Hope as a Journey: An Ethnographic Study of the Phenomenon of Hope as Experienced by Hindu and Christian Members of the Indian Diaspora in the Metropolitan Chicago Area

Abstract

This research explores hope in the lives of Indian diaspora in the US. through the ethnographic lens of qualitative research. Using participant observation, visual methods and interviewing, an 18-month study was focused on the experience of hope in the lives and reflections of Hindu and Christian Indian diaspora in and around Chicago.

Through this research, this ethnographic data portrays hope as a journey over a chasm where vectors of influence converge and must be negotiated. The ethnographic accounts of hope in the lives of the Hindu and Christian diaspora suggest three main foci of hope in the population studied: the hope to be accepted, the hope to make a contribution and the hope to be true to oneself. Through the ethnographic narratives explored in three thematic chapters, this study presents new data and analyses on the roles of women in transmitting cultural and religious tradition to the next generation, on South Asian Christians in the US diaspora, and it offers “close attention” to the Indian diaspora as called for in recent literature on South Asian Diaspora.