Religious memory in a changing society: The case of India and Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The study analyzes the place of religion in the national collective memory and the changes that have taken place in the field of religion in connection with the modernization and emergence of modern nation-states in India and Papua New Guinea (PNG). In the case of PNG, we look at the place of Christianization in the process of modernization, while in the case of India, we analyze the use of Hinduism in the process of forming national identity. Both cases are analyzed with the use of selected cases of material culture in specific localities and they show the ongoing struggle for the incorporation or segregation of original religious tradition into national identity. Both cases are analyzed on the basis of field research. In the case of India, we look at Bharat Mata Mandir in Haridwar, and in the case of Papua New Guinea, the tambaran building in the village of Kambot in East Sepik Province. While Bharat Mata Mandir demonstrates the modernization of tradition and the incorporation of religion into modern (originally secular) nationalism, the decline in tambaran houses is a result of Christianization and the modernization of PNG. The study shows that if there is a connection between religious memory and national memory (or national identity), the religious tradition is maintained or strengthened, whereas when religious memory and national memory are disconnected, religious memory is weakened in a modernizing society.