Professor Claire Robison features modern-day religion in debut book
January 31, 2025

Assistant Professor of Religion and Asian Studies Claire Robison joined Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies Rachel Sturman yesterday for a conversation about the release of Robison’s first book, “Bringing Krishna Back to India: Global and Local Networks in a Hare Krishna Temple in Mumbai.”
“This book project stemmed out of my PhD work in religions of India, which started out with me being interested in the interactions between different religious groups in India, but ended with me being especially interested in how people practice religion today and how different things like urbanization and globalization have contributed to very new forms of religion,” Robison said in an interview with the Orient.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), more widely known as the Hare Krishnas, is a religious organization that was founded in 1966. Most of its followers are based in India, but the group achieved Western fame in the 1960s and 70s and has followers all around the world.
“Today, its largest congregations, communities and followers are in India and among Indian diaspora populations throughout the world,” Robison said in yesterday’s talk. “[In] Russia is one of the most prominent communities outside of India today, and yet there too, they’ve also had to undergo a certain set of localized assumptions about who they are.”
The book centers on how this globalized group found its place. ISKCON is rooted in an Indian Hindu tradition but is also inherently global, as it was first founded and spread in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Many of its gurus are American-born, like Radhanath Swami, who grew up Jewish in Chicago.
Robison mentioned how perceptions of religion have been changing globally, stating that many members of younger generations, especially those living in cities, often see religion as a thing of the past.
“But, in fact, we’re seeing the growth of really prominent new religious groups, both here and in India,” she said.
Because members of younger urban generations view religion as increasingly outdated, this newfound religious devoutness is not always met with enthusiasm.
“So often what it means to join ISKCON or any conservative religious community or space is, interestingly, often a break with the existing communities around you. Many people found that it brought them into tension,” Robison said in her conversation with Sturman. “It’s really seen as a sort of revolutionary, oppositional move to be devout within the city, and at the same time it’s very much constructing this notion of what traditional religion is.”
Robison’s interest in Indian religions first began in her early teenage years. She read books about Buddhist and Hindu traditions and soon realized she could pursue this passion as a career.
“My personal interest sort of melded with the idea of having a career studying and teaching religions, of India in particular,” she said. “But then it was really in graduate school that I got interested in looking at how communities actually practice [religion] today.”
Robison’s particular interest in ISKCON grew from interests in how people have been reframing what religion means to them. She mentioned how Western understandings of ISKCON can often be stereotyped and sensationalized and how many associate the group with its integration into “hippie culture” in the U.S.
“How are they reshaping what religion looks like?” Robison said. “I thought that taking this slightly provocative, slightly unusual organization was one way of digging into the compelling nature of what religion looks like, especially in this globalized form.”
Leading up to Thursday’s conversation, Robison said she looked forward to talking through her research alongside Sturman after having the book’s release stalled for multiple years. Robison first developed the manuscript for the book in 2017, but Covid-19 pushed publishing back until now.
“What’s nice now that the book is out is to be able to look back and appreciate the range of experiences that I had through the research, and the range of beautiful people who are profiled in the study,” she said. “I’m excited to be able to talk through that and to talk through how the research process was an interesting journey of trying to challenge misconceptions about groups like the Hare Krishnas.”
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