SACRED GROVES AND LOCAL GODDESSES: NATURE ROMANTICISM, ECOMATERNALISM, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE IN VRINDAVAN, INDIA

Luthy, Tamara Helaine

SACRED GROVES AND LOCAL GODDESSES: NATURE ROMANTICISM, ECOMATERNALISM, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE IN VRINDAVAN, INDIA

Files

Luthy_hawii_0085A_10425.pdf (11.49 MB)

Date

2019

Authors

Luthy, Tamara Helaine

Advisor

Sponsel, Leslie

Department

Anthropology

Abstract

This dissertation advances literature on affective ethnobotany by demonstrating the multivalent women-in-the-environment symbolism utilized by ISKCON and other contemporary Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava organizations like the aptly named VRINDA Mission (Vṛndāvan Institute for Vaiṣṇava Culture and Studies) and the Parmarth Niketan āśrama. The backdrop of contemporary tree plantation and environmental restoration in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sacred places is the heavily gendered framework portrayed in the environmentally oriented passages of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava scripture and folklore. I explore poetic textual ecologies from several sacred texts about Braj and ask how they inform contemporary affective ethnobotanical relationships and motivate environmental restoration. Yet this dissertation also urges caution in too heavily romanticizing women’s affective ties to plants and nature. Transnational Vaiṣṇava groups like ISKCON and Paramadvaiti Swami’s VRINDA Mission consciously and strategically portray Rādhārāṇī, Gomātā, Yamunā Devī, and Vṛndā Devī as victims of (male capitalistic) environmental degradation via street plays to urge environmental action by the local populace. Textual analysis of poetic ecologies from key religious texts allows us to critically unpack contemporary ecomaternalist rhetoric from prominent male gurus who reference place-based environmental goddesses and demi-goddesses such as Rādhārani and the gopī to promote a religio-environmental agenda. However powerful or ancient such sentimental ties to ethnobotanically meaningful plants may be, I also find that affective ties may be mobilized in a way that utilizes women’s energy and talents for producing new environmental futures without fundamentally disrupting patriarchal power structures.

Description

This dissertation advances literature on affective ethnobotany by demonstrating the multivalent women-in-the-environment symbolism utilized by ISKCON and other contemporary Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava organizations like the aptly named VRINDA Mission (Vṛndāvan Institute for Vaiṣṇava Culture and Studies) and the Parmarth Niketan āśrama. The backdrop of contemporary tree plantation and environmental restoration in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sacred places is the heavily gendered framework portrayed in the environmentally oriented passages of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava scripture and folklore. I explore poetic textual ecologies from several sacred texts about Braj and ask how they inform contemporary affective ethnobotanical relationships and motivate environmental restoration. Yet this dissertation also urges caution in too heavily romanticizing women’s affective ties to plants and nature. Transnational Vaiṣṇava groups like ISKCON and Paramadvaiti Swami’s VRINDA Mission consciously and strategically portray Rādhārāṇī, Gomātā, Yamunā Devī, and Vṛndā Devī as victims of (male capitalistic) environmental degradation via street plays to urge environmental action by the local populace. Textual analysis of poetic ecologies from key religious texts allows us to critically unpack contemporary ecomaternalist rhetoric from prominent male gurus who reference place-based environmental goddesses and demi-goddesses such as Rādhārani and the gopī to promote a religio-environmental agenda. However powerful or ancient such sentimental ties to ethnobotanically meaningful plants may be, I also find that affective ties may be mobilized in a way that utilizes women’s energy and talents for producing new environmental futures without fundamentally disrupting patriarchal power structures.

Keywords

Cultural anthropology, South Asian studies, Botany, affective ethnobotany, Ecomaternalism, goddesses, sacred groves, volunteer tourism, Vrindavan

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10125/68910

Extent

424 pages

Rights

All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.

Collections

Ph.D. - Anthropology

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