Introduction: Heritage and religion in South Asia and its diasporas

Abstract

This thematic section, emerging from a June 2023 international workshop at the Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA) in Lisbon, investigates the frictions, entanglements and reconfigurations of heritage and religion across global South Asia. Drawing on ethnographic research in South Asia and its often-overlooked diasporas in China, Mozambique, Portugal and Italy, the contributions explore how heritage and religious practices and spaces are mobilized, contested and reshaped in everyday life, public spaces, and transnational networks. The collection introduces fresh analytical categories, developed either from the perspectives of local actors or through grounded ethnographic observation, highlighting tensions, adaptations and contrasting uses of heritage and religion. Case studies span Sarnath and Golconda in India, Lahore and Chattogram in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Janakpurdham in Nepal, as well as diasporic sites in Mozambique, China, and Southern Italy—demonstrating how heritage and religion act as both social mediators and arenas of negotiation, belonging and identity. Together, the thematic section underscores the value of ethnography for capturing the messy and productive interactions between religion and heritage in global South Asia, revealing nuances that are often overlooked in Eurocentric, policy-focused or monument-centered analyses.