Abstract
In the present paper, we examine the current state of the study of Indian religions in Latin America. An important investigation on the study of Sanskrit outside India conveys the image that the situation of the study of Indian religions in Latin America is perceived internationally as an activity carried out by isolated scholars. Relevant analyses on the Study of Religion in Latin America, on the other hand, show that many social scientists of the region tend to overlook the presence and the effect that religious phenomena linked to Indian culture have over the religious scenario of Latin American countries. The exam of the field we carry out in this paper, in contrast, seeks to demonstrate that the study of Indian religions in Latin America is neither an isolated phenomenon nor an issue disregarded by all social scientists. In order to corroborate our point of view, we discuss, in the first place, the orientation and activities of the main scholarly centers dedicated to the field, and the larger academic areas in which the study of Indian religions appears to be included. We survey, in the second place, the works of important scholars of the region published in the present decade with the purpose of analyzing the main tendencies of current research and of showing which are the main editorial channels involved in the circulation of such works. Our study provides, thus, substantial information on the current state of the field in the region and suggests that the conditions are favorable enough for the field to attain, in the near future, a considerable degree of regional integration and international projection.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Jointly organized by the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS) and the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India).
Tripathi (2012: 11–34). The article also mentions Rosalía C. Vofchuk, Tola’s disciple, who took up the chair of Sanskrit in the University of Buenos Aires in 1985 after Tola’s retirement (p. 12).
There is an interesting review of the history of Buddhist studies in Latin America, though not including exclusively those with an academic perspective, in the Spanish version by Francisco Diez de Velazo and Silvia Noble of Peter Harvey’s Buddhism, published by Cambridge (see our Harvey 1998), pages 391–406.
De la Torre and Martín (2016: 473-492).
In a previous article, De la torre (2014: 67-91) provides a state of the art of the topics, interests and debates that frame the study of religion in Mexico. Her paper “seeks to make comprehensible the approaches, the omissions and the inclusions in the area in the light of the historical conditions that model the interests and emphasis of the matter studied.” Nevertheless, no mention of any kind of Indian religious phenomena or Indian religions’ study is mentioned in this paper either.
See Dussort and Giaccaglia (forthcoming).
A thorough analysis of the bibliography produced in the region on Indian religions, if something like this is possible to accomplish, is certainly nonexistent. Anything like it, moreover, amply exceeds the scope of the analysis we carry out in the present paper.
See, for example, Rodriguez de la Vega (2016: 135–139).
Martino and Ossa (2016: 18). Another academic unit that could be included in this main group is the Centro de Estudios Orientales (CEO, Center of Oriental Studies) of the Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). The center was founded in 1987 and organizes community outreach seminars on Hinduism, Buddhism, Indian Sacred Texts, and Sanskrit. The CEO is currently directed by Dr. José A. León Herrera. http://ceo.pucp.edu.pe/index.htm.
Martino and Ossa (2016: 21).
In 2015, the Association held its 5th conference which included a thematic session on Indian religions coordinated by Dilip Loundo (UFJF), Dra. Maria Lucia Abaurre Gnerre (UFPB), and Dr. Giuseppe Ferraro (UFMG). A thematic session of contemporary buddhism was also included, conducted by Dr. Deyve Redyson (UFPB), Dr. Clodomir Andrade (UFJF), Dra. Suzana Ramos Coutinho (UPM), and Dr. Joaquim A. B. C. Monteiro (UFPB). The 6th edition of the conference will be held in 2017.
Teixeira (2012: 537-550).
Four of the five theses mentioned were supervised by Dr. Dilip Loundo.
In the period 2011–2013, for example, we find two masters’ dissertations and one doctoral thesis, devoted, one to Bhagavad Gītā, the other to contemporary Buddhism in Brazil and the last one to modern studies on yoga as a religious practice. http://www.pucsp.br/pos-graduacao/mestrado-e-doutorado/ciencia-da-religiao#dissertacoes-e-teses-defendidas.
As we mentioned in a previous paper, Martino–Ossa (2016: 17–23), there is an interesting corpus of bibliography published in the last decade on the recent stage of the relationship India-LA. See, for example, Shidore (2013) and Tharoor (2012: 69-74). On the specific relation of Mexico with India, see Preciado Solís (2001: 891-900) and (2008: 487–493).
http://brindarc.wixsite.com/brindarc. The Grupo de trabajo sobre India y Asia del Sur in the CARI (Argentinian Center of International Relations) is a similar initiative to the ones described.
See, for example, Leite (2012: 58–67) and Leite (2014: 72–84). The Colegio de México seems to be an exception since it has important exchange agreements with several Indian universities. See http://ceaa.colmex.mx/2014-08-19-21-35-35.
Dr. Barbosa Gonçalves runs together with Dr. Adriano Aprigliano the Instituto Paulista de Sânscrito in São Paulo, Brasil.
In Martino (2015: 38–59) we examined the different academic units in Argentinean universities dedicated to the study of Indian philosophy. The analysis we provided in that paper complements our present discussion.
The program also includes the following students: Vanessa Larios Robles, Anselmo Hernández Quiroz, Pablo Barahona Sánchez, María Fernanda Ramírez Reyes, Rodrigo Ponciano Ojeda.
YOLA. Red internacional de investigadores. El yoga en Latinoamérica: historia, recepción y praxis. (YOLA. International network of researchers. Yoga in Latin America: history, reception and praxis).
An International Colloquium on Buddhism and Philosophy was also held in 2013.
Flood (1996).
Cooperman (2014: 26, 125).
See also Cattedra (2016: 229-239).
See de Mora (1983: 615-616).
In this regard, see the works of MA. Uma Thukral, teacher of Hindi and researcher at CEAA, COLMEX.
As one of the anonymous reviewers of the paper correctly suggested, the list can easily be expanded to include much more areas in urgent need of attention in the LA context, for instance, the philosophical schools of Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, and Mīmāṃsā; Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata studies; classical Sanskrit belles lettres (poetry, drama, and prose narrative), along with traditional reflection on the essence of literature (Alaṃkāraśāstra); the medical and legalistic traditions (Āyurveda and Dharmaśāstras); epigraphy, iconography, architecture, and sculpture; and the presence of Islam in India, among other topics.
We are not taking into account, in this appraisal, the work of Dr. Fernando Tola and Dra. Carmen Dragonetti, who have researched and published on many and different aspects and periods of Indian Buddhist thought.
Political and financial factors, both regional and international, could certainly be adduced as causes of this situation. Such a discussion, however, is far beyond the scope of our present analysis.
References
Cattedra O (2016) Presencia del hinduismo en Argentina: sus proyecciones en el mundo hispano hablante. En Torres, J. y Acerbi, S. (eds.) La religión como factor de identidad. Madrid: Escolar y Mayor Editores, pp. 229–239
Cooperman, A. dir. (2014) Religion in Latin America: widespread change in a historically catholic region. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/
de la Torre R (2014) El estudio de la religión en México enmarcado en el campo intelectual y el campo del poder. Sociedad y Religión XXIV(42):67–91
de la Torre R, Martín E (2016) Religious studies in Latin America. In The Annual Review of Sociology 42:473–492
de Mello Vargas MVA (1985/1987) Os estudos de Sânscrito no Brasil. In Ensaios de Literatura e Filologia 5:41–49 http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/literatura_filologia/issue/view/370
de Mello Vargas MVA (1994) O curso de Sânscrito. Estudos Avançados 8(22):409–413
de Mora JM (1983) Sanskrit Studies in Latin America. J Am Orient Soc 103(3):615–616
Dussort, N. and Giaccaglia, C. (forthcoming). La política religiosa durante el nuevo gobierno de Narendra Modi. Una discusión sobre la identidad de la India del siglo XXI. In Martino, G. (guest editor). Estudios de la India. Número orientado del Journal de Ciencias Sociales 5, 9
Flood G (1996) An introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Harvey P (1998) El Budismo. Spanish edition and revision of the translation by Francisco Diez de Velasco. Translation by Silvia Noble. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Leite Ferreira Neto, E. (2012). Brazil-India University Interchange. In FPRC Journal, published by the Foreign Policy Research Center of New Delhi, India, Focus: India and Latin America, n° 3, pp. 58–67
Leite Ferreira Neto E (2014) Prospects for academic interaction between Brazil and India. In: Leite E (ed) Cooperação Brasil-Índia: dinâmicas e perspectivas. Editora Verve, Rio de Janeiro, pp 72–84
Martino G (2015) Cuestiones en torno a la filosofía de la India. Tendencias académicas en las universidades de Argentina y dilemas (meta)filosóficos. In Journal de Ciencias Sociales 3(5):38–59
Martino, G. and Ossa, J. C. (2016). Los estudios de la India en Latinoamérica. Desarrollo, integración y perspectivas futuras. En Martino, G. (guest ed.). Estudios de la India. Número monográfico de la Revista Científica Guillermo de Ockham 14, 1, pp. 17–23
Pérez FJ (2002) Los estudios sobre el sánscrito en Venezuela. Lingua Americana n 11:5–39year 6
Preciado Solís B (2001) Las relaciones entre México y la India, 1995-2000. En Foro Internacional 41(4):891–900
Preciado Solís B (2008) Las relaciones entre México e India, 2000-2006. En Foro Internacional 48(1/2):487–493
Rodríguez de la Vega, L. (2016). De Budas y Bodhisattvas: homenaje a Fernando Tola Mendoza. In Martino, G. (guest ed.). Estudios de la India. Número monográfico de la Revista Científica Guillermo de Ockham 14, 1, pp. 135–139
Rubiolo F, BARONI PA (2014) El rol de las economías emergentes en el siglo XXI: el caso de India en América latina y su vinculación con Argentina. In Temas y debates 27(18):101–121
Shidore S (2013) New frontiers in south-south engagement. Relationship between India and Latin America & the Caribbean. Indian Council of World Affairs, Sapru House, New Delhi
Teixeira, F. (2012). O processo de gênese da(s) ciência(s) da religião na UFJF. In Numen, revista de estudos e pesquisa da religião, Juiz de Fora, v. 15, n. 2, p. 537–550
Tharoor S (2012) India-Latin America relations: a work in progress. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 13(2):69–74
Tripathi R (2012) Sixty years of Sanskrit (1950–2010). Vol. 2: countries other than India. New Delhi, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The author holds a PhD in Philosophy and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and CONICET, supervised by María Isabel Santa Cruz and Rosalía C. Vofchuk. He is enrolled to the Sanskrit Chair of the UBA where he researches on the Pātanjala-yoga-śāstra, of which he is making a Spanish translation. He also teaches ancient philosophy both at the UBA and the Universidad del Salvador. The author currently conducts two research projects: with Dra. Malena Tonelli, the UBA-PRIG “The metaphysical structure of the notion of the self in Plotinus’ Enneads and in the Bhagavad Gītā. Problems and methodologies of comparative philosophy (of religion)” and with Dra. Gabriela Müller, the project USAL-VRID 1658 “Indian and Greek Philosophy in dialogue. Concepts of the self in the Bhagavad Gītā and in Neoplatonism.”
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Martino, G. The Study of Indian Religions in Latin America. Int J Lat Am Relig 1, 77–103 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-017-0001-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-017-0001-x