By The second annual conference in Jain Studies will examine different aspects and roles of gender, with a focus on Jain thought and tradition, through keynote speakers, roundtable discussions and presentations from April 6 to April 8.
The first day of the conference will be held at the Jain Center of Southern California in Buena Park, from noon to 5 p.m., where attendees will receive a tour of the temple. The following two days will be at the Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center on campus, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
“Jainism is actually a religion from India, and according to Jains, it’s as old as any other religion in India,” Shivani Bothra, assistant professor of religious studies and Bhagwan Suvidhinath Endowed Chair in Jain Studies said. “Jains follow the teachings of Jinas, who are also called the Tirthankaras, the word Jain comes from Jina’s.”
In Jainism, a Jina is an individual who conquered their desires and achieved spiritual enlightenment and Moksha or liberation from Samsāra, the life, death and rebirth cycle.
Jains preach nonviolence, non-materialism and open-mindedness. These three tenets are referred to as Ahimsa, Aparigraha, and Anekantavada.
“Jains have the idea of three genders. It’s not just a bipolar of feminine and masculine, but there is also an understanding of third gender, which is also translated sometimes as hermaphrodite,” Bothra said. “So this conference basically reimagines gender from the perspective that the rules of gender has been changing with times… and the role of gender from the textual sources to contemporary lived tradition.”
The conference is sponsored by a grant from the Uberoi Foundation for Religious Studies, allowing the conference to be more expansive and comprehensive. Last year’s conference had about 500 people in attendance over the three days. This year’s turnout is expected to surpass last year’s, according to Bothra.
The conferences’ theme was chosen by Bothra in collaboration with Venu Mehta, assistant professor of Jainism and comparative spiritualities at Claremont School of Theology.
“We are exploring with a fresh insight about how gender is being analyzed, how gender is being proposed, what are the perspectives on gender and how gender is perceived within the Jain tradition,” Mehta said. “We have speakers that also look at religion from different points of view… sociological, animal rights, veganism, LGBTQ.”
Speakers include Long Beach State students Caitlin Below and Eric Magdaleno.
CSULB is only one of two schools in the CSU system to have an endowed chair dedicated to Jain studies.
“The scholars who are coming for this conference are all distinguished scholars of Jain studies from different universities in America and some from outside of America,” Bothra said. “There are emeritus and distinguished professors who will be examining the whole about looking at gender as a useful category for Jain discussion.”
Sophia Pandya, professor and department chair of Religious Studies and co-director of the Beach Pluralism Project, will also be speaking at the event, conducting a welcome speech and moderating a discussion on gender.
“Students learn something. The Jain tradition may be small, but the significance of the ideas of Jainism align with what we at Cal State Long Beach believe in,” Pandya said. “It’s an extraordinary event, one of a kind, with so many experts in a field in one place.”
