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Precarious and model minorities: Sikh identities in the ‘new’ global politics of religion

Ahluwalia, Pal (2019) Precarious and model minorities: Sikh identities in the ‘new’ global politics of religion. Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, 15 (3-4). pp. 332-342. ISSN 1744-8727

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Abstract

In many parts of the world, Sikhs have come to be perceived as a ‘model' minority – so much so that some have critiqued the Sikh community for taking up positions that are perceived as assimilationist. Such critiques, however, gloss over the sense of precarity, and the litany of hardships, racial discrimination and legal battles in which Sikhs have been forced to be engage in a post-9/11 world. Ultimately, this discrimination is enabled and justified by historical western notions of the incommensurability of the sacred and secular. Engaging with recent critical debates over the on-going meanings of the sacred and the secular, this paper argues that the contemporary moment requires a cosmopolitan religious outlook. Such debates reveal the separation between the public and the private, and between the sacred and the secular, to be ‘zombie categories' that fail to capture contemporary realities. Hence, conceptualizing Sikh identities as precarious, vulnerable ‘model minorities' in a post-Brexit/Trump era allows us to explore a Sikh ethics underpinned by the universal message of SGGS Ji. This is so because such ethics have never been conceptualized as simply being ‘other-worldly’, but rather as precisely grounded in the world that has been entrusted to us.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Divisions: Office of the VC
Depositing User: Ms Shalni Sanjana
Date Deposited: 23 Jan 2023 23:58
Last Modified: 23 Jan 2023 23:58
URI: https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/13874

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