Above: Prof. Kristina Myrvold speaking at the conference.
History
Studying Sikh-Europeans
by SHINDER SINGH THANDI
Recently, the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, Sweden, was the venue for a three-day conference on "Sikhs in Europe. Migration, Identity and Translocal Practices" - the largest event of its type ever to be held on a European university campus.
Kristina Myrvold, Assistant Professor, at the university organised the interdisciplinary event that attracted 35 scholars from 15 countries from as far as China in the East and US and Canada in the West. The conference discussed current research on Sikhs in Europe, while focusing on patterns of migration and settlement, identity formation in the diaspora, self-representations, inter-generational transmission of heritage and tradition and translocal and transnational practices.
The conference, held from June 16-18, 2010, was a follow-up and expansion of an exploratory workshop that was held at Lund in 2008.
Gurinder Singh Mann of University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, in his keynote address argued that the empirical basis on which the life of Guru Nanak was reconstructed in W.H. McLeod's Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (1968) is yet to be fully interrogated, based on the evidence in Puratan Janam Sakhi, artefacts and sites of the period. He argued for the need of a more nuanced and comprehensive interpretation of Guru Nanak's life, and later Sikh history.
This was followed by an overview of history of Sikh migration and settlement in mainland Europe by the writer who highlighted the comparative experiences from other sites of Sikh diaspora and pointed to their future relevance for European Sikhs.
Other presentations and discussions were on Transnational Sikh Families in Italy (Barbara Bertolani, University of Molise, Italy), Narratives on Pilgrimages to Punjab (Federica Ferraris, University of Sussex, UK), Role of New Media in Sikh Identity Construction (Doris Jakobsh, University of Waterloo, Canada), Sikh Community in Dublin, Ireland (Satwinder Singh, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland), Illegality and Sikh Migrants in France (Christine Moliner, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France) and British Sikh Youth Camps (Jasjit Singh, University of Leeds, UK). Gurpreet Singh Lehal of Punjabi University, Patiala, demonstrated software tools for the Punjabi language processing and learning.
Federica Ferraris and Barbara Bertolani provided the history of Sikh settlement in Italy; Kathryn Lum (European University Institute, Italy) looked at the predicaments of the minority Ravidassia community in Catalonia, Spain; Opinderjit Kaur Takhar (University of Wolverhampton, UK) on Self Representation among the Valmiki, Ravidasi and Namdhari communities in Britain; Zbigniew Igielski (University of Warsaw, Poland) on Sikh migration to Poland; Ajit Singh Sikand (Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany) on Sikhs in Germany and the importance of gurdwaras; Knut A. Jacobsen (University of Bergen, Norway) on Sikhs in Norway and their institutionalisation of religion; Laura Hirvi (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) on Sikhs in Finland and finally Kristina Myrvold (Lund University, Sweden) on the Swedish Sikhs and generational challenges.
A film, Musafir - Sikhi is Travelling, produced by Khushwant Singh and Michel Nijhawan, was also screened. The film explores issues surrounding migration, dislocation, exile, cultural and spiritual yearning, hopes and aspirations.
Ten students presented a summary of their Ph.D research projects on various aspects of Sikh religion or Sikh diaspora, currently under way across Europe. The conference concluded with an open discussion on Challenges in Sikh Studies lead by Kristina Myrvold and Laura Hirvi.
The study of the Sikhs in Europe is a new and emerging field and it is heartening to see so much research interest and doctoral level work being done in many different countries in continental Europe.
[The writer is Head, Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Coventry University, UK .]
[Courtesy: The Tribune]
July 15, 2010
Conversation about this article
1: Irvinder Singh Babra (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), July 15, 2010, 8:21 AM.
Good, great effort on the Sikhs today in Europe. This study must be made inter-continental.
2: Kirpal Singh (Daytona Beach, Forida, U.S.A.), July 15, 2010, 8:50 AM.
This article is very encouraging. Finally, our academic chairs are bearing fruit. We need to promote them with more vigour and loyalty to spread the message of our great Gurus.
3: Ranbir Singh (Mohali, Punjab), July 17, 2010, 3:03 AM.
Kirpal Singh ji: Unfortunately, none of these scholars are academic descendants of our Sikh Chairs. Gurinder Singh Mann has mentored some of these academics, but his is the only presence felt at this conference. Arguably, the atmosphere of Sikh Studies in the U.S. would not allow for such fruitful and diverse discussion/ presentations between faculty, researchers and students.