Thesis ID: CBB961319382

The All World Gayatri Pariwar: Religion, Science, and the Body in Modern India (2015)

unapi

The All World Gayatri Pariwar is a Hindu based reform movement based in Haridwar with a large following, especially in North India. One of the many noteworthy aspects of this movement is its extensive use of scientific authority. On the basis of seven months of ethnographic research at Shantikunj, the main ashram of the Gayatri Pariwar, I seek to understand the role of scientific authority for the movement. In the Gayatri Pariwar, scientific discourses draw attention to the shared nature of the human body through a rhetoric that connects health and morality. This imparts a sense of universality to their practices, setting them up as technologies for building a healthy, moral, and coherent nation out of India’s sometimes-fractious diversity. This strategy has roots in late colonial and early postcolonial India, but is as relevant as ever in the contemporary period. Not only does it have substantial appeal to the rapidly growing number of Indians who have been educated in science, technology, or related fields, but it also carries with it the promise that the Gayatri Pariwar can project its scientifically universalized practices through global communication networks.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB961319382/

Similar Citations

Book Coward, Harold G.; (2008)
The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought (/isis/citation/CBB000830832/)

Book Kumar, Deepak; Damodaran, Vinita; D'Souza, Rohan; (2011)
The British Empire and the Natural World: Environmental Encounters in South Asia (/isis/citation/CBB001201905/)

Book Angela Barreto Xavier; Ines G. Županov; (2014)
Catholic Orientalism: Portuguese Empire, Indian Knowledge (/isis/citation/CBB001984256/)

Book Caterina Guenzi; (2021)
Words of Destiny: Practicing Astrology in North India (/isis/citation/CBB318179740/)

Book Hanna Hodacs; Stéphane Van Damme; Kenneth Nyberg; (2018)
Linnaeus, Natural History and the Circulation of Knowledge (/isis/citation/CBB833759855/)

Article Edgerton, David; (2007)
Creole Technologies and Global Histories: Rethinking How Things Travel in Space and Time (/isis/citation/CBB000931385/)

Book Nile Green; (2020)
Global Islam : A very short introduction (/isis/citation/CBB224016492/)

Article Jessica M. Smith; Juan C. Lucena; (2016)
Invisible Innovators: How Low-income, First-generation Students Use Their Funds of Knowledge to Belong in Engineering (/isis/citation/CBB926594449/)

Book Head, Lesley; Atchison, Jennifer; Gates, Alison; (2012)
Ingrained: A Human Bio-Geography of Wheat (/isis/citation/CBB001421816/)

Article Mohácsi, Gergely; Morita, Atsuro; (2013)
Traveling Comparisons: Ethnographic Reflections on Science and Technology (/isis/citation/CBB001213608/)

Book Paolo Zellini; (1999)
Gnomon. Una indagine sul numero (/isis/citation/CBB253354203/)

Chapter Enrico Giannetto; (2009)
La Fisica di Spinoza fra Descartes e Newton e la sua influenza su Einstein (/isis/citation/CBB550074250/)

Book Paolo Zellini; (2010)
Numero e logos (/isis/citation/CBB843348217/)

Authors & Contributors
Zellini, Paolo
Caterina Guenzi
Xavier, Angela Barreto
B. Josh Doty
Ines G. Županov
Smith, Jessica M.
Concepts
Globalization; internationalization
Religion
Philosophy
Social class
Science and religion
Ethnography
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
19th century
18th century
Early modern
Places
South Asia
India
Europe
Königsberg
Edinburgh
United States
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment