Cover Page The handle

Cover Page

The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/43733 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation.

Author: Swamy, P.

Title: 'Let us Live as Hindus': Narrating Hindu Identity Through Temple Building Processes in Amsterdam Zuidoost (1988-2015)

Issue Date: 2016-10-27

‘Let us Live as Hindus’: Narrating Hindu Identity Through Temple Building Processes in Amsterdam Zuidoost (1988-2015)

ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties

te verdedigen op donderdag 27 oktober 2016 klokke 11:15 uur

door

Priya Swamy

Geboren in Redhill (Groote Brittanië) in 1984

PROMOTIECOMMISSIE

Promotor: Prof. dr. N.K. Wickramasinghe Overige Leden:

Prof. dr. P. Eisenlohr (University of Göttingen) Prof. dr. P. Kanungo

Dr. E. de Maaker Dr. G. Mantovan Dr. W. Modest

Dr. A. Nugteren (Tilburg University) Prof. dr. G. Oostindie

© Priya Swamy, 2016

This page intentionally left blank

‘Let us Live as Hindus’: Narrating Hindu Identity Through Temple Building Processes in Amsterdam Zuidoost (1988-2015)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... 1

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ... 2

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ... 3

INTRODUCTION ... 4

Public Hinduism in the Netherlands ... 5

Templeisation ... 10

Culturalisation of Citizenship in the Netherlands ... 12

Multidisciplinary Methodology ... 14

‘The Field’: Amsterdam Zuidoost ... 15

Respondents ... 15

Participant Observation ... 16

Language Use in the Field ... 16

Reflexivity ... 17

Interviewing ... 19

Voice and Counter-Voice ... 20

Anonymity of Respondents ... 21

Body of Correspondence, Press Releases, and the Expert Report ... 22

Mediatised Sources ... 22

Structure ... 23

PART I ... 26

PRODUCING LOCALITY AND CONSTRUCTING HINDU SPACES IN AMSTERDAM ZUIDOOST ... 26

Introduction ... 26

CHAPTER 1: HINDU ‘GROUPNESS’ IN AMSTERDAM ZUIDOOST ... 28

Migration Trajectories of Hindu Groupings into Amsterdam Zuidoost ... 28

Hindustanis ... 29

Direct Indian Migrants ... 35

Afghan Hindus ... 36

Middle Class Indian Professionals ... 37

How Groups Are Made: Theoretical Framings of Groupness as Strategy ... 38

The Ethnicisation of Hindu Religion in Suriname ... 40

Ethnicisation and Pillarisation: Hindu Identity in the Netherlands ... 42

The Decline of Pillarisation ... 43

Welfare Organisations and Groupness ... 44

CHAPTER 2: PRODUCING A HINDU LOCALITY IN AMSTERDAM ZUIDOOST ... 48

Producing Amsterdam Zuidoost as the City of the Future ... 49

Breaking Sita’s Rudra: The ‘High-Rise’ Narrative Among Hindu Migrants ... 53

Problems of Inequality: ‘Black’ and Hindustani Relations in the Bijlmer ... 55

Producing the ‘Multicultural’ Bijlmer ... 61

CHAPTER 3: TEMPLE SPACES IN AMSTERDAM ZUIDOOST ... 65

Temple Spaces as Heterotopologies ... 66

Devi Dhaam Temple (DD temple) and the PBKS association 1989-2010 ... 68

Lord Shiva Hindu Temples (LHST) as Alternative to Devi Dhaam ... 78

Shri Sitaram Dhaam (SSD) Temple ... 86

Asamai Foundation ... 92

CONCLUSION TO PART I ... 99

PART II ... 101

1989-2015: NARRATING HINDU HURT IN AMSTERDAM ZUIDOOST ... 101

Introduction ... 101

CHAPTER 4: ELITE NARRATIVES REGISTERS OF HINDU IDENTITY AND HINDU HURT (1988-1996) ... 103

We Hindu Citizens: The Narrative Register of ‘Hindu citizen’ ... 106

Strategic Stereotyping: The Register of the ‘Helpless Coolie’ ... 107

The Narrative Register of ‘Ambivalent Orientalism’ ... 125

CHAPTER 5: MEDIATISED NARRATIVE REGISTERS DURING THE DD CLOSING (2010-PRESENT) ... 132

Crying Mothers: Corpothetic Constructions of a Suffering Community ... 133

CHAPTER 6: COMMUNITY-BASED NARRATIVE REGISTERS OF HINDU HURT(2010- 2015) ... 140

Lachmon Syndrome: Bureaucratic Indifference and Moral Capital ... 141

The Narrative Register of the ‘Secretive Temple Board’ ... 144

Redefining Dharma: The Narrative Register of ‘Solidarity as Duty’ ... 148

What Could Have Been: Articulations of Solidarity as an ‘Ideal’ ... 151

Stichting Temple Organisatie (SMO) and ‘Hindu Co-operation’ ... 154

CONCLUSION TO PART II ... 162

PART III ... 164

TEMPLEISATION PROCESSES AND ‘ACTIVE HINDUISM’ AFTER 2010 ... 164

Introduction ... 164

CHAPTER 7: THE HINDU MORAL ECONOMY AFTER 2010 ... 166

Political Involvement as an Articulation of Active Hinduism ... 173

Performing Political Awareness in the DD Office Space ... 179

CHAPTER 8: THE NARRATIVE REGISTER OF ‘DEMOCRACY AND EQUALITY’ ... 186

Voting and the Articulation of ‘Hindu Democracy’ ... 195

Ram, Democratic Involvement and Soft Neo-Hindutva at SSD Temple ... 197

Active Hinduism and Individual Responsibility ... 202

Instilling the Ideals of Democracy ... 203

CONCLUSION ... 209

APPENDIX I ... 219

QUESTIONS POSED FOR SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS ... 219

APPENDIX II ... 221

LIST OF SEMI-STRUCTURED RECORDED INTERVIEWS ... 221

GLOSSARY ... 223

SUMMARY ... 225

NEDERLANDSE SAMENVATTING ... 229

REFERENCES ... 233

Primary Sources ... 233

Secondary Sources ... 233

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research would not have been possible without the consent and invaluable narratives of my respondents. I thank each and every one of them for sharing their stories and their struggles with me so candidly, and welcoming me into their lives so warmly.

It is only with the support and guidance of Professor Nira Wickramasinghe that this dissertation was able to take its shape. I thank her for her patience, inspiration and critiques that kept me grounded over the course of my PhD. I also thank Professor Chris Goto-Jones for his earlier support and guidance during my research.

Countless colleagues and friends have also contributed to this dissertation. In particular, I thank Professor Henk Schulte-Nordholt and Dr. Rosemarijn Hoefte for giving me the opportunity to join the dynamic group of researchers at KITLV during a fellowship in 2015. I thank the research fellows there for their encouragement and valuable insights. I thank Dr. Jessica Roitman, Dr. Wouter Veenendaal, drs. Stacey MacDonald and drs. Chelsea Shields for their comments during a work in progress seminar at KITLV in December 2015. A warm thanks goes to Dr. Tom Hoogervorst, Dr. Sanjukta Sunderason, Dr. Sanderien Verstappen, Dr. Martin Berger, drs. Melle Kromhout and drs. Brittany Groot for all their help and advice over the years. A special mention goes to Dr. Laura Osorio for her friendship, criticism and constant support, not to mention her patience while reading through my entire manuscript. I thank Urlie Verduyn Lunel for designing the map of the temple spaces in Amsterdam Zuidoost and Jule Forth for designing the powerful front cover image of this dissertation.

Institutionally I am indebted to Leiden University Funds (LUF) and Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) for subsidising my research trip to Suriname in the summer of 2012.

I also thank Sadhana Swamy, G.N. Swamy, Preethi Swamy and Jason Anello for all their love and support throughout my life--particularly during the tumultuous months of writing.

Finally: I gratefully acknowledge Bob van der Meer for simultaneously being translator, critic,

friend and husband.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Asamai Asamai Foundation

BAPS

DD Devi Dhaam Temple

LSHT Lord Shiva Hindu Temples PBKS Pravasi Bhartiya Ka Sachiwalaya

SSD Shri Sitaram Dhaam Temple

VVRIA Vestigingsbeleid voor Religieuze Instelling in Amsterdam

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1: Current map of Amsterdam’s districts 28

Fig. 2: Ethnic breakdown of Amsterdam Zuidoost 28

Fig. 3: Current map of Suriname 29

Fig. 4: A honeycomb style apartment building 51

Fig. 5: The Taibah Mosque 53

Fig. 6: Kandelaar Ghanaian church 53

Fig. 7: Map of the four temple spaces in Amsterdam Zuidoost 65

Fig. 8: Devi Dhaam temporary space 72

Fig. 9: Devi Dhaam temporary space (inside) 73

Fig. 10: Devi Dhaam office space 75

Fig. 11: Devi Dhaam office space with deities 75

Fig. 12: Lord Shiva Hindu Temples 78

Fig. 13: Lord Shiva Hindu Temples (downstairs view) 79

Fig. 14: Lord Shiva Hindu Temples (shrine) 79

Fig. 15: Lord Shiva Hindu Temples (kitchen) 80

Fig. 16: Shri Sitaram Dhaam (outside) 87

Fig. 17: Shri Sitaram Dhaam (shrine) 88

Fig. 18: Portrait of Hedgewar (L) and Golwakar (R) 89

Fig. 19: Asamai Foundation (outside) 93

Fig. 20: Asamai Foundation (shrine) 94

Fig. 21: Durga of Devi Dhaam 181