Live-streaming the goddess in the times of COVID-19: a digital ethnography of diasporic Durga Puja festivals in pandemic Britain
Diasporic Durga Puja festivals in contemporary Britain have emerged as focal points in the religious lives of Hindu Bengalis. However, the public health measures introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to host in-person indoor Durga Puja festivals in Britain in the autumn of 2...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2022
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| In: |
Religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 52, Issue: 2, Pages: 231-249 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Great Britain
/ Navaratri
/ Religious practice
/ Streaming (Communication technology)
/ COVID-19 (Disease)
/ Pandemic
/ Diaspora (Religion)
/ Hierarchy
/ Digital ethnology
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism KBF British Isles TK Recent history ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies |
| Further subjects: | B
media and religion
B Online Religion B Diaspora B Hindu Bengali B Durga Puja B Covid-19 Pandemic |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Diasporic Durga Puja festivals in contemporary Britain have emerged as focal points in the religious lives of Hindu Bengalis. However, the public health measures introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to host in-person indoor Durga Puja festivals in Britain in the autumn of 2020. In response, many UK-based Durga Puja organisers staged small-scale ritual worship of the goddess in private, and then livestreamed it to their members through social media. Based on participant observation of these festival livestreams and remote interviews with Durga Puja organisers from across Britain, in this article I demonstrate that far from being a rupture, these blended Durga Puja festivals mark a development in existing templates of mediatisation of religious practices and are part of the wider continuum of adaptations that characterise diasporic lived religion. I also reflect on how internal hierarchies within the diaspora played out vis-à-vis blended Pujas amidst the pandemic. |
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| ISSN: | 1096-1151 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2051802 |