Preparing for Life: Gender, Religiosity and Education Amongst Second Generation Hindus in Canada

A hallmark of Hinduism is its respect for religious diversity. Amidst religious pluralism in a multicultural Canadian society this strength poses challenges for the second generation. Drawing on qualitative interview data from 57 ‘1.5’ and second generation university students, this article examines the roles that Hinduism and gender play in the process of identity construction in visible minority groups. These young people were raised in families where traditional Hindu religious and cultural practices were valued by immigrants as they creatively adjusted to Canadian society. Parents tried to actively involve their children in their way of life but were largely unable to assist them in articulating the meaning of Hindu rituals and beliefs. As a result, young men and women are caught between the values of their parent’s generation and those implicit in Canadian educational institutions. The secularism of this educational system, permeated by religious illiteracy, contributes to tensions and ambiguities in identity construction

Mothering for the State: Three Stories of Working Class Foster Mothers

Introduction Foster mothers are women who enter a contractual relationship with the child welfare system for the care of children who have been apprehended by the state. Foster care can be described as “the provision of planned, preferably short-term, substitute care for children who cannot be adequately maintained at home” (McKenzie 1989, 1). In New Brunswick, the role of the foster mother and other foster family members is described as providing the apprehended child with “stability of a su..

The RAVE Project: Developing Web-Based Religious Resources for Social Action on Domestic Abuse

The RAVE Project (Religion and Violence e-Learning) at the University of New Brunswick is an initiative that seeks to understand the interface between religion and domestic violence in the family context. Web-based resources equip religious leaders to respond to domestic violence in ways that are compassionate, practical, and informed by the latest research and best practices for professionals and to walk alongside victims and survivors on their journey to healing and wholeness. As members of the RAVE Project team, we strive to meet the challenges presented when working across the disciplinary boundaries of academia, churches and seminaries, and community agencies in order to provide faith-based resources for social action. Based on over twenty years of social scientific research, this paper considers both the obstacles and rewards of working with partners from criminal justice, advocacy, religious and therapeutic communities in four regional sites across North America. In trying to build bridges between the steeple and the shelter we need to develop the trust of the people from different constituencies while remaining sensitive to their unique informational and spiritual needs

Revisiting Gender And Religion

In this presidential address delivered at the 2014 annual meeting of the Religious Research Association, the topic of religion and gender is revisited by focusing on parallel histories of American Protestant ordained clergywomen and social science scholarship on religion, noting that in both cases we have witnessed extraordinary change, but not transformation