Talk:Rupa Pillai

By Renuka Joshi

Rupa Pillai is a senior lecturer of Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as of May 2023. According to her university profile, her research interests include Race & Ethnicity; Religion; Diaspora, Transnationalism, & Migration; Asian American Studies; Colonialism & Postcolonialism; Indenture; Gender & Sexuality; Urban Studies; Feminist & Queer Theory

As per her bio, she has published no books, papers, or research pertaining to Hindus, the rights of Hindus, the impact or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva, India, or the Indian Government in the context of BJP Government.

In 2021, she endorsed the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women in these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Publications related to India

1. Pillai, Rupa. Using Geographical Information System (GIS): Mapping Jhandis in Little Guyana” in The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Cities (2020) https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Religion-and-Cities/Day-Edwards/p/book/9780367367121
2. Pillai, Rupa “A Hinduism of their Own: Emerging Guyanese Hindu Reading Practices in New York City” in The Journal of Hindu Studies (2020) https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiaa010
3. Pillai, Rupa “Representing American Hinduism For Whom?” for Religion, Race, and “Never Have I Ever”: A Roundtable Discussion (2020) https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2020/06/religion-race-and-never-have-i-ever-a-roundtable-discussion/
4. Pillai, Rupa “A Question of Voice: Indo-Caribbean American Feminism through Music in New York City” in WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (2019) https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.2019.0024
5. Pillai, Rupa. “Subaltern Studies: Curated Collection” for Cultural Anthropology (2012)https://journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/catalog/category/subaltern-studies