Journal Article

Altares domésticos hindúes en Tijuana: un acercamiento a la recreación de la religiosidad en cuatro familias originarias de India

Olga Odgers Ortiz, Lucero Jazmín López Olivares

2022

Overview

The purpose of this article is to study the adaptations and representations from which four immigrant families, from different regions in India and settled in Tijuana (Mexico), recreate their religious practice. After belonging to a context where Hinduism is predominant, their religious practice becomes a minority when they migrate to Mexico. This situation identifies the negotiations between materiality and its relationship with spirituality on the part of believers themselves, since, without the intervention of a religious authority and in the absence of traditional temples in the place of arrival, families recreate the rituals at home. Following the methodological orientation of lived religion, we began by analyzing the materiality present in their household altars allowing us to study the processes of adaptation (changes and permanences) that take place when they move their daily lives from India to Mexico, specifically to the border between Tijuana and San Diego. We were also able to explore the emotions and meanings that individuals associate with the local elements, with which they continue their religious practice in a foreign country. As a result, the recreations through household altars reveal the elements that each individual values for his or her own religious practice. This article thus reflects on the practice of Hinduism in Tijuana, from a perspective centered on the believers themselves, in a context of religious autonomy as a consequence of migration.

• Publisher: Universidad de los Andes
• Subject: hinduism / hinduism in mexico / household altars / india / lived religion