The history of Sikhs in Britain provides important clues into the evolution of Britain as a multicultural society and the challenges it faces today. The authors examine the complex Anglo-Sikh relationship that led to the initial Sikh settlement and the processes of community-building around Sikh institutions such as gurdwaras. They explore the nature of British Sikh society as reflected in the performance of Sikhs in the labor markets, the changing characteristics of the Sikh family and issues of cultural transmission to the young. They provide an original and insightful account of a community transformed from the site of radical immigrant class politics to a leader of the Sikh diaspora in its search for a separate Sikh state.

A book which covers the relationship between the British and the Sikhs in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

In Lives in Translation, Kathleen Hall investigates the cultural politics of immigration and citizenship, education and identity-formation among Sikh youth whose parents migrated to England from India and East Africa. Legally British, these young people encounter race as a barrier to becoming truly "English." Hall breaks with conventional ethnographies about immigrant groups by placing this paradox of modern citizenship at the center of her study, considering Sikh immigration within a broader analysis of the making of a multiracial postcolonial British nation. The postwar British public sphere has been a contested terrain on which the politics of cultural pluralism and of social incorporation have configured the possibilities and the limitations of citizenship and national belonging. Hall's rich ethnographic account directs attention to the shifting fields of power and cultural politics in the public sphere, where collective identities, social statuses, and cultural subjectivities are produced in law and policy, education and the media, as well as in families, peer groups, ethnic networks, and religious organizations. Hall uses a blend of interviews, fieldwork, and archival research to challenge the assimilationist narrative of the traditional immigration myth, demonstrating how migrant people come to know themselves and others through contradictory experiences of social conflict and solidarity across different social fields within the public sphere. Lives in Translation chronicles the stories of Sikh youth, the cultural dilemmas they face, the situated identities they perform, and the life choices they make as they navigate their own journeys to citizenship.

"You think it is pleasant watching a fat virgin become infertile? I want to be seen and noticed and invited by people. I want anything... that is not this." Past her prime, Min joyfully spends her life caring for her sick, foul-mouthed mother, Balbir. Today, for the first time in years, they ́re off out. Mother and daughter head to the local Sikh Temple, but when Balbir encounters old friends, a past trauma rears its ugly head. Min and Balbir ́s illusions are about to be shattered as they become immersed in a world of desperate aspiration and dangerous deals. In a community where public honour is paramount, is there any room for the truth? Behzti was scheduled to open at The Door (Birmingham Rep) in December 2004 but was cancelled due to protests by some members of the local Sikh community.

This volume is a portrayal of the social history of the Sikhs in Britain and their contribution to British society. It captures their successes through the stories of individuals, from early Sikh immigrants and labourers brought over on colonial ships by wealthy nabobs to travelling salesmen at the turn of the century.

This edited volume discusses how the Punjabi transnational experience has impacted Indian transnationalism and led to a diverse diaspora.

Sikhs in Europe are neglected in the study of religions and migrant groups: previous studies have focused on the history, culture and religious practices of Sikhs in North America and the UK, but few have focused on Sikhs in continental Europe. This book fills this gap, presenting new data and analyses of Sikhs in eleven European countries; examining the broader European presence of Sikhs in new and old host countries. Focusing on patterns of migration, transmission of traditions, identity construction and cultural representations from the perspective of local Sikh communities, this book explores important patterns of settlement, institution building and cultural transmission among European Sikhs.

This important volume provides a clear, concise and comprehensive guide to the history of Sikh nationalism from the late nineteenth century to the present. Drawing on A. D. Smith's ethno-symbolic approach, Gurharpal Singh and Giorgio Shani use a new integrated methodology to understanding the historical and sociological development of modern Sikh nationalism. By emphasising the importance of studying Sikh nationalism from the perspective of the nation-building projects of India and Pakistan, the recent literature on religious nationalism and the need to integrate the study of the diaspora with the Sikhs in South Asia, they provide a fresh approach to a complex subject. Singh and Shani evaluate the current condition of Sikh nationalism in a globalised world and consider the lessons the Sikh case offers for the comparative study of ethnicity, nations and nationalism.

An accessible introduction to the world's fifth largest religion, this work presents Sikhism's meanings and myths, and its practices, rituals, and festivals, also addressing ongoing social issues such as the relationship with the Indian state, the diaspora, and caste.

This basic guide and resource book targets four fields--religious studies, history, world literature, and ethnic or migration studies--in which Sikhism is now receiving greater attention. The authors explain the problems of studying and interpreting Sikhism, and opportunities for integrating Sikh studies into a broader curriculum in each field. They also provide a sense of the Sikh community's own approach to education, and evaluate materials and approaches at the North American university level. Included are a sample syllabus with an explanatory essay, a bibliographical guide, a glossary, and a general bibliography. Gurinder Singh Mann's review of his course on Sikhism is an effective mini-guide to the field as a whole.