ABSTRACT
Ethnicity is a mode or communication or rhetoric of representation that is continually changing within a context of syntax of communication shared by many groups. 'Black is beautiful' became a powerful affirmation of an American ethnic group negotiating a new social location for itself in the 1960s. Religion is a powerful force for immigrants in the formation and preservation of personal and group identity because it provides a transcendent grounding for identity. Hinduism is being redefined in America as a world religion, creating a definite identity that at the same time weakens internal boundaries. Hindus discover some American cousins in the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and the Vedanta Societies. Christians from India serve as a specific example of general developments in new relations established between the country of origin and country or countries of settlement currently made possible by rapid communication and mobility.
