Surviving transplantation. BK in the Western world

Surviving transplantation. BK in the Western world.

This paper examines the organizational and cultural responses made by the Brahma Kumaris to the challenges of transplanting an Indian spiritual movement to the West. Focusing on case materials from Australia, it shows that modifications to the hybrid "household collective"/"congregation" form of movement organization developed in India where the movement originated have facilitated BK survival and growth in an alien cultural environment. Demographic changes in the Australian branches combined with social structural adjustments have in turn encouraged the production of new interpretations of core beliefs. Because, as Stark's (1987) predicted, modifications by "locals" have been important to the survival of the imported movement, it is necessary to analyze the Indian and Western movements separately when attempting to identify factors associated with the success of the now international organization.

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