‘LULLABIES FOR BROKEN CHILDREN’: DIASPORIC CITIZENSHIP AND THE DISSENTING VOICES OF YOUNG SIKHS IN CANADA

Abstract

Within transnational networks of diasporic youth identities and formations, how are narratives of migration, memory, and violence rendered intelligible by youth? How are diasporic experiences articulated by Sikh youth in Canada, and what creative means do youth utilize to do so? In this paper we examine personal narratives and the artistic practices of diasporic Sikh youth living in the Greater Toronto Area in order to examine the nexus between youth formations and diasporic citizenship (Cho, Lily. 2007. Diasporic Citizenship: Contradistinctions and Possibilities for Canadian Literature. In Trans.Can.Lit: Resituating the Study of Canadian Literature, edited by Smaro Kamboureli and Roy Miki, 93–109. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press). By doing so, we aim to elaborate upon how Sikh youth situate themselves within larger frameworks of citizenship and migration. The narratives and practices of Sikh youth that we examine in this paper do not fit neatly into these larger frameworks, which often position the Sikh body as a radical, potentially dangerous, racialized, gendered and subversive sign in a post-9/11 world and in the context of Canadian liberal multiculturalism. By examining memorial events, youth-created media content, artistic performances and by conducting interviews with second and third generation Sikhs, we contend that diasporic Sikh youth in urban Canada are actively involved in debates over identity under the rubric of Canadian citizenship and multiculturalism. These dissenting voices hinge upon critical analyses and experiences of present and past violence which shape their everyday worlds.