Against the background of economic globalization and the penetration of new information technology, contemporary Indian cultures and religions are undergoing a radical transformation, resonating with the similar changes in other parts of the world. The various religious movements that originated in India have grown active in South Asia and overseas where Indians reside with the assistance of information technology such as the internet. The mass culture, which includes textiles and fashion, movies and music, acts as a medium that conveys images of India to the rest of the world. This mass culture lends a great deal to Indian soft power. The spread of the religious activities and cultural products of India throughout the world is strongly associated with the rise of nationalism.
The entanglement of religion and culture with politics and economics forms the basis of contemporary issues involving South Asia and the rest of the world. These issues are also deeply connected with the hyper-localization of the life-world and the intensification of identity politics. The Center for Contemporary India Area Studies at the National Museum of Ethnology cooperating widely with Japanese and foreign researchers, advances field research to clarify this dynamism of contemporary Indian religions and cultures. |
The Center for Contemporary India Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnorogy