Time and temporality in a religious utopia
Migration to rural safe haven as the world ends
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3842216 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Teruko Vida Mitsuhara (University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 70 |
| Pages | 123-141 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Civilisations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-8140 • E-ISSN: 2032-0442 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/civilisations.6894 |
| OpenAlex | W4312636168 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
As alternatives to and critiques of capitalist modernity, utopian communities have long been of interest to social scientists. But most of these endeavours do not survive past one generation, fuelling suspicion about their utility or merit. Those that do survive hold a common thread in that there is a strong religious or philosophical component tying the community together. But the role of religion in contemporary utopias has not been a consistent focus of analysis. This paper explores the case of Mayapur, a rural community in West Bengal, India that is the spiritual homeland of the Gaudiya Vaishanavism strand of Hinduism, a centuries-old religion that spread around the world in the counterculture era and inspired many to convert and migrate to Mayapur. The community recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and boasts its third generation of children. Core elements contributing to the continuity of this utopia project are Hindu understandings of space and time, including karma and reincarnation, which inform devotees' critique of the dystopic present of Western modernity and motivate their migration to the Bengali countryside
Aesthetics · Art history · Buddhism · Counterculture · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Hinduism · Karma · Modernity · Political science · Politics · Reincarnation · Secularism · Sociology · Swami · Temporality · Theology · Utopia · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci · Religious studies · Religious Studies
Communal Utopias and the American Experience Religious Communities, 1732-2000
Backwoods Utopias
The Communist Manifesto
The Place of Devotion
Utopia in the Age of Globalization
Communal Utopias and the American Experience
Eros and Civilization
Strange Places
Utopia and Its Discontents
Thomas More and the New World
Hare Krishna Transformed
Christian Moderns
The Ritual Process
For An Anthropology Of Ethics And Freedom
Communes and communitarianism
| Highly cited | No |
|---|