University of North Carolina Press The Regulation of Religion and the Making of Hinduism in Colonial Trinidad

Review Rocklin's focus on the Caribbean is an important case study, as the Caribbean is often left out of these discussions despite its interesting and complex history. - Journal of Law and ReligionDeeply researched and richly theorized...Rocklin's exciting and insightful work will appeal to scholars across a range of areas and subfields and deserves to be widely read. - Religious Studies ReviewDebates about the definition of religion have always structured the study of religion. . . . Moreover, scholars who examine these questions empirically typically leave the Caribbean out of the equation; those who do address the Caribbean leave out the Hindu community. Rocklin's book makes a tremendous contribution in all three areas, demonstrating clearly why definitions of religion matter practically and politically, why they matter in the Caribbean, and, particularly, why they mattered to Indians constructing Hinduism in Trinidad and around the world. . . . An excellent book, meticulously researched and detailed.--Nova ReligioAs an intriguing and erudite case study, The Regulation of Religion constitutes a welcome addition to the literature, not only for Caribbean history, but also for studies of ritual, colonialism, diaspora, and Hindu traditions in general.--Reading Religion Product Description How can religious freedom be granted to people who do not have a religion? While Indian indentured workers in colonial Trinidad practiced cherished rituals, "Hinduism" was not a widespread category in India at the time. On this Caribbean island, people of South Asian descent and African descent came together—under the watchful eyes of the British rulers—to walk on hot coals for fierce goddesses, summon spirits of the dead, or honor Muslim martyrs, practices that challenged colonial norms for religion and race. Drawing deeply on colonial archives, Alexander Rocklin examines the role of the category of religion in the regulation of the lives of Indian laborers struggling for autonomy.Gradually, Indians learned to narrate the origins, similarities, and differences among their fellows' cosmological views, and to define Hindus, Muslims, and Christians as distinct groups. Their goal in doing this work of subaltern comparative religion, as Rocklin puts it, was to avoid criminalization and to have their rituals authorized as legitimate religion—they wanted nothing less than to gain access to the British promise of religious freedom. With the indenture system's end, the culmination of this politics of recognition was the gradual transformation of Hindus' rituals and the reorganization of their lives—they fabricated a "world religion" called Hinduism. About the Author Alexander Rocklin is visiting assistant professor of religious studies at the College of Idaho.