South India more generally, depending on which deity the rituals emphasize. Many regional festivals also have significant religious components. For example, the Gujarati dominated Garba held in a high school cafeteria in Tuscaloosa concluded with arti before an image of the Goddess. The Bengali Association in Birmingham transformed a hotel ballroom for Durga Puja and a cultural program during Navratri. While these events attract people from more than one region, they primarily create a community of people who identify with one region.

The range of practices extends farther still. Various religious movements that connect to South Asia hold regular meetings across the state that create different communities of participants. The Chinmaya Mission holds classes at the Hoover Library. The Art of Living Foundation teaches yoga on Friday nights in downtown Auburn. Swaminarayan devotees meet regularly in Huntsville and Montgomery, in addition to their temple in Birmingham. Beyond these regular gatherings, rituals and special commemorations in homes bring individuals together to celebrate important life events or regionally significant festivals, in addition to the daily individualized devotions before home shrines.

The significance of South Asian religions in Alabama extends to cultural organizations that attempt to unite people from across India. Several cities have Indian associations, such as Auburn’s Indian Cultural Association of East Alabama, which has celebrated a range of religious holidays, including Diwali, Holi, Id, and Christmas. Indian and Pakistani student organizations at several Alabama universities commemorate festivals, often in conjunction with these general Indian or Pakistani associations, and introduce other students to elements of South Asian cultures. Indian classical arts organizations in Huntsville and Birmingham host concerts by Indian performers. Combining community and educational interests, the University of Alabama hosts artists for university performances through various programs on campus, such as Asian Studies.

Commemorations of Indian political holidays, specifically Independence Day and Republic Day, often include festivals that exhibit Indian culture to the broader Alabama population. The cultural performances displayed around India’s Independence Day at a mall in Tuscaloosa typically include Bollywood film music, classical Indian dances that portray stories from the Puranas, and devotional songs. Such a combination of elements is not too different from religious festivals like Birmingham’s Navratri that combines elements commonly seen as religious with performances that most people deem non-religious. Even activities at gurdwaras and temples also involve rituals of worship alongside social interaction and classes on contemporary languages and artistic performances.

With the diverse practices among South Asian-Americans in Alabama, individuals participate in varying combinations. In this sense, South Asian American activities in Alabama frequently enact the philosophical conception that multiple routes lead to the same goal. The assumption that one route is correct and others are wrong is certainly less common in South Asian religions than in most forms of Christianity. This process of participation in multiple organizations also changes the dynamic of community formation. While the traditional image of a church creates a central community among its active membership, South Asian-Americans often participate in multiple, overlapping communities. Some temples effectively host several communities, divided by region and devotional emphases, while some members participate in more than one of them. When individuals actively associate with multiple temples and/or gurdwaras along with various regional and devotional organizations, the number of overlapping communities expands.

This variety of practices among South Asian-Americans, and even within specific institutions, inevitably leads to differences of opinion and even concerns about subdividing a minority community. While these differences can create tensions and be viewed as a problem, particularly in contrast to the image of more cohesive Christian communities in Alabama, the variety of activities and community configurations can also be identified as a strength and opportunity. The cultural assumptions of tolerance and multiplicity provide multiple ways to strengthen the broader community through inclusion while efforts to standardize religious practices often result in the exclusion of more potential community members. While the value of recognition that can come from establishing a publicly visible institution, equivalent to a Christian church, is real, South Asian-Americans need not construct their practices and institutions in a way that mimics the majority community. At least, that is the impression I have from my experiences as a guest in several of these communities.

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