Academic study of Sikhism and related topics
Sikh Studies is a field of academia focused on the study of Sikhism. It is sometimes referred to as Sikhology with its academics called Sikhologists. It remains an understudied yet growing field of scholarly work.
Focus.
The field focuses on "the Sikh community, its history, and religious culture, Sikhism."
Language of literature produced.
The majority of serious academic literature produced remains in European languages, such as English, French, and German, but there are many works being produced in Indic languages, such as in Hindi, Urdu, and especially Punjabi.
History.
The field is seen as beginning around the mid-20th century, during the time of the partition of the Indian subcontinent into two domains: Pakistan and India. Literature in European languages regarding Sikhs and Sikhism has existed since the 18th century but the institutional environment did not exist at that period to further these inquiries and attempts into a proper field of study. With worldwide interest in the Sikhs growing in the aftermath of the partition, increased Sikh migration around the world, plights of ethnic and religious minorities being recognized, the institutional apparatus needed to birth the field of Sikh studies began to form and take shape.
Initially, the field focused on historical and philological textual study but later-on delved into philosophy and ethics. The early works were authored with the aim to "assert the uniqueness of Sikhs as a separate world religion". However, recent works produced have ventured into exploring anthropology, sociology, and political sciences of the Sikhs. Whilst the field looks at the Sikhs as being a production of the cultural framework and tapestry of the Indian subcontinent and its civilization, scholars in the field admit that the Sikhs oftentimes "confounds categorical schema at every turn".
Recently, a newfound direction of the field is toward "incorporation of critical modes of thinking, theory, philosophy, and antiphilosophy which uses central Sikh texts, culture, and history to engage and actualize Sikh thinking to force an encounter with its hegemonic other."
The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) established a Sikh Studies endowed chair in 2024 to improve research in the field. It is the only one of its kind in Canada.
Controversies.
Pashaura Singh's scholarly work has faced push-back and criticism from some traditionalist and conservative sections of the Sikh community.
A few Sikh groups have put pressure on universities to stifle academic criticism of popular Sikh literature and theories of Sikh history. In the early 1990s, Pashaura Singh, an academic of the Macleodian school, was campaigned against for challenging the authenticity of Guru Granth Sahib. Singh was pressured to withdraw sections of his thesis. The Akal Takht issued a statement that Pashaura Singh was afforded due opportunity by the Akal Rakhta and other Sikh scholars on his comparative method (borrowed from Trumpp) and his hypothesis of the draft theory was rejected as forcibly injecting undated texts dated much beyond the timeline of the Adi Granth. Another academic also praised by MacLeod, Harjot Oberoi, was also campaigned against for his removal by parties which denounced his methodology towards the study of Sikhism.
According to the Indologist Mark Juergensmeyer, the largest group of scholars dedicated to Sikh Studies are based in and near Punjab, but these scholars project themselves as proud Sikhs and predominantly focus on showing distinctiveness of their faith rather than examine the connections and similarities of Sikhism to other religious traditions based on comparative studies of texts and manuscripts. Sikh writers criticize methodologies to "coldly dissect" their personal faith and Sikh history by "methods of social science" and by critical comparative textual or literary analysis. This, critiques Juergensmeyer, has set the stage for an "unhappy confrontation" between the academic scholars versus those motivated in defending the dignity of their faith, including publications by Sikh institutions that are hostile to W. H. McLeod and other scholars who are based outside India, and as Juergensmeyer states, some conservative Sikh scholars have made important contributions to the scholarship of Sikhism by discovering old Sikh manuscripts and publishing their analysis.
Schools of thought.
There are five identified schools of historiography within the field of Sikh studies:
These schools may disagree on facts but also on interpretation of said facts. Differences between the various schools of thought have increased since 1984, a tumultuous year for the Sikhs.
References.
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