{"title":"Scheduled castes in the Akali Dal: Mapping their electoral performance and perceptions","authors":"Nirmal K. Singh","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2021.1873653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2021.1873653","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Shiromani Akali Dal has provided an important platform for the Scheduled Caste community which has been integral to the party's electoral success. This paper empirically shows that share of the SC community in electoral success of the Akali Dal has always remained one-fourth or more since 1962 except 2017 election alongwith better electoral success rate of the SC community leaders. Despite these contributions, the SC community perceives caste discrimination in the party while the Jats and rich families dominate the party. The paper suggests organic integration of the SC community and addressing their grievances in the party.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"222 1","pages":"141 - 165"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79959105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The practice of jathera worship in Punjab: A case study of jathera Baba Kala Mehar Sandhu in Faridkot, Punjab","authors":"Kamalpreet Singh Gill","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1844459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1844459","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Jathera worship is a popular devotional practice of Punjab in which obeisance is paid to ancestors of the got/gotra. This paper presents a case study of a jathera known as Baba Kala Mehar Sandhu in Faridkot. Its worship is marked by heterodox rituals such as offering and consuming liquor as parshad (oblation) to the deity. I argue that the continued persistence of the practice into the twenty-first century, despite facing proscription from the dominant religions of Punjab, is on account of the complex modes of negotiation that the jathera undertakes and the potentialities for subaltern resistance that it offers to its primary cultural agents - a caste of genealogists-musicians known as Dhadis and Mirasis.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"20 1","pages":"311 - 333"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82494971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sunny Deol’s star persona: Constructions of caste, class, religious, and regional identities among Jat Sikhs and Dalits of Punjab","authors":"Kumool Abbi","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1804199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1804199","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper attempts to discuss the varying perceptions and interpretative responses of Jat Sikhs and Dalits of a Punjabi village with respect to Sunny Deol, the popular Hindi film star, and relates these variations to certain salient aspects of their respective identity constructions, in the context of their day-to-day patterns of being, including such identities as caste, class, gender, religion, age, education, exposure to media relating to ideas or values about masculinity, femininity, honor, shame, as well as propriety and morality. These factors become significant as Sunny Deol enters politics and attempts to make a transition from reel to real.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"17 1","pages":"276 - 310"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82375465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The loss of Sikh heritage: The missing manuscripts of Sikh Reference Library since June 1984","authors":"D. Tatla","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1804200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1804200","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essays concerns the destruction of Sikh Reference Library during the Indian army’s invasion of the Golden Temple, Amritsar in June 1984. The Library built over several decades drew upon almost five centuries’ Sikh literature from various sources containing much of the most precious heritage of the Sikh community. Among its contents were priceless handwritten birs of Guru Granth; recensions of Dasam Granth, hukamnamas and early Sikh literature dating back from 16th century to many gifts deposited by the Sikh sovereign Maharajah Ranjit Singh and other Sikh princes during the 19th century. How the Library, alleged to have survived three days of intensive fighting, then caught fire with contentious claims that its contents were taken away by the army -some of these were returned by the government of India while much is yet unaccounted for, has led to almost continuous controversy since June 1984. The loss of much of Sikh Reference Library is now part of painful memory of India’s callous disregard for a community’s historical heritage with no resolution as to what happened to its contents.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"26 1","pages":"385 - 409"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84544490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From ‘overseas Sikhs’ to ‘the Sikh diaspora’ to ‘global Sikhs’: Retrospect and prospects in the study of Sikhs beyond the subcontinent","authors":"Verne A. Dusenbery","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1846373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1846373","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this slightly revised version of my presentation of 4 September 2019 at the inaugural conference of The Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, U.K., I identify and begin to elaborate upon an historical sequence of five frames – ‘overseas Sikhs,’ Punjabi/Sikh ‘migrant communities,’ ‘the Sikh diaspora,’ ‘transnational’ Sikhs, and ‘global Sikhs’ – through which scholars have analyzed the lives of Sikhs living outside the Indian subcontinent.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"31 15 1","pages":"441 - 447"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84585807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bicultural accommodation: A critical examination of the academic and social experiences of Sikh American college students","authors":"Daniel J. DeVere","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2019.1593303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2019.1593303","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study contributes to the scholarship concerning the Sikh diaspora by critically examining the experiences of Punjabi Sikh American students in a Northern California community college to identify factors inhibiting or promoting their progress and success. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of Sikh college students. Findings demonstrate that microaggressions against Sikh students represent a significant negative factor inhibiting their academic progress. Sikh students routinely experience discrimination from instructors, counselors, and other students. Their parents, siblings, and Sikh friends are critical sources of academic support. A strong sense of familial and cultural belonging is an important positive factor promoting their progress and success.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"31 1","pages":"352 - 369"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83582876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The first Sikh: the life and legacy of Guru Nanak","authors":"R. Brar","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1846372","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1846372","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"33 1","pages":"475 - 476"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82236242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reading with the Runaways, or namesakes in diaspora on Sunjeev Sahota’s the year of the Runaways: A novel","authors":"G. S. Sahota","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1846371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1846371","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Through a series of fragments, vignettes, and a montage, this essay explores the underlying crises of contemporary capitalism and the nation-state as presented in Sunjeev Sahota's 2015 novel The Year of the Runaways. The essay examines the novel's innovative Anglo-Punjabi diglossia as an index of social contradiction and political crisis in the wake of immigration and nationalist reaction in the U.K. It lays out as well the competing pressures that serve to catalyze the production of new diasporic subjectivities and the adoption of non-traditional social practices among Sahota's characters. Along the way, the essay delves into the significance of naming and its relationship to identity via the discourse of the name (nam) in Sikh scripture. The final fragments elaborate upon the opening of new possibilities of selfhood for Sahota's central characters. This opening is premised on, and yet reach beyond, abstract labor-power under capitalist regimes of accumulation and Indian caste and gender norms.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"30 1","pages":"465 - 474"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89561903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Turbans vs helmets: The conflict between the mandatory wearing of protective head-gear and the freedom of religious expression","authors":"D. Spennemann","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1804197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1804197","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A number of religions mandate that members of that faith cover their hair and head. Depending on its nature, this head covering can interfere with the design and efficacy of protective head gear such as helmets. This is exacerbated in situations where religious mandates prevent the cutting of head hair, such as among Sikhs, as this adds to the volume to be covered by protective head gear. This paper provides an overview of the cultural mandate to wear turbans and how this meshes with the legal requirements to wear protective head gear during work and recreational pursuits.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"32 1","pages":"207 - 244"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73981526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Feeding the cattle on the Temora common: The public atonement and death of the Punjabi hawker Gujjar Singh in 1902","authors":"D. Spennemann","doi":"10.1080/17448727.2020.1804198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17448727.2020.1804198","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":44201,"journal":{"name":"Sikh Formations-Religion Culture Theory","volume":"57 1","pages":"370 - 384"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84443936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}