Sikhs At Large

Description

Contemporary dynamics and processes of globalization have facilitated the spatial movement of communities, such as the Sikhs, that are no longer territorially limited to a certain area. This has given rise to an urgent need to revise both conventional notions and theoretical understandings to accommodate the new deterritorialized concept of ‘culture'. Sikhs at Large brings together different perspectives on the cultural and political dimensions of Sikh subject-making as a typical transnational community and of Sikhism as a global religion. It explores Sikh ethnosociology or the ways in which Sikhs understand and engage with their social worlds. How they respond to the political settings in which they live their lives and the cultural assertions and political stratagems they employ in the process of reterritorializing themselves across the globe has also been discussed. Based on ethnographic and textual research this volume provides a comprehensive framework for looking at Sikh discourse and practices. It reflects upon issues of Sikh identity and self-representation, analysing the ways and contexts in which Sikh religion, culture, and politics are actively produced and reproduced in multiple sites around the world. It also examines the intersection of multiculturalism and transnationalism, highlighting the ways in which diasporan Sikhs have experienced and dealt with nation-state ideologies, policies and practices of religious and ethnic management, as well as the shared perceptions of themselves by others in their countries of residence. Questioning the unreflective use of the term ‘diaspora', this volume invites consideration of the multiple sources and alternative narratives of Sikh identity.