Global Religious Projects with Local Reach: Glocal <i>kavadi</i> and Hinduism in La Réunion

Global Hinduism involves a multi-faceted relation between religion and globalization. Different approaches to the Tamil ritual practice of carrying kavadi in the French overseas department in La Réunion illustrate how global Hinduism entails both standardizing processes and locally contextualized meaning-making. The orientation toward India and Hinduism as a world religion by some Reunionese descendants of Indian indentured laborers since the 1970s suggests religious aspirations as driving forces behind globalizing processes. At the same time, possibilities of belonging to India remain limited. For many Reunionese, their turn toward India in their religious practices and travels serves them above all for their origin-conscious self-positioning in the Reunionese society. This includes carrying kavadi without relating it to India and without creating a diasporic consciousness. The Reunionese case suggests global Hinduism as locally emerging, and it highlights the importance of emotional experience. The article is based on long-term anthropological fieldwork in La Réunion.