Sikh millennials of the ‘kirtan generation’ in the making of an ‘American Sikhism’

ABSTRACT

This essay focuses on the millennial generation of Sikhs in the United States. Based on extended ethnographic research in Sikh communities, the author explores the role of Sikh millennials in the making of an ‘American Sikhism’, the contours of which are taking shape having followed after the explosive growth of gurdwara communities – and the educational, social, and other resources they provide – which were largely made possible by the affluence of Sikh communities beginning with the previous ‘Brain Drain’ generation. In particular, the author discusses this ‘kirtan generation’ of Sikhs, educated in gurdwara schools, and their growing leadership of Sikh communities.

KEYWORDS:

• American Sikhism
• Asian American immigration
• Gurdwara
• kirtan
• Sikh millennials
• Sikhs in the United States

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Sikh Coalition (Sikhcoalition.org 2018) and other Sikh American organizations support this estimate of 500,000 Sikh Americans. Other organizations, such as the Pew Research Center place the number of Sikh Americans significantly lower, at roughly 200,000 (Pew 2013). Firm statistics for any religious group in the United States are difficult to assess when the United States Census Bureau does not collect data on religious affiliation. One single annual Sikh religious event, the Yuba City Nagar Kirtan (which I have been conducting and presenting research on for several years: see Townsend 2016b) has a widely reported attendance of 100,000. It is difficult to believe that fully half of the Sikh population of the United States, based on Pew's estimate, attends this one annual event. Rather, I think it is more likely that this event might realistically represent half or less of California's Sikh population alone.

2. For examples from Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant immigrant communities to the United States of the nineteenth century, see, for example: Diner (1995, 3, 45, 120, 220), Gillis (1999, 60–61), and Joselit (2008, 21–22) respectively.