Research Seminar
Wednesday 20. March 2 pm to 5 pm (14.15-17.00), building 1461, room 516
Religious idenity in a transnational setting – two cases from Scandinavia
Kristina Myrvold, Lund University and Nordic Centre India:
Becoming Swedish Sikhs: Religious Learning and Identification among Second Generation Sikhs in Sweden
The talk presents parts of Kristina Myrvolds research findings within the Nordcorp project “Sikh Identity Formation: Generational Transfer of Traditions in the Nordic Countries” that is carried out in cooperation with scholars in Denmark, Finland and Norway. From the general presumption that migration implies reconstruction of identities, the project explores various strategies by which Sikh migrants preserve and transmit religious, cultural and linguistic traditions. In particular, the project examines how young Sikhs with multicultural and transnational life-styles negotiate between contradictory perspectives surrounding them and how they gravitate towards identification in attempts to carve out a place for themselves in the Nordic societies. The seminar pays special attention to young Swedish Sikhs who are brought up in rich multilingual environments and the various strategies they use for learning and identifying themselves with Sikh and Punjabi identities in different social contexts.
Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger, Aarhus University:
Young Tamil Hindus in Denmark and their relation to Tradition
In Denmark we have around 10,000 Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus, most of which live in the area around the cities Herning and Holstebro in the Middle and West of Jutland. The first generation came to Denmark as de facto refugees starting in the late 1980s, but mostly in the 1990s and already in 1994 the first Sri Lankan Hindu temple was consecrated. The need for a religious, cultural and social meeting place was fulfilled. Today we have five Srilankan Tamil Hindu temples in the country. The first generation seems to be generally happy having a place to meet and to worship as they did in Sri Lanka. The second generation though, who were either born in Denmark or came to Denmark as small children, do presumably not face the same needs as their parents, and their relation to the Sri Lankan Tamil tradition seems to change. They are, as well as their parents Tamils and Hindus in their self-understanding. But what they put into these categories differs. While the first generation in many ways tries to keep up tradition as they knew it from Sri Lanka, the second generation does not. They reinterpret or take out elements from tradition, which both helps them engage in Danish society and bond them to the tradition they share with their parents. In other words tradition is negotiated between the society they are part of and the identity of being either a Tamil or a Hindu. The talk will give examples on how young Tamil Hindus negotiate their relation to tradition and to belonging.
