Sikh and Punjabi Studies

About the Project

Professor Nirvikar Singh, Sarbjit Singh Aurora Chair of Sikh and Punjabi Studies and Professor of Economics, and Dr. Inderjit Kaur, Advisor in Sikh and Punjabi Studies and Research Associate in the Music Department, co-organized the inaugural conference in Sikh and Punjabi Studies at UC Santa Cruz, held on November 10-12, 2011.

Leading and emerging scholars from the United States, Canada, and England came together for the conference, titled “Sikh and Punjabi Studies: Achievements and New Directions.” Participants also included UCSC faculty, students from several UC campuses, and prominent members of the California Sikh community.

There were two days of lively discussion of the current and future state of the field, including history, philosophy, language, literature, political economy, musicology, and contemporary society. Dr. Inderjit Kaur presented some of her work on Sikh musicology and Professor Singh served as discussant for papers on gender and on political economy.

The conference was preceded by a dinner at which Professor Christopher Shackle of the University of London was honored for his significant contributions to the Sikh and Punjabi Studies, and Dr. Inder Mohan Singh, Chairman of the Chardi Kalaa Foundation, gave a keynote presentation on “Guru Nanak\’s Message for a Flat, Interconnected World.”

Other activities of the program included a new class, “Introductions to Sikhs,” taught by Professor Singh in Fall 2011, and a talk by Dr. Tarlochan Singh Nahal on “Religion and Politics in Sikhism,” on May 16, 2012.

Events

February 25, 2016: Intro to Sikhs Guest Lecture: Shinder Thandi speaks on Globlal Sikh Diaspora

April 8, 2015: Gender-Differential Effects of Terrorism on Education: The Case of the Punjab Insurgency 1981-1993

March 12, 2015: Sikh Rappers & Social Justice

March 3, 2015: Johanna Ogden: “Mutiny in Oregon: Early Twentieth Century East Indian Radicals and the Birth of the Ghadar Party”

December 1, 2014: Diaspora and Memory – Sikhs and 1984

October 18, 2014: 1984 – Beyond the Trauma

March 29-30, 2013: “(Re-)Building Punjab: Political Economy, Society and Values” Conference

January 26, 2103: The Sikh: The Feminine, The Activist

November 15, 2012: Learning from the Oak Creek Wisconsin Tragedy: Sikhs and Pluralism in America