Benjamin Zeller
Benjamin Zeller was a student at North Carolina-Chapel Hill when he conducted this research, mapping the Hindu community in North-Central North Carolina. Dr. Yaakov Ariel was the faculty sponsor for this research.
At the time of this research, Zeller wrote:
The past two decades have seen a massive growth in the size of the South Asian community in North-Central North Carolina. This project will document the various Hindu and Sikh worship centers, community locales, and associations that operate in this region, a nine county area between the foothills of the Appalachians and the coastal Sand Hills.
Transitions at New Goloka, North Carolina
New Goloka temple in Hillsborough, North Carolina, is a microcosm of the shifts in the American religious landscape during the past decades. Part of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), or the "Hare Krishnas," the temple began almost two decades ago as a commune for mostly Anglo-American convert members of this American branch of Indian Hinduism. Yet in the past eighteen years, New Goloka has transformed from an isolated outpost of a countercultural religion to a Hindu temple catering to both American "Hare Krishna" converts and also first or second generation Indian-Americans. In this study, I consider the changing demographic dynamics at New Goloka temple and the ensuing shifts in religious practices. Zeller is an Associate Professor of Religion at Lake Forest College.
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Contact Information
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, NC