Punjabi Community Research Articles

UNVEILING THE VEIL: EXPLORING GENDERED ABUSIVE LANGUAGE IN CONTEMPORARY PUNJABI DISCOURSE

The pervasive use of coarse language, despite its prohibition grounded in cultural values and traditions, presents a complex societal phenomenon that warrants in-depth exploration. The ubiquitous nature of this linguistic shift is particularly evident in daily verbal exchanges and media dissemination, challenging the conventional understanding of language as a mere preserver of cultural and religious identity. Abusive language, which finds expression in moments of surprise, frustration, and happiness, has become a multifaceted tool that not only defies established norms but also plays a pivotal role in shaping social dynamics. This paper's specific focus on profanity within the Punjabi language community serves as a microcosm for understanding broader issues related to gendered language. Through a comprehensive study involving interviews with Punjabi respondents aged 21 and above, encompassing both genders, the research exposes the deeply ingrained gendered nature of coarse language. Females are frequently and directly associated with insults and curses, highlighting a troubling pattern that reinforces the societal devaluation of women. The findings underscore how profanity, beyond its linguistic implications, acts as a mechanism that perpetuates and strengthens the existing patriarchal system within the Punjabi community. As society grapples with evolving language norms, this examination sheds light on the intricate interplay between language, gender dynamics, and cultural practices, providing valuable insights for addressing the broader implications of linguistic shifts in contemporary society.

Understanding the Issue of Alcoholism in the British Sikh Punjabi Community. Based on This, How Can the Medical School Curriculum Be Improved So Clinicians Can Better Meet the Needs of the British Sikh Punjabi Community and Diverse Communities in General?

Understanding the Issue of Alcoholism in the British Sikh Punjabi Community. Based on This, How Can the Medical School Curriculum Be Improved So Clinicians Can Better Meet the Needs of the British Sikh Punjabi Community and Diverse Communities in General?

Toxicological Impact of Brick Kiln Emissions on the Liver of Brick Kiln Workers and Residents

Pakistan is the third-largest brick-producing nation in South Asia, behind China and India. In Pakistan, there are over 20,000 brick kilns and 1.8 million brick kiln employees, 50% of them are in Punjab. Brick kilns in rural Punjabi communities like district Narowal still use antiquated methods and are subject to bad laws, which has a negative impact on people's health. A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Narowal district from January 2021 to January 2022 to examine the toxicological effects of brick kiln emissions on the liver. The participants were divided into three groups based on their demographic profiles in order to examine the relationship between appropriate liver function indices, such as ALT, AST, ALP, and bilirubin, and demographic factors like age, BMI, smoking index, and length of employment among exposed (residents and workers) and control groups. The outcome demonstrated that exposed workers and residents had mean ALT (p, 0.001), AST (p, 0.001), and ALP (p, 0.002) levels that were considerably higher than reference values. Bilirubin, a measure of the liver, remained negligible. Blood chemistry tests cannot establish the presence of liver disorders. Therefore, molecular-based follow-up investigations are required to assess the health concerns related to emissions from brick kilns.

'Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation!'; A literature review on alcohol addiction in the British Sikh and/or Punjabi community and the barriers to accessing support.

The literature review aimed to identify the barriers the Punjabi and/or Sikh community have in accessing support for alcohol addiction. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken of four scholarly databases, Google Scholar and grey literature on UK-based research conducted after 1980 into alcohol addiction in the Punjabi and/or Sikh community. Fourteen papers met the inclusion criteria outlined in the paper and were included in the review. Ten main barriers to accessing support were found; stigma, religion, lack of understanding of addiction, over reliance on a medical model of treatment and disregard of therapy, cultural implications of being a member of the Punjabi and/or Sikh community and the addiction community, gender and generational differences and a lack of government commitment to alcohol support for BME communities with a lack of culturally specific services. Despite the many barriers explored, the role of stigma remained a powerful theme throughout often underpinning other barriers. A key recommendation across many papers was the need for culturally sensitive support services. Several areas for future research were identified.

COVID-19 Education and Resource Development for Punjabi-Speaking Sikh Farmworkers in California

ABSTRACT Objective While the vast majority of farmworkers in California are Latinx, a small proportion of the farmworkers are Asian Indian who primarily speak Punjabi. To date, there are few COVID-19 resources developed that specifically target Punjabi-speaking farmworkers. This study examines the COVID-19 educational needs of Punjabi-speaking farmworkers in California and aims to inform future development of educational materials for Punjabi-speaking farmworkers. Methods During early 2021, a two-phase qualitative study was conducted. In Phase 1, five key informant interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide to assess the content, visual, and cultural relevance of current COVID-19 educational resources. Based on informant feedback, new agriculture-specific COVID-19 educational resources were developed in Punjabi. In Phase 2, three focus groups were conducted (in Fresno and Yuba Counties) with five participants in each group to evaluate the newly developed COVID-19 resources. Results Informant interviews showed that Punjabi-speaking farmworkers preferred printed handouts, videos, and radio messages to receive COVID-19 related information. Participants preferred 8–1/2”x11” sized printed handouts that were colorful and had culturally relevant photographs. Participant video preferences included live action videos that were short (1–3 mins) with characters representing the Punjabi community. A substantial majority of focus group participants approved the newly developed COVID-19 educational and safety resources. Conclusion Current COVID-19 resources are not meeting the educational needs of Punjabi-speaking farmworkers. This community needs COVID-19 educational and safety materials that are culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate to be available in different formats: handouts, videos, and radio messages.

Punjabi masculinities and transnational spaces: Performance, choice and othering

AbstractThis article seeks to comprehensively understand student‐migrant men's identities and masculinities in transnational spaces in Canada. Building on existing literature on transnational masculinities, and partly on identity process theory, I focus on upper‐caste Punjabi men who came to Canada as international students. Through in‐depth interviews with 22 men, I explore the significance of landownership back home, caste identity and transnational communication in constituting the hegemonic masculinities in transnational spaces and the ‘othering’ within the Punjabi community faced by young men in Canada. By examining how young men respond to the complexities of source and host situation as well as their hegemonic content, I demonstrate the relational and fluid nature of hegemonic Punjabi masculinities. I conclude that even though the hegemonic ideal for men in transnational spaces remains to be the local rural masculinities based on landownership in Punjab, alternative strategies are put in place when that hegemonic ideal becomes difficult to achieve in transnational spaces or when there is a willing disinclination to achieve it such as in case of men who do not express a desire to return.

Preparing for online peer support for Punjabi men's mental health

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, some Punjabi men have supported their mental health through digital peer support interventions. However, there is little research which reflects upon the impact of peer support education for people who identify as culturally, linguistically, or geographically Punjabi. This review aims to map, discuss and appraise the scholarly literature concerning Punjabi communities and peer support education. Open-source articles published in English were sought through Google Scholar due to broadest accessibility. Screened articles were analysed for common themes, summarised, and critically appraised alongside a case study reflection. The findings show that there is a distinct lack of literature which could help to develop and evaluate digital peer support education for Punjabi populations and that future research is warranted. Despite this, some existing research can provide scholarly foundations for such work. Further practice and evaluation is required to understand the potential possibilities and pitfalls for peer support education in Punjabi and racialized communities more broadly. Future research should take a specific focus on the potential for impact in peer support for Punjabi communities to explore the unique needs of the population. Without such research we risk being unable to develop precise and specific peer support interventions which may exacerbate existing inequities within mental health more widely.

A cross-cultural ethnobotanical knowledge comparison about local plants among Pashto, Punjabi and Saraiki communities living in Southwest Pakistan

Background: The current work was conducted with the aim for the documentation of the indigenous uses of medicinal plants for food purposes across the three main indigenous communities in South-west Pakistan. Field work was conducted in 21 villages belonging to the three regions of the district D.I. Khan (Saraiki Community), district Zhob (Pashto Community) and district Mianwali (Punjabi Community), located in the Southwest Pakistan. Methods: Snowball sampling method was used to interview 93 informants (43 Pashto, 28 Punjabi and 22 Saraiki) using semi-structured questionnaire to document the uses of indigenous taxa as food, herbal tea and herbal juice/drinks purposes. Documented data was quantified by indices UV (use value) and CI (Cultural importance values). Results: Overall, 68 Plants species belonging to the 40 families were documented to be used in food, herbal tea and herbal juice/drinks. The most important species was Limonium cabulicum on the basis of use reports. Major ailments include stomach problems, hair loss, wounds, fever, weight loss and others treated with traditional food /drinks. The Phyllanthus emblica (0.31) has the highest UV. The highest cultural value was obtained for Zingiber officinale (0.28). Conclusion: The traditional communities still use medicinal plants. Cross-cultural ethnobotanical studies are fundamental among three ethnic communities in Southwest Pakistan not only for suggesting customs of using plant-based products, which could be exploited in sustainable local development projects (e.g. trade of wild medicinal herbs on small-scale, herbal products, food niche and also focusing on eco-tourism), but also for development relationship and reconciliation among diverse ethnic communities. Keywords: Cross-Cultural Ethnobotany, food plants, herbal tea, herbal juice/drinks, Pashto, Punjabi, Saraiki

Language Choice among the Punjabi Sikh Community in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

When a minority group interacts and comes into contact with individuals from the dominant language, they tend to choose a commonly understood language. Language choice is forced to negotiate their own identity and cultural practices with their dominant culture. This can create a conflict, as in the case of the Punjabi community, who try to adopt new cultural norms and maintain their own identity when living in a dominant cultural group. With the growing number of Punjabis in Sabah, specifically in the capital city of Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia, this situation presents an excellent case for advancing our knowledge about the challenges that the process of assimilation and enculturation may have on the Punjabi community living in a society which predominantly is of a different culture in Sabah. This study thus addresses the impact of social integration among a small population of the Punjabi Sikhs living in Kota Kinabalu. Data is collected using a questionnaire and interviews with several community members. The study draws implications on how a minority group adapts to the dominant culture and provides possible avenues for future research.

Constitutive Features of Deliberate Language Shift: A Case Study of Afghan Immigrants as a Community of Practice

The study is aimed to determine the constitutive features of deliberate language shift by Afghan immigrants in Chakwal (Punjab, Pakistan). The researchers selected 10 business practitioners living for at least 10 years in the Punjabi community. The semi-structured interviews and non-participants observations were conducted for data collection. The researchers used "Community of Practice" (CofP) as a theoretical framework. CofP Model has three elements that helped the researchers determine the constitutive features of language shift by Afghan immigrants. The researchers found out that the regional displacement left the Afghan immigrants with the least liberty to exercise their language in all the fields of life because the local stakeholders were not conversant with Afghan's language. As a result, they started borrowing words from Punjabi and Urdu languages. The study's findings reflect that the influence of these languages permanently substituted their native language vocabulary with that of Panjabi and Urdu. The researchers noticed that linguistic adaptations are tactically intentional and need-based and not accidental. The market competition is the driving force towards their deliberate language shift. This language shift is determined through practitioners' attitudes and communication attempts to generate more significant revenue and make better fits in the community of practice.

THE ATTITUDE OF MOTHERS IN REVITALIZING PUNJABI LANGUAGE: A CASE STUDY OF THE PUNJABI COMMUNITY IN MANJUNG DISTRICT, PERAK

Punjabi is a small minority community in Malaysia among the approximately two million Indians in Malaysia. Punjabi people remain distinct from other people of Indian origins because of their religious beliefs and a strong sense of community. In the context of Malaysia, studies about the Punjabi community have not been encouraging and very minimal. As the Punjabi in Malaysia becomes more educated, the Punjabi community, which has long been undergoing a gradual shift into modern Malaysian society, and less emphasis is being placed on the ability to read and write Punjabi. The aim of this study is to obtain an overview of the language use patterns and language attitudes of Malaysian Punjabi mothers with the presence of their children. Specifically, the objective is to shed light on the importance of promoting Punjabi in the home domain by investigating whether the education and attitude of the mothers bring on the value of speaking the Punjabi language to their children in the home domain. A total of 11 respondents aged between 25 and 44 with children at or within the age of 6 were interviewed. One of the most significant findings of this study is the mismatch between language attitudes and actual language use by mothers with their children. The awareness exists in the mothers that Punjabi is important to their children to communicate with old age people and the Punjabi language is being used to do their prayers and to read their holy book. However, this positive attitude towards the language is not reflected in their language use and choice regardless of their education level. English dominated in most instances and most of the mothers claimed to be more comfortable speaking to their children in English.

Critique of Archived Life: Toward a Hesitation of Sikh Immigrant Accumulation

AbstractIn 2016, the Pioneering Punjabi Digital Archive (PPDA) went online. Attempting to reveal how the Punjabi community struggled and then thrived in California, the PPDA accumulates narratives of Punjabi American life. Against such models of archival intimacy and recovery, which look to cultivate limitless public access to a knowable and transparent subject while reducing structural precarity to the failure of an exceptional Punjabi, this article hesitates in a vexed archival space without guarantees. Within this hesitation, it explores the traces of untimely lives displaced in creating archival legibility—traces that reveal a different form of being that challenge the additive logic of the PPDA. This hesitation is cultivated through a comparative approach that couples archival and ethnographic research based on articles about Punjabi American life in both the archive and public sphere alongside ethnographic work conducted with Sikh immigrants who work in canneries and the fields. The aim is to pause in the present impasse to consider the nonbecoming of unknown forms—an ethnographic “reaching and ungrasping” in which the future is not fixed as a requirement for thinking, refusing the accumulating demands of narrative sequence that archiving presents.

Outsiders-insiders-in between: Punjabi international students in Canada navigating identity amid intraethnic tensions

ABSTRACT This study explores the experiences of Punjabi international undergraduate students (PIS) at a Canadian university (KPU). Many PIS choose to study at KPU because of its proximity to one of the largest Punjabi communities in the Indian diaspora. By drawing on the concept of ‘intraethnic othering’, the article demonstrates that while the proximity of an ethnic community of the same origin was an important source of support, the large influx of PIS created new tensions with the older, more established community. It highlights the need for universities to move beyond business models when recruiting international students in order to consider the ways in which international students’ intraethnic relations might impact their academic trajectory and adjustment to the host country.

Partition of Punjab: How a Secularist Province Developed Communal Consciousness

Why did the Punjabi community, well-known for its unique intercommunal harmony among Sikhs; Muslims; and Hindus, suddenly erupt into religious persecution at a more severe level than other Indian provinces which did not boast such a peaceful history? Although this question has largely been ignored in favor of a macro-analysis of the Partition of the entire Indian subcontinent, understanding how communal tensions arose in a relatively cordial community provides useful insight into the factors that increase one’s awareness of religious identity and destruction of their national identity. This paper identifies why intercommunal relations thrived in pre-partition Punjab. Furthermore, it investigates the elements which facilitated Punjab’s chaotic violence: 1) The fall of the Punjabi Unionist Party symbolized the destruction of national identity, 2) Involvement of the INC and the Muslim League in Punjabi government affairs through the utilization of propaganda introduced religious sectarianism, and 3) The British negligence while constructing the Punjab Boundary Award eliminated any means of reconciliation among the Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.

Feeding the cattle on the Temora common: The public atonement and death of the Punjabi hawker Gujjar Singh in 1902

ABSTRACT Punjabi hawkers provided an essential service to rural communities and isolated farms in south-eastern Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Living a marginalised existence, they were perceived as unwelcome competition and often vilified, ethnically different, the cultural and spiritual requirements of many Punjabi were alien concepts to the host communities. Even more so were cases of religious penance, which in extreme cases could result in death by starvation. This paper describes the unique circumstances surrounding the death of Gujjar Singh at Temora in 1902 and projects them onto the spiritual and cultural background of the Punjabi community.

Punjabis and Coeliac Disease: A Wake-Up Call

Punjabis are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world, with at least 124 million members. Their diet is based around wheat cereals and they are now recognised to be at risk of coeliac disease. Indeed, the incidence of coeliac disease amongst Punjabi migrants is three times that of other Europeans, suggesting that in excess of 3 million Punjabi people may be affected by the condition. This review considers the history of coeliac disease and its lack of ready diagnosis in the Punjabi community, including the adverse outcomes as a result. It considers the poor-quality information available to Punjabi patients and tentatively suggests methods of dealing with these issues.

Making a Punjabi language documentary film in New Zealand for Punjabi and non-Punjabi audiences

The second author interviewed three Punjabi Sikhs in South Auckland on camera in the Punjabi language, and two Punjabi Muslims in Lahore via an online video call where one participant responded in Punjabi and the other in the Urdu language. Their discussions were edited and subtitled in English for a thirteen minute documentary film screened at a migration research symposium and also released on the internet via Punjabi, Indian, and Pakistani multimedia outlets. Our paper speaks about the process of making a Punjabi language documentary in New Zealand for different audiences of university researchers and Punjabi communities. We also present the uncut interviews and the internet link to the film in Punjabi with English subtitles.

Punjabi to ISO 15919 and Roman Transliteration with Phonetic Rectification

Transliteration removes the script barriers. Unfortunately, Punjabi is written in four different scripts, i.e., Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi, Devnagri, and Latin. The Latin script is understandable for nearly all factions of the Punjabi community. The objective of our work is to transliterate the Punjabi Gurmukhi script into Latin script. There has been considerable progress in Punjabi to Latin transliteration, but the accuracy of present-day systems is less than 50% (Google Translator has approximately 45% accuracy). We do not have the facility of a rich parallel corpus for Punjabi, so we cannot use the corpus-based techniques of machine learning that are in vogue these days. The existing systems of transliteration follow grapheme-based approach. The grapheme-based transliteration is unable to handle many scenarios such as tones, inherent schwa, glottal stops, nasalization, and gemination. In this article, the grapheme-based transliteration has been augmented with phonetic rectification where the Punjabi script is rectified phonetically before applying character-to-character mapping. Handling the inherent short vowel schwa was the major challenge in phonetic rectification. Instead of following the fixed syllabic pattern, we devised a generic finite state transducer to insert schwa. The accuracy of our transliteration system is approximately 96.82%.

Oral cultures and sexism: A comparative analysis of African and Punjabi folklore

The present study embarked with a supposition that there are similarities (traditional, under-developed, agri-based) between the Punjabi and African cultures, so the gender ideology might have similar patterns, which can be verified through the analysis of oral genres of the respective cultures. From Africa, Nigerian (Yoruba) proverbs are selected to be studied in comparison with Punjabi proverbs, while taking insights from Feminist CDA (Lazar 2005). The study has examined how Punjabi and Yoruba proverbs mirror, produce and conserve gendered ideology and patriarchism. Punjabi proverbs are selected through purposive sampling from ‘Our Proverbs’ (Shahbaz 2005) and Yoruba examples (with English translations and interpretations) are elicited from a dictionary of Yoruba proverbs (Owomoyela 2005), as well as articles written about gender by native Yoruba researchers. The investigation has uncovered through thematic content analysis that the portrayal of women in both communities is primarily biased, face-threatening and nullifying. Both languages have presented womenfolk mainly as unreliable, insensible, loquacious, insincere, ungrateful, opportunist, materialistic and troublemaking. Men have been depicted for the most part as aggressive, rational, prevailing, and anxious to take risks. This analysis infers that in asymmetrically organised Punjabi and African (Yoruba) communities, proverbs are deliberately sustaining inequality.

A Portrayal of Inter-caste Marriage in Chetan Bhagat’s Novel ‘2 States: The Story of My Marriage’

The aim of this paper is to understand the varied cultures and traditions existing in contemporary India which create impediments in inter-caste marriages for a young generation. Chetan Bhagat’s novels are emblems of the true thoughts of contemporary young India. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage is a love story of Krish, a Punjabi boy and Ananya, a Tamilian girl, and their attempts to convert their love into marriage with the endorsement of their parents. Author humorously delineates cultural aspects of Tamil Brahmin and Punjabi communities which are in sharp contrast to each other. The paper helps us to understand the cultural and social barriers between North-India and South-India and their impact on inter-caste marriages.