Religion and Transnational Connections: Reflections on How to Approach the Study of Religions and Ethnicity in Canada
Dr. Alexander Soucy,
Religious Studies, Saint Mary's University
In recent years there has been a shift, if not away from textual
approaches to the study of religion, then at least towards
ethnographic studies of religions. While this direction is important
for understanding religious diversity in Canada, another problem has
crept into the study of religion: There tends to be a distinction
between those who study a particular religion in its "native" setting
(e.g. Hinduism in India) and those who study "diasporic" or "ethnic"
religious communities in the West. Few have the inclination, or
perhaps the knowledge and skills, to integrate these two approaches.
However, this is precisely what is needed in order to gain a fuller
understanding of some of the most pressing issues in the study of
religions. I argue in this paper that religious communities in Canada
(and elsewhere) are usually transnationally connected and globally
integrated in such a way that fundamental issues, like religious
transmission and transformation, cannot be understood unless we throw
out our understanding of "communities" as discrete and isolated.