Earticle

초록

영어

In the suburbs of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, U.S.A, sits the Sri Venkateswara Temple, the oldest Hindu Temple constructed in the Penn Hills section of Pittsburgh in 1976. Living on the opposite side of the globe, diasporic Indians in Pittsburgh reconstruct their “home” surroundings and rigidly follow the Indian religion, tradition, and culture—especially inside the Sri Venkateswara Temple. In fact, the temple is a small version of “India” itself; things that are experienced in daily lives in India are reproduced and materialized by priests and devotees every day inside the temple. Immigrant Indians often feel alienated from their host society, and attending rituals, music and dance concerts, lectures and language classes in the Sri Venkateswara Temple provide diasporic Indians not only psychological consolation, but an aid to construct their identities as Indian. In Indian traditions, the boundary between “sacred” and “secular” is vague, and diasporic Indians usually express their Indian identities through “performing” their tradition. In this essay, I focus on Indian-Americans’ (especially Hindu Tamils) perceptions of religion and culture by examining a musical performance during a ritual ceremony and a children’s Sunday school session based on field research from 2006 and 2007. I address the following question: What roles do ritual ceremonies and musical practices play in constructing notions of “India” in Pittsburgh? My findings show how essentialized notions of culture are central to identity construction in diasporic communities.

목차

Abstract
 Introduction
  Indian Immigrants in Pittsburgh
  Sri Venkrteswara Temple
 Ritual and Music Performances in the SV Temple
  The Venkateswara Abishekam
 The "Sound" of Ritual Ceremony
  Performing "Culture" and Performing "Religion"
 Children's Sundat School Session in the SV Temple
  Description of the Children's School Session
  Teaching of Indian Patriotic Song in the SV Temple
 Conclusion
 References

키워드

저자

• Eguchi Yuko [ University of Pittsburgh ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  Asian Musicology

• 간기

  연간

• pISSN

  1229-9413

• 수록기간

  2002~2024

• 십진분류

  KDC 670 DDC 780