Reflections of Amma : devotees in a global embrace

Resource Information

The work Reflections of Amma : devotees in a global embrace represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Reflections of Amma : devotees in a global embrace

Title remainder

devotees in a global embrace

Statement of responsibility

Amanda J. Lucia

Creator

• Lucia, Amanda J., 1977-

Author

• Lucia, Amanda J., 1977-

Subject

• Hinduism -- United States
• Mata Amritanandamayi Mission
• Amritanandamayi, Mata, 1953-
• RELIGION -- Hinduism | General
• RELIGION -- Antiquities & Archaeology
• Amritanandamayi, Mata, 1953- -- Disciples

Language

eng

Summary

Globally known as Amma, meaning Mother, Mata Amritanandamayi has developed a massive transnational humanitarian organization based in hugs. She is familiar to millions as the "hugging saint," a moniker that derives from her elaborate darshan programs wherein nearly every day 10,000 people are embraced by the guru one at a time, events that routinely last 10-20 hours without any rest for her. Although she was born in 1953 as a low caste girl in a southern Indian fishing village, today millions revere her as guru and goddess, a living embodiment of the divine on earth. Reflections of Amma focuses on communities of Amma's devotees in the United States, showing how they endeavor to mirror their guru's behaviors and transform themselves to emulate the ethos of the movement. This study argues that "inheritors" and "adopters" of Hindu traditions differently interpret Hindu goddesses, Amma, and her relation to feminism and women's empowerment because of their inherited religious, cultural, and political dispositions. In this insightful ethnographic analysis, Lucia discovers how the politics of American multiculturalism reifies these cultural differences in "de facto congregations," despite the fact that Amma's embrace attempts to erase communal boundaries in favor of global unity. Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) is the face of religion in the a new global age. Born in 1953 to a low-caste family in a southern Indian fishing village, she has catapulted to international prominence in recent decades through her travels, humanitarian programs, and the ever-increasing explosion of new centers in and outside of India, including the US, Canada, Europe, East Asia, Africa, and South America. Today 8-10 million people around the world identify as Amma devotees. Known throughout the world as the "hugging saint," she is famous for her elaborate darshan ceremonies, where as many as 50,000 people are embraced by the guru one at a time -- an event that can take up to three days and nights nonstop. This book is an in-depth examination of the Amma phenomenon and her American devotees. Amanda J. Huffer suggests that standard dichotomies within American religious studies are being broken down as notions of self and other, Asia and the West, goddess and human, become unsettled by way of Amma's highly performative darshan events. Huffer argues that an unprecedented egalitarian impulse is taking shape within the community, one that challenges long-held interpretations of Hindu religiosity and goddess worship. Through an in-depth ethnographic encounter with Amma devotees, she skillfully examines the new face of this fast-growing global religious movement

Biography type

contains biographical information

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

294.5092

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

LC call number

BL1278.1592.A67

LC item number

L83 2014

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• bibliography
• theses