‘So people know I'm a Sikh’: Narratives of Sikh masculinities in contemporary Britain (original) (raw)

“Lost in Translation”: How Colonialism Shaped Modern Sikh Identity

Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, 2023

This article traces the interactions and influence of colonialism on Sikh identity. The specific focus will be between 1870-1920, when Sikh identity was reforming under the Singh Sabha movements. Arguing the "World Religion" understanding of "Sikhism" is a de-political, private, and colonial construct. Focusing on decolonisation of thought and advocating the understanding of Sikhi as a religious-political (Miri/Piri), decolonial, lived identity. This is done through tracing colonial scholarship, Sikh scholarship, and theories and understandings in Religious Studies. Tracing how colonialism affects Sikh identity through primary research focusing on the effects of texts, translations, ideas, language, and understandings from the colonial era and the issues that has for the Sikh diaspora. Arguing the translations of Sikh scriptures by Ernest Trumpp (1877) was catastrophic for understanding Sikh identity. It argues the needed reaction to the defamatory comments made by Ernest Trumpp has led to the modern formation of "Sikhism" in line with the Protestant model of religion. This idea of "Sikhism" is detrimental to Sikh identity as it separates the boundaries between religion and the secular. This article advocates use of a vernacular approach to the study of religion to advocate for decolonisation of Religious Studies through qualitative methods of research, investigating the effects of colonial language and texts of Sikh scriptures has on the Sikh diaspora.

Shifting U.S. Racial and Ethnic Identities and Sikh American Activism

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2018

. It focuses on the ways these factors are shaped by individual or group-level circumstances intersecting with state structures and civil society. In other words, this literature concentrates almost entirely on conditions within the United States: on the U.S. racial system or structure (Jung 2015), how immigrants undergo the process of "racial acculturation" to this structure (Roth 2012), and on the micro-level racial fluidity that some individuals can achieve within this system (Saperstein and Penner 2012). This article brings a historical and transnational perspective to the changing identities of immigrants and their census categorization, and emphasizes the role of immigrant political activism in identity change. The focus is on Sikh Americans, the oldest South Asian group in the United States, and on three periods when Sikh Americans rallied to change their identity. Early in the twentieth century, Sikhs mounted legal and political campaigns to obtain U.S. citizenship by claiming Aryan roots. Subsequently, attacks against Sikhs in India beginning in 1984 led to a movement to disavow an Indian identity. Finally, a post-9/11 backlash against men with turbans and beards sparked a campaign to be recognized as an American religious group as well as an ethnic group distinct from Indian Americans.

Militarization of Sikh Masculinity

Critically reading the theoretical and descriptive scholarly work on colonial Punjab, Sikhs, Sikhism and the imperial British Empire, this paper traces how the formation of Sikh martial masculinity rooted in religious tradition was institutionalized into a particular form of militarized masculinity in the colonial period in Punjab, India. Additionally, it explores how the historical construction of masculinity intersects with the contemporary discourses on Sikh identity and masculinity in the diaspora, specifically in Britain. With reference to British Sikhs and their project of reclaiming recognition of their contribution in WWI, the paper goes on to argue that perhaps the projection of Khalsa identity as synonymous with Sikh identity and the performance of Sikh masculinity lies in projecting and representing themselves as warriors, to seek legitimacy from the military of their masculinity in exhibiting war effort. The dominant perception of Sikhs as martial, brave and willing to sacrifice is reflected in popular culture at large. By extension and association, Punjab, seen as the homeland of Sikhs, finds itself venerated as the land of the brave, or the land of the lions, if you like. This idea of the Sikh identity and Sikh masculinity in particular is a very real form of consciousness which defines, shapes and configures Sikh masculinity and performance of the male self, and are ideas in which many Sikh men root their identity. As I have argued elsewhere, this particular masculine performance does draw its strength from religious rituals and practices. 1 It might not

Violence and the Culture of Sikh Separatism

PoLAR: Political <html_ent glyph="@lt;" ascii="<"/>html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="<html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/>"/<html_ent glyph="@gt;" ascii=">"/> Legal Anthropology Review, 1994