Stamp it out! Disciplining the image of Hinduism in a multicultural milieu

Abstract

In November 2005 the UK Royal Mail's use of Hindu imagery in its Christmas stamp set was vigorously opposed by a range of organisations projected as representative of Hindus in the United Kingdom. The ‘Hindu stamp’ affair highlighted the speed with which appropriate institutional resources can now be mobilised to discipline the image of Hinduism as a religion in the name of a British Hindu community. It is one of a succession of such campaigns over the past few years, all directed towards regulating the representation of Hindu-ness in commercial, media and state institutions. In this paper I want to ask what function is served by this regulatory practice, and why has it become more prominent in recent years? What can the development of such practices tell us about the location of Hindu-ness as a minority ethnic identity, and the way in which this identity uses or contests broader regulatory practices related to the construction of ethnic identities in Britain? By examining the contexts and tracing the emergence of ‘Hindu campaigning’ in Britain, this paper argues that such mobilisations signal a significant stage in the rapid development of religion as a feature of contemporary British politics.