Young Sikh Research Articles

Diasporic Identity of Sikh Youth Among Jakarta's Multicultural Society

Purpose: The presence of the Sikh religion in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta, is a group of ethnic minorities among Jakarta's multicultural society. Recognizing Sikh followers is seen in their identity, which is distinguished by the use of 5K. In Jakarta, the young Sikh diaspora also creates communities to maintain their sense of identity. The Sikh diaspora must be able to maintain their identity discrimination in order to continue practicing the Sikh religion as taught by Guru Nanak Dev and the other nine Sikh Gurus.
 Methodology: the method used in this research is qualitative type by using literature study method and interviewing sources. Data from literature study are taken from books, journals, proceedings and articles related to history, traditions, religious activity and current issues related to Sikh religion, position and identity of Sikh youth in Indonesia, especially in the city of Jakarta.
 Findings: Sikhism faces several challenges and issues that may affect young people, including questions of identity, belonging and meaning, as do all faith communities. The use of social media and digital podcasts has certainly been effective in capturing the attention of Sikh youth, as has the building of a Sikh online community using the Gurdwara as the primary venue for delivering Sikh religious enrichment programmes for youth.
 Implications: The strategy for strengthening beliefs and self-identity in Sikh youth is to begin using social media with the goal of being easily accepted by Sikh youth in this digital era.

Remembering Guru Nanak: Articulations of Faith and Ethics by Sikh Activists in Post 9/11 America

This paper explores the role of activism as an inflection point for engagement with religious and cultural identity by younger generations of Sikhs in the US. The response of young Sikh activists and the effects on the community are examined in the context of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. The paper begins with the reflections of a Sikh activist about her personal journey learning about Sikh faith and history, and her activism and personal interests. Important themes that reflect the attitudes of contemporary Sikh activists and organizations are discussed. The effects of the post-9/11 backlash against Sikhs in the US are compared to Guru Nanak’s experiences of and response to violence, strife, and injustice. The social, psychological, and spiritual benefits of service for those who provide service and care are explored in relation to Sikh philosophy, and from the point of view of contemporary cultural and historical studies of Sikh seva (selfless service) and humanitarianism. The paper concludes that many Sikhs, particularly those coming of age in the late 20th and early 21st century, often referred to as millennial and Generation Z, view social justice activism, humanitarianism and Sikh seva as central and equal to other pillars of Sikhism like worship and devotional practices.

From Punjab to Peggy’s Cove: Joyful Activism in Behind the Bhangra Boys (2019)

This paper will examine how the 2019 Nancy Ackerman documentary film Behind the Bhangra Boys both deconstructs the complexities of contemporary Sikh immigrant identity in Eastern Canada and reinforces the intricacies of one’s social responsibility of being a welcome guest on the unceded territories of Mi’kma’ki, otherwise known as Nova Scotia. Following the energetic choreography and generous hearts of five young Sikh immigrants, the film reminds viewers that the protection of community and the planet is part and parcel of joyful activism, whilst following Guru Nanak’s teachings, be it along the rocky shoreline of Peggy’s Cove or the fertile farmlands of Punjab.

Feministic Analysis of Shauna Singh Baldwin’s selected stories in English Lessons and Other Stories

The present paper aims at exploration of Shauna Singh Baldwin’s specific technique implemented to present women predicament in selected stories from feministic point of view. The feministic point of view has developed out of a movement for equal rights and chances for women society. The present search is based on analytical and interpretative methods. Shauna Singh Baldwin is a writer of short fiction, poetry, novels and essays. Her ‘English Lessons and Other Stories’ explores the predicament of earlier neglected women of Sikh community by putting them in the context of globalization, immigration to West and consumerism at Indian modern society. “Montreal 1962” presents a Sikh wife’s attachment, love, determination, struggles and readiness to do anything for survival in Canada where her husband is threatened to remove his turban and cut his hair short to get the job. “Simran” presents the story of sacrifice of individual desire by a young Sikh girl because of her mother’s fundamentalist attitude. The title of story “English Lessons” presents injustice to an Indian woman who has married to an American, who compels her to become a prostitute and a source of his earnings in the States. The fourth selected story “Jassie” tells us about the timely need of religious tolerance in the file of an Indian immigrant old woman. Being a feminist writer, though Baldwin has never claimed directly to be, she has very skillfully presented the issues of feminism through her own technique of presentation. She has used technique of presenting absence or opposite to highlight it indirectly. Thus, true to her technique, though not explicitly declared, Baldwin is one of the feminist writers who skillfully deals with feminine concerns.

The Sikh Gender Construction and Use of Agency in Spain: Negotiations and Identity (Re)Constructions in the Diaspora

For decades, Sikhs have made the choice to migrate to the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA), or Canada, as these countries are held in high esteem by Sikh communities and appear to afford prestige in socio-cultural terms to those who settle in them. However, changes in border policies (among other considerations such as the greater difficulty of establishing themselves in other countries, the opening of borders by regularization processes in Spain, commercial business purposes, or political reasons) have compelled Sikh migrants to diversify their destinations, which now include many European countries, Spain among them. The first generation of Sikhs arrived in Spain as part of this search for new migratory routes, and there are now sizable Sikh communities settled in different parts of this country. All migrants need to follow a process of adaptation to their new living environment. Moreover, a novel living context may offer new possibilities for migrants to (re)negotiate old identities and create new ones, both at individual and collective levels. This article will explore a case study of a Sikh community in Barcelona to reflect on the forms in which Sikh men and women perceive, question, and manage their identity and their lives in this new migratory context in Spain. The present paper argues that adaptation to the new place implies identity negotiations that include the redefinition of gender roles, changes in the management of body and appearance, and, most particularly, the emergence of new forms of agency among young Sikh women. In addition, we argue that new forms of female agency are made possible not only by the opportunities offered by the new context, but also emerge as a reaction against the many pressures experienced by the young women and exerted by their male counterparts in Sikh communities, as the latter push against the loss of traditional values.

Disruptive Garb: Gender Production and Millennial Sikh Fashion Enterprises in Canada

Several North American Sikh millennials are creating online values-based fashion enterprises that seek to encourage creative expression, self-determined representation, gender equality, and ethical purchasing, while steeped in the free market economy. Exploring the innovative ways young Sikhs of the diaspora express their values and moral positions in the socio-economic sphere, one finds many fashionistas, artists, and activists who are committed to making Sikh dress accessible and acceptable in the fashion industry. Referred to as “Sikh chic”, the five outwards signs of the Khalsa Sikh—the “5 ks”—are frequently used as central motifs for these businesses (Reddy 2016). At the same time, many young Sikh fashion entrepreneurs are designing these items referencing contemporary style and social trends, from zero-waste bamboo kangas to hipster stylized turbans. Young Sikh women are challenging mainstream representations of a masculine Sikh identity by creating designs dedicated to celebrating Khalsa Sikh females. Drawing on data collected through digital and in-person ethnographic research including one-on-one interviews, participant observation, and social media, as well as fashion magazines and newsprint, I explore the complexities of this phenomenon as demonstrated by two Canadian-based Sikh fashion brands, Kundan Paaras and TrendySingh, and one Canadian-based Sikh female artist, Jasmin Kaur.

Women and Sikhism in Theory and Practice: Normative Discourses, Seva Performances, and Agency in the Case Study of Some Young Sikh Women in Northern Italy

The paper reflects on the role of women in Sikhism in theory and social practice, starting from a case study in northern Italy. Although the normative discourse widely shared in mainstream Sikhism affirms the equality between man and woman and the same possibility to manifest devotion through every kind of seva (social service within gurdwaras), empirical observation in some Italian gurdwaras has shown a different picture, as there is a clear division of tasks that implicitly subtends a gender-based hierarchy. This relational structure is challenged by intergenerational tensions, especially by young women born or raised in Italy, who may want to develop a different Sikh identity, considered compatible also with the Italian social and cultural context. In this initial process of collective identity definition and of agency, the female participation in the religious seva within gurdwaras is identified as the tool for change of power relations that cross genders and generations.

A Sikh Boy’s Exclusion in Australian School: A Phenomenological Study of Parent’s Response

Diasporic relocation and resettlement ideally generate new experiences for diasporic communities and their host societies. At times, host societies (in general) and education (in concomitance) could remain impervious towards the unique cultural practices of diasporic communities, fostering a cultural gap. Such gaps may result in conflicts that impact social engagement, including education, posing cultural and educational challenges for diasporic people. Towards realisation of social justice and whilst balancing diversity, contemporary multi-cultural Australian society and educational institutions may cultivate the enactment of exclusion for students with unique diasporic cultural backgrounds. Hence, the search for equity within Australian education may remain elusive. Considering the responses of two diasporic Sikh parents faced by potential exclusion of their child in a Melbourne suburban school due to wearing a Patka (turban for young Sikh boys), this qualitative study provides a phenomenological exploration of their experiences.

‘He enjoyed it more than I did’!: young British Sikh women negotiating safe sex in heterosexual encounters

ABSTRACT Sex education and relationship strategy of the U.K. allows parents to withdraw their children from sex education, which has left many young people especially those from Black Minority and Ethnic communities with low or no sex education. Similarly, the government's policy environment enables faith schools to teach these subjects under the tenets of their faith. This empirical research was carried out in South-West London using 12 qualitative interviews with women and men (ages 18–20 years) discusses young women's experiences of their first sexual encounter who navigate their reputations, relationships as well as negotiate safe sex in the absence of appropriate relationships and sex education. Sex education not only brings into focus sensitivities around gender but also tensions around religion in the U.K. Evidence from the study suggests that despite the importance placed by the Indian community on maintaining virginity, young women asserted that religion and culture did not prohibit them from exploring their sexuality. In this study, the priority is to present young women's voices and experience of sexual encounters.

South Asian American millennial marriages: Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims

ABSTRACTSouth Asian American millennial Sikhs, like millennial Hindus and Muslims, demonstrate a widening range of partner choices, marriage rituals, and celebratory practices. For young Sikh Americans, the roles of the bride and groom in planning their weddings are increasingly important, as are the cultural or secular aspects of the weddings. Furthermore, rather than considering community, the young people are emphasizing individual choice. These conclusions point to adaptation and cultural translations at the level of the couples, families, religious or regional diasporic communities, and diasporic communities more broadly defined (as Indian, Pakistani, South Asian), translations that reflect the changing context in America and the American cohorts of which these young people are members.

Ajit Singh (1940–2015), the Radical Cambridge Economist: Anti‐imperialist Advocate of Third World Industrialization

Ajit Singh (1940–2015), the Radical Cambridge Economist: Anti‐imperialist Advocate of Third World Industrialization

Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among Urban Sikh Population of Amritsar.

Context:Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that share the phenotype of Hyperglycemia. More than 60% of the world's population with diabetes comes from Asia.Aim:To study the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among Sikh individuals living in the urban localities of Amritsar.Settings and Design:The study was designed in the Faculty of Sports Medicine & Physiotherapy, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India. The data collection was carried out in various urban localities of Amritsar. Blood samples were analyzed in the Biochemistry laboratory, whereas data analysis and article preparation was carried out in the Faculty of Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy.Materials and Methods:Multi-stage random sampling was done with a sample size of 1089 patients.Statistical Analysis:The data was analyzed in Stata 11.2 software. Various tests used in the study are Mean ± SD, Pearson Chi Square Test, Students’ t test and multiple logistic regression test.Results:Our study showed that the prevalence rate of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is 23.2% with the confidence interval of 20.7–25.7. Proportionately more patients with T2DM had hypertension (46.6%). Likewise proportionately more patients, 67.5% had hypertrigylerdemia, 67.6% had low HDL levels, 59.2 % had hypercholesterolemia and 73.1% suffered from metabolic syndrome.Conclusions:Our study clearly indicates that the young Sikh adults below 40 years of age have similar high BMI, WC and WHR to that of the older adults above 40 years of age. It is necessary to adopt appropriate preventive strategies and interventions in high-risk individuals to curb the growing epidemic of diabetes. Innovative community outreach programs need to be designed and implemented to create awareness and early screening and treatment of diabetes, especially in the urban population.

1984 and the Diasporic Politics of Aesthetics: Reconfigurations and New Constellations among Toronto’s Sikh Youth

This article explores how Sikh youth in Toronto respond—through personal narratives and performative practices—to past events of violence associated with the Indian Army’s 1984 attack on the “Golden Temple” in Amritsar, as well as the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, India. Arguably, the politics of representation around the “Punjab crisis” of 1984 have been considered crucial for conceptualizing Sikh diaspora formations. However, studying how young Sikh activists relate to these events today and redefine their own sense of diasporic citizenship a generation after the event allows us to challenge both the homogeneous framings of (religious) diaspora and the primary role attributed to trauma through which past injuries are narrated. I shall demonstrate that there is a discursive trope (or tendency) in youth accounts that, on the one hand, asserts an attachment to injury as well as the separatist and nationalist sentiments that have long been embodied in representations of 1984 and, on the other, points to identity formations yet to be defined within the context of emerging “transnational second generations.” Moreover, Sikh youth are engaged in increasingly diverse forms of social justice work and have different motivations for their participation. This research reveals involvement in an emerging grass roots movement that is globally tuned into broader social justice struggles, while maintaining local ties to place specific engagements and narratives.

Managing Strangerhood: Young Sikh Men's Strategies

This paper offers a critique of accounts of ‘the stranger’ that lack empirical grounding and are fetishising, suspicious, and anxious. Instead, I propose that we should engage with strangers and move towards more relational, emotional, and embodied accounts of the place of the stranger in contemporary society. In order to illustrate this argument, I draw upon qualitative research with young Sikh men growing up in urban Scotland to explore the complex strategies enacted by these young men in responding to being placed in the position of the stranger. The strategies employed by the young men include educating others, managing multicultural intimacies, affiliating with the Scottish nation, and travelling far to socialise with friends. Overall, this paper offers a relational, embodied, and emotional set of insights into young Sikh men's strategies for managing being cast as strangers and demonstrates the agency and creativity of the young men in doing so.

Homicidal hanging

Homicide by hanging is an extremely rare incident [1]. Very few cases have been reported in which a person is rendered senseless and then hanged to simulate suicidal death; though there are a lot of cases in wherein a homicide victim has been hung later. We report a case of homicidal hanging of a young Sikh individual found hanging in a well. It became evident from the results of forensic autopsy that the victim had first been given alcohol mixed with pesticides and then hanged by his turban from a well. The rare combination of lynching (homicidal hanging) and use of organo-phosporous pesticide poisoning as a means of homicide are discussed in this paper.

‘Who wants to make aloo gobi when you can bend it like Beckham?’ British Asian females and their racialised experiences of gender and identity in women's football

Capturing the football frenzy of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, the film Bend It Like Beckham hit the British movie screens. The film is about Jess, a young Sikh girl, who dreams of playing football for England. Although the film helped to raise the public visibility of British Asian girls who play football in this country, worryingly, it also reproduced the popular belief that playing sport is seen to be antithetical to British Asian family traditions, culture and religion. This mirrors much of the wider research about British Asian males as it is believed, despite the rich diversity of British Asian leagues, teams and football networks, that playing sport at elite levels is not as important to British Asians as following traditional routes of success through the educational system. In this article, I am critical about the essentialist and stereotypical nature of past research that mostly serves to render invisible the multiplicity of British Asian females' experiences. Adopting a feminist conceptualisation of difference and intersectionality, I explore the vicissitudes of British Asian females' racialized experience of gender and identity. I argue that British Asian females' interpretations of ‘femininity’ does not necessarily fit into a simple polarity, that is as either ‘traditional’ (the ability to undertake domestic chores and behave in an ‘honourable’ fashion) or ‘modern’ (assimilating to ‘English’ values and lifestyles, e.g. going out and socializing with boys). Their identities relating to their Asianness and femaleness are increasingly hybrid and fluid, across time and space.

Neutrality of the State and Regulation of Religious Symbols in Schools in Quebec and France

The difference in attitudes towards the wearing of religious symbols in schools in France and Canada is symptomatic of the respective legal and political definitions of the official neutrality of the school institution and thus of way in which laicism is used to regulate religious pluralism and the “socio-cultural” integration of immigrant populations. In what ways is state neutrality put into practice, in Quebec and in France, as regards the judicial and political treatment of the wearing of religious symbols in public schools? The author proposes to examine the implementation of the liberal principle of neutrality by the French law dated 15 March 2004 on the wearing of religious symbols in public schools and by the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada of 2 March 2006 to allow a young Sikh to wear his ritual kirpan at school.

1984 and the Diasporic Politics of Aesthetics: Reconfigurations and New Constellations among Toronto’s Sikh Youth

This article explores how Sikh youth in Toronto respond—through personal narratives and performative practices—to past events of violence associated with the Indian Army’s 1984 attack on the “Golden Temple” in Amritsar, as well as the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, India. Arguably, the politics of representation around the “Punjab crisis” of 1984 have been considered crucial for conceptualizing Sikh diaspora formations. However, studying how young Sikh activists relate to these events today and redefine their own sense of diasporic citizenship a generation after the event allows us to challenge both the homogeneous framings of (religious) diaspora and the primary role attributed to trauma through which past injuries are narrated. I shall demonstrate that there is a discursive trope (or tendency) in youth accounts that, on the one hand, asserts an attachment to injury as well as the separatist and nationalist sentiments that have long been embodied in representations of 1984 and, on the other, points to identity formations yet to be defined within the context of emerging “transnational second generations.” Moreover, Sikh youth are engaged in increasingly diverse forms of social justice work and have different motivations for their participation. This research reveals involvement in an emerging grassroots movement that is globally tuned into broader social justice struggles, while maintaining local ties to placespecific engagements and narratives

Four generations of Sikh studies: A personal view1

This perspective on the development of Sikh Studies over the twentieth century intersperses personal reminiscences from the past four decades with a chronological overview of the modern development of the subject. Beginning with an outline of some of the pioneering achievements of the great Singh Sabha scholars and of subsequent developments in the Punjab in the succeeding generations, it then discusses some of the tensions between traditional scholarship and the different emphases which have typically marked the work of western academics. While critical of some of the infighting which has characterized Sikh Studies in the West, it concludes with an overview of the exciting contemporary developments of the subject by young Sikh scholars working in North America and Britain (of which the appearance of Sikh Formations is itself such an encouraging sign), and with a plea for the urgent necessity of informed interfaith understandings.

Working in a global environment

The family living next door to me is Irish Catholic. The neighbour on the other side has a Hindu father. Next door but one is a Jewish family, then a Buddhist family from Thailand and a West Indian family. At the back of my house are Jewish and Muslim families whilst opposite me lives a young Sikh couple. I am married to a Welsh man with a Jewish father. My grandmother was Canadian but can trace her ancestry to German settlers and I have Scottish blood on my mother's side!