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The concept of 'world religions' circulates in contemporary discourses as a natural category dividing universal phenomena. It frames debates on everything from the Iraqi constitution to the Chinese regulation of Falun Gong. It forms the basis of most Religious Studies curricula and has even taken its place on the hallowed shelves of used bookstores. However, as a wide range of scholarship has recently shown, these categories are far from natural. They have very specific histories that are surprisingly recent. In this project, I hope to show how the very idea of world religions evolved in relation to the development of photography, the growth of the
British Empire
, and the systems of travel and exchange on which both of these relied. I will focus on the exchange between
India
and
England
from the mid nineteenth century through the decades of high colonial rule. It is here that the very categories of several of the 'world's religions' were formed, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Even the understanding of Islam was radically rethought in this context.
I am developing a GIS-based system that
integrates dynamic maps produced with more than 8,000 photographs,
50 hours of digital video, 300 hours of digital audio, and
30 years of census data. The goal is to provide an integrated
space where a range of information about the state can be
collected and displayed for researchers, teachers and policy
maker.
Pratibimba
is a documentary film entitled pratibimba (reflection) that
I am directing with film maker, Suzanne Shultz. This film
was shot in 2002 and addresses the controversy surrounding
animal sacrifice in Himachal’s village temples. Despite
the best efforts of state agencies, tourist organizations
and conservative religious groups to prohibit the practice,
it remains vibrant. The film is a meditation not simply
on the fight between state and subaltern actors, but on
the strategic religious claims of both groups in the name
of pluralism.
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