A Concise History of Hindu Religiousness in Chile

Authors

  • Felipe LUARTE CORREA Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

Keywords:

Chile, religious movements, neo-Hinduism, neo-vedānta, history, 20th century

Abstract

As a consequence of Globalization, Chilean society has experienced se­veral changes and has acquired and adapted new practices and ideas of Hindu inspiration, which have been incorporated to the traditional and official customs, mainly Christian – Catholic and Evangelical. This has created new religious forms (and secular ones), that are eclectic in its origins and expressions. In Chile, during the second half of the 20th Century, several movements and communities that define themselves as Hindus or that practice, directly or indirectly, their own manifestations inspired in Hinduism, such as yoga(s) or meditations (among many others), are born and coexist. Considering this, the aim of this paper is “to historize” this process of receptions and adaptations of the “practices and beliefs” of Hindu origin in Chile during the second half of the 20th Century, and at the same time, it intends to conceptually explain these phenomena.

Author Biography

Felipe LUARTE CORREA, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

PhD. in History of India from the University of Delhi, India. Professor and researcher at the Center of Asian Studies (CEA-UC) and the Center of Studies of Religion (CER-UC)

References

• Albert, M., Hernández, M. (2014). Los movimientos psico-espirituales en la modernidad globalizada. Una Mirada desde la Ciudad de Valencia. Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana, 9 (3), 273-295.
• Ambroise, Y. (1982). “Hindu Religious Movements: A Sociological Perspective”. Journal of Dharma, (4), 358-373.
• Bahamondes, L. (2013). Nuevos movimientos religiosos: socialización alternativa y búsqueda de sentido. Mensaje, (618), 36.
• Campbell, C. (2008). The Easternization of the West: A Thematic Account of Cultural Change in the Modern Era. London: Paradigm.
• Daschke, D. (2005). New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader. New York: New York University Press.
• Díaz-Salazar, R. (1994). La religión vacía. Un análisis de la transición religiosa en Occidente. In: R. Díaz-Salazar, S. Giner y F. Velasco (eds.). Formas modernas de religión. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
• Flood, G. (1998). El hinduismo. Madrid: Cambridge University Press.
• Goldberg, P. (2010). American Veda. From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation – How Indian Spirituality Changed the West [versión Kindle]. New York: Harmony Books.
• Halbfass, W. (1988). India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Introvigne, M. (2001). Nuevos movimientos religiosos. In: G. Filoramo (ed.). Diccionario Akal de las Religiones. Madrid: Akal.
• King, R. (1999). Orientalism and Religion. Postcolonial Theory, India and “The Mystic East”. London: Routdledge.
• Lizama, A. (2015). Las paradojas del yoga. El caso de Chile. Tesis Doctoral no publicada. Departamento de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
• Lorenzen, D. (1999). Who Invented Hinduism?. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 41 (4), 630-659.
• Lorenzen, D. (2005). Las bases sociales de la religión hindú: las relaciones entre sectas y castas. Estudios de Asia y África, XL (3), 607-633.
• Luarte, F. (2012a). Budismo e hinduismo en el Chile actual. Problemáticas en el estudio de las religiones. In: A. Góngora (ed.). Historiografías desde el fin del mundo. Nuevas miradas a la historia de Chile. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Finis Terrae.
• Luarte, F. (2012b). El hinduismo: consideraciones históricas y conceptuales. Intus-Legere Historia, 6 (1), 45-62.
• Lyon, D. (2000). Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Postmodern Times. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Malhotra, R. (2014). Indra´s Net. Defending Hinduism´s Philosophical Unity. Nueva Delhi: Harper Collins.
• Moción Cámara de Diputados – Chile, Boletín N° 9695-29. Proyecto de Ley, Establece el Día Nacional del Yoga.
• Nicholson, A. (2011). Unifying Hinduism. Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History. New Delhi: Permanent Black.
• Oldmeadow, H. (2005). Journeys East. 20th Century Western Encounters with Eastern Religious Traditions. New Delhi: Third Eye.
• Oliver, P. (2014). Hinduism and the 1960s. The Rise of a Counter-Culture. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Partridge, C. (2008). Alternatives Spiritualities, New Religions and the Reenchantment. In: J. Lewis (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements.
• Possamai, A. (2001). A Revisionist Perspective on Secularization: Alternative Spiritualities Glo¬balised Consumer Culture and Public Spheres. In: C. Cusak y P. Oldmeadow (eds.). The End of Religions? Religion in an Age of Globalization. Sydney: University of Sydney.
• Prothero, S. (2004). Hinduphobia and Hinduphilia in U.S. Culture. In: A. Lannestrom (ed.). The Stranger´s Religion. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
• Roszak, T. (1981 [1968]). El nacimiento de una contracultura. Reflexiones sobre la sociedad tecnocrática y su oposición juvenil. Barcelona: Kairós.
• Santa Cruz, A. (1990). La atracción de los cultos orientales y esotéricos. Revista de Psicología, 1 (1), 51-64.
• Sharma, A. (1986). New Hindu Religious Movements in India. In: J.A. Beckford (ed.), New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
• Siegler, E. (2008). Nuevos Movimientos Religiosos. Madrid: Akal.
• Sooklal, A. (1993). The Neo-Vedanta Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda. NIDAN, (5), 33-50.
• Williamson, L. (2010). Transcendent in America. Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion. New York: New York University Press.

Published

2017-12-30

Issue

Section

Articles