Stamp it out! Disciplining the image of Hindus and Hinduism in a multicultural

milieu

John Zavos

University of Manchester

Royal Mail Christmas stamp set 2005

Royal Mail Christmas stamp set 2005

• ‘culturally diverse yet all equally significant’

• ‘the challenge was to find paintings from all the five continents, and go beyond the predictable’

Royal Mail Christmas stamp set 2005

Regulating the public use of Hindu imagery

• Function?

• Increasingly prominent - why?

• A Hindu ‘ethnic’ identity?

• Impact of broader regulatory practices (esp. multiculturalism)?

Multiculturalism as regulatory practice

• Containing/normalising difference– ‘nation-state multiculturalism’

• Managing difference in localities– ‘practice of multiculturalism’– ‘encorporation’

Religion and multiculturalism

• Practice of multiculturalism:– Religion as a marker of (South Asian)

ethnic identity

• Nation-state multiculturalism– Diversity = post-religious modernity– South Asian diversity = religion

= ambivalence, vulnerability

Religion and multiculturalism

Christmas stamps: religious or secular?

• Royal Mail:

‘Although Christmas is a Christian festival, we live in a multi-faith society’

= need for secular themes

Visibilisation of Hindu identity

• From local to national

• ISKCON & Bhaktivedanta Manor

• ‘Asian chic’

House of Fraser Advert, 2002

‘If I wasn’t a chanting, cymbal-banging, easily-led nutcase who’d been brainwashed by some loony religious sect I could be wearing Linea Diversions extra fine merino sweater and linen jeans’

House of Fraser Advert, 2002

President of the National Council of Hindu Temples:

‘the first time the British Hindu community have won a legal case against ridicule’

‘image rights’ campaigning

‘image rights’ campaigning: a template of action

• Hindu organisation leads in name of Hindu community

• Action claimed to be prompted by communication ‘from the community’

• Invocation of feelings of hurt and shock• Expectation of multicultural tolerance• Suggestions of direct action• Publicity through Asian or wider media• Lobbying MPs and other VIPs • Apology/withdrawal of product = resolution

Organisation: Hindu Forum of Britain

• Representing the Hindu community through performance– Formed ‘as a result of a mandate given by the

community’

• Language of multiculturalism– ‘for the Government’s community cohesion

agenda to be successful, it is of utmost importance that faith communities engage in purposeful dialogue at all times. The Hindu Forum is committed to this ideal…’

Making ethnicity religious?

• Stuart Hall:

‘a new process of identification, the emergence into visibility of a new subject’