Ethnographic Accounts of the 'Sathya Sai Baba' Movement - A Spiritual Reform-Oriented Movement in Singapore: Identity Formation, Charity-giving & Rationalization Process

Abstract

This research is an ethnographic study of the Sathya Sai Baba (a global neo- spiritual) Movement and its various centres in Singapore. The thesis firstly addresses the question of why people of different ethnicities and religious orientations join the movement and the various processes of establishing a collective identity in harmony with the stateb s policies. Secondly, particular attention is devoted to the movementb s created b imagined communityb and their participation in charitable activities. Specifically, what are the socio- religious inclinations in the promotion of charity in the movement? The internet has become a domain of engagement for purposes of experimentation and experiencing. Cyber- space as a transnational socially constructed nexus for a Sai virtual community and how the local movement approaches and rationalizes devotion over the web is explored last. These questions are analysed with an ethnographic gaze, supported by some of Weberb s social action theory and Durkheimb s collective consciousness frameworks.