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ABSTRACT
This paper examines Sikh American institution building in the post-9/11 period, and the impact of these institutions on Sikh women’s status and empowerment within the community. I examine the social and historical context of Sikh American politics and activism. I present the views of Sikh Americans who are directly involved with institution building and I describe their perspectives on women’s empowerment within the new institutions and in the broader Sikh American community. My discussion is based on ethnographic research, including open-ended interviews, participant-observation at conferences and community events, and analyses of public discourses about faith, ethics, politics, gender, and women on Sikh American websites and blogs.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Nanki Bhullar, for her work on Appendix 1 which presents four tables of Sikh organizations in the US and Canada.
Notes
1 Singh, Bobby. 9 August 2012. Accessed November 15, 2014, January 27, 2016. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4M_YXmx_A.
Ali, Wazir. 9 August 2012. Accessed November 15, 2014, January 27, 2016.
2 Female feticide is widely acknowledged as the primary reason for a skewed sex ratio in India and in Punjab. The Indian government census substantiates this trend for changing sex ratios in Punjab. According to the Government of India Census, while the overall ratio in Punjab of 893/1000 has improved from the last census of 2001, the ratio of children from ages 0 to 6 is still skewed with 846/1000 females to males (Jain Citation2011).
Sunil K. Khanna’s ethnography, Fetal/Fatal Knowledge, (Citation2010) explores in detail the social and cultural factors like the persistence of boy preference and the Indian government’s family planning campaigns that have contributed to rise of female feticide in North India.
3 Rahuldeep Singh Gill’s presentation on Sikh ethics in the modern world, ‘Guru Nanak and this American Moment,’ was an important influence on my thinking about Sikh politics as it is connected to Sikh ethics (September 2013, paper presented at the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Conference, Chardi Kala Foundation, San Jose Gurdwara, http://www.chardikalaa.com/?p=877, accessed January 10, 2016).
4 The names of interviewees referenced in this paper have been changed.
5 The papers presented by Susan Kaur Chahal and Balpreet Chhokar at the 2014 Our Journeys conference sponsored by SAFAR are particularly relevant to my discussion about the persistence of gender inequality in Sikh communities in North America.
6 ‘Financial Information’ Sikh Coalition website. Accessed November 16, 2015. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/about-us/financial-information.
7 See the appendix for tables on Sikh organizations in North America in the pre- and post-9/11 period.
8 I am still in the process of collecting more comprehensive data for the amount of money donated in the period after 9/11.
9 Sikh Gurdwara San Jose, official website. Accessed December 30, 2015. http://sikhgurudwarasj.org/about.html.
10 Sikhism in the United States: What Americans Know and Need to Know (Jan 2015), Hart Research Associates. National Sikh Campaign website. Accessed January 30, 2016, http://www.sikhcampaign.org/report.
11 I do not have statistical data on participation by women in Gurdwara management. However, all of my interviewees have noted that women they have encountered are a minority in the Gurdwara management committees and sometimes seem to be ‘token’ representatives. In an election for the Gurdwara management committee in the San Francisco Bay Area there were only 6 women candidates out of 42 total candidates. The newly elected committee consists of 3 women and 18 men.
12 I am referring to Edward Said’s analysis in Orientalism in which Said argues that the cultures and peoples of the Middle East were caricatured as diametrically opposed to the cultures and peoples of modern European cultures by many European colonial administrators and scholars (1978).
13 Sikh Coalition, August 5, 2013. Accessed November 15, 2014 and January 27, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKBecORS2oA.
14 This issue was reported on 19 September 2001 in a New York times article by Laurie Goodstein and Tamar Lewin (Citation2001). Accessed August 1, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/us/nation-challenged-violence-harassment-victims-mistaken-identity-sikhs-pay-price.html.
15 The debate about the trope ‘mistaken identity’ continues. See, for example, a reflection, ‘Let’s Retire “Mistaken Identity”’ by Valerie Kaur and Simranjeet Singh (Citation2012). Accessed November 14, 2015. http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2012/08/10/two-sikh-american-activists-lets-retire-mistaken-identity/10590.
16 The following article in the Sacremento Bee by Stephen Magagnini details the murder and the case against Baljinder Kaur (May 14, 2014). Accessed August 1, 2015. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article2598735.html.
17 On his blog, American Turban, Rupinder Mohan Singh wrote an entry called ‘In Defense of Izzat (October 29, 2012). Accessed August 1, 2015. http://americanturban.com/2012/10/29/in-defense-of-izzat/.
18 ‘Position Paper, Creation of the Sikh Family Center’ (2014), http://api-gbv.org/files/SFC%20Position%20Paper.pdf.
19 ‘An Open Letter to the Sikh Community’ (April 2015). Accessed May 2, 2015. http://www.jakara.org/openletter.
20 ‘Sikh Presenter’s Course’ Sikh Coalition website. Accessed October 15, 2015. http://sikhcoalition.org/our-programs/education/sikh-presenters-course.
21 Turban Myths: The Opportunities and Challenges for Reframing Sikh American Identity in Post-9/11 America. Peace Innovation Lab, Stanford University & SALDEF (December 14, 2013). https://peacelab.wordpress.com/research/stanford-peace-innovation-lab-and-saldef-collaborate-on-hate-crimes-study/.
22 ‘The Turban Day Package’ Accessed November 16, 2015. http://www.thesuratinitiative.com/gurmat-literacy-project/educational-packages/.
23 ‘Groundbreaking National Report on Severe Bullying of Sikh American School Children Released Today in US Congress’ Sikh Coalition website. Accessed November 15, 2015. http://sikhcoalition.org/advisories/2014/groundbreaking-national-report-on-severe-bullying-of-sikh-american-school-children-released-today-in-us-congress.
24 ‘Financial Information’ Sikh Coalition website. Accessed November 16, 2015. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/about-us/financial-information.
25 Here, I am drawing parallels to the observations made by Joseph (Citation2006) and Frederick (Citation2003) which detail the double and triple jeopardy experienced by Black women in the civil rights movement and in Black communities today.
26 ‘I am Kaur’ Sikh Coalition website. Accessed November 5, 2015. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/iamkaur.
27 ‘Kaur Voices’ Jakara website. Accessed November 6, 2015. http://www.jakara.org/kaur_voices.
28 ‘An Open Letter to the Sikh Community’ (April 2015). Accessed May 2, 2015. http://www.jakara.org/openletter.
29 The number of scholars that have written about the question of Sikh identity are too numerous to name here but the work of W.H. McLeod is perhaps the most comprehensive in terms of directly addressing the question of, ‘Who is a Sikh?’ (McLeod Citation1999). Other important works in this regard are Sikh Identity: Continuity and Change edited by Pashaura Singh and N. Gerald Barrier (1999); Sikhism and Women: History, Text, and Experience, edited by Doris R. Jakobsh and Eleanor Nesbitt (Citation2010); Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs in America: A Short History by Mann, Rumrich, and Williams Citation2008); The Sikh Diaspora: The search for statehood by Tatla (Citation1999); and Sikhs at Large: Religion, culture, politics in Global Perspective by Verne Dusenbery Citation2008).